The home stretch

We’re coming down to the final two weeks of my college career, and I couldn’t be more ready to just be finished with the semester and move on with my life.

As irritable as that may sound, it’s probably a symptom of “senioritis,” but I’m ready to take a whole-hearted full-time push into my career. I spent six years of my life bouncing in and out of full-time work and school, and I feel like it will pay off some day.

I finished my internship at CSN Bay Area on Thursday. It was an experience I will forever treasure, not just because of the skills I tuned, but because of the people I met. I learned a lot from the crew there, and really honed what I can bring to the table anywhere.

That all I have to say, today. I’m all written out from Friday and last week. Catch you guys on the water somewhere!

“The fish tale”

There’s always the great “fish tale” that anglers share behind the one that got away, but here’s the story of the six-pound bass that grabbed the five-inch Yamasenko worm I tossed out into the water early Friday afternoon.

I woke up late Friday morning thinking I should try to grab an hour or so of fishing before covering a baseball game in Sonoma County on Friday. I picked out a small lake. For those of you that don’t know, bass are the most popular game fish in the United States.

I had set up to go out last week but it didn’t work out with work and school, so I was ready to go. My mom told me before I left that I should bring something with me, like a bag or cooler, in case I catch a big fish. I told her, “I’ll just throw it back. I have go to work anyway.” I thought to myself, ‘I bet this is the time I catch a nice one…’

Go figure.

I brought a pair of poles with me. One, with six pound line, the other with 10-pound line. The light pole got the senko, the big pole a crawdad jig. I threw the jig out when I got there with no luck. So I swapped it out for the senko — the senko is the best worm to use for bass fishing, period.

On my first cast (or possibly second), not even 10 minutes into my adventure, wham! The bass smashed on the worm. With six-pound test, it took me about five minutes to reel him in. I was honestly thinking he would snap line because he was running into the weeds (I say ‘he’ though I believe it was a female bass) and my line was pretty light. I was amazed at the size of the fish from such a small lake, but figuring what had been caught at the lake before, I wasn’t too surprised.

When I got home, my mom rode me a bit for not bringing the trophy fish home, but I was honestly happy I had let it go. I do it for the game, the fight, the sense of accomplishment, because honestly, there have been days I’ve spent hours on the water and not caught anything, and this day I went out for an hour and caught one of the biggest fish in my life.

That’s what fishing is all about. You don’t know what you can catch until throw your line in the water, even for five minutes.

Anybody can post anything anytime, so what?

I can say what I want how I want when I want to on this personal blog of mine. So why should you care?

Honestly. I can say the most impractical, impersonal and improper things here, but what gives it substance? What makes what I write and type in this space worth reading and then replying about?

Well, for one, I can say that there’s a good number of people that know me who expect me to know what’s going on. Those same people, along with those (Twitter followers, Facebook friends) who know I’m a reporter, know must of the stuff I share and publish is genuine if not certifiable material that has some bearing. I spent time writing it, and with my schedule, I often don’t have time to waste to write something I don’t care about.

That being said, I’ve learned over the years that if I share a thought online, I should have a good reasoning for sharing it in the first place. The Bill of Rights doesn’t guarantee what you say will come off as intelligent, though you do have a right to share it.

As more and more websites pop up claiming to have original must-read content, it’s important to consider the reach of your audience and the eyes that will come across it. Anyone can write an SEO-friendly headline, 500 words of copy and call it “content,” but not everybody can write words of substance.

If you want to be considered as a reliable source of news and information, including opinions (on sports, news, business, etc.) please think before your publish. I know more than anyone, just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.