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Barbara Lombardo of Saratoga Springs, NY, is a journalism adjunct at University at Albany and retired executive editor of The Saratogian, The Record and the Community News. Follow her on Twitter @Barb_Lombardo.

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Publishing in the midst of whipping winds and power outages







It feels like a race against time: Get the pages to the printer before the power goes off.

For the moment, knock wood, The Saratogian is up and running and so is The Record in Troy, where our printing press is located. I am grateful for everyone who makes the effort to put the news together, and for the carriers who brave the wind and rain to deliver our papers come heck or literal high waters.


I’m in the newsroom right now with Online Editor Emily Donohue and reporter Michael Cignoli, who have been updating Saratogian.com, tweeting and facebooking. Erica “Storm Tracker” Miller has some fantastic shots of trees down on Broadway, at the track and elsewhere. Here is an uprooted tree leaning on a power line on Clement Street near Clinton Street from this morning, and a fallen tree in front of the former Border's on Broadway in Saratoga Springs. Luckily, Erica got her Starbucks fix before power went out on that side of the street. This afternoon, things are hopping at Uncommon Grounds, which just filled an order of a bag full of bagels and a holder of coffeee. Those cardboard four-cup holders don't hold up in a tropical storm. But thanks to David L., wearing rain-soaked hat as Son rather than Competing Reporter, for making the run grub run.


Now Matt Donato and Gabe Weintraub are putting together Monday's Pink Sheet -- yes, so far there's racing Monday -- followed by an abbreviated sports section. Angela Valden and Chelsea Kruger are cranking out the remaining news pages.


Join the conversation and let us know how you are coping today.

On Saturday, my husband and I rode back to Saratoga from Colgate along the relatively scenic Route 20 (scenic compared to the Thruway), with green hills, leisurely grazing horses oblivious to Travers Day pressure, and ginormous silver windmills as still as a photograph. A storm is headed this way? Pshaw.

Torn between being the Editor and the Mom, I gave my son Joe my cell phone charger Saturday when we dropped off the stuff that didn’t fit in his car (guitar, golf clubs, broom, Tide). Sure, he had weeks to buy himself a new charger. Yes, he told me he’d just order himself one online. But for my own peace of mind, I thrust mine on him. “Just do me one favor,” I said. “Answer when I text.”

Dumb, dumb, dumb. Now my own phone is down a power bar and I am sweating out the specter of missed communication.


Joe didn’t need my charger, with three housemates who also have phones. He’s 21 and can take care of himself. So explain to me why I left a flashlight equipped with two fresh batteries on his kitchen counter without saying a word about it.


Well, the trees are whipping outside The Saratogian’s Lake Avenue windows. Time to post and get moving on tomorrow’s pages and keeping http://www.saratogian.com/ up to date.

3 Comments:

Blogger Jim Ware said...

Barb,
It's good to see you and The Saratogian made it through the storm OK. We were very lucky here in Wilmington, NC. It could have been so much worse.
Take care.
Jim Ware

August 29, 2011 at 12:47 PM 
Blogger Jim Ware said...

Barb,
It was good to see you and The Saratogian survived the storm. We were lucky here in Wilmington, N.C.
Take care,
Jim Ware

August 29, 2011 at 12:49 PM 
Blogger Fresh Ink said...

And it's good to hear from you, Jim. Longtime Saratogian readers may remember Jim from his stint here ... gee, Jim, what years was it? There are still power outages and flooding.

August 29, 2011 at 1:41 PM 

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