Saturday, November 8, 2008

Have fun, Senator Mento!

Alright, so I've been looking around for an official journalist, and I haven't been having so good luck. Anyone who's got experience wants to be paid...a lot, and anyone who just has a degree is holding out for a paying job. So I won't be able to get professional articles up on here. I did, though, find someone. I went down to the nearby Liberal Arts college yesterday and asked around, and I found a first-year journalist major who was looking for experience. His name is Thomas Jones, and I know it sounds a little lame, but I've seen his work and it's good stuff.

So then. The election is finally over. Most of you readers probably weren't paying too much attention, since there was no presidental seat in contention, but I felt very close. I was (full disclosure!) one of Senator Mento's campaign volunteers, and I worked so hard to get him into office! The incumbent rate has gone down from its historic high a generation ago, thank goodness, but it's still nearly impossible to unseat a sitting senator! Of course, the scandals did make quite a difference--I know I'll never look at my cellphone the same way again!--but we had to work long and hard to win. I'm so proud. It really didn't sink in until today, when he took the subway off to the southeast. I hope he makes good on his promises for tax cuts. I'm...I'm actually a little teary eyed.

There's your news for today. The newly elected Senator Mento :snif: left today by subway to the capitol.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Flat Hunting

Okay, I have a few announcements before I start this week's article. Firstly, Steve reported that "3 or 4 people" came in specifically asking for steak. So that means I have a readership! And it's growing. Yay!
Secondly, I got a mildly angry e-mail from a reader who had been reading when NMD was still a big corporation. She said that she really liked the heavy news articles, and that this was a great site for unbiased reporting before I bought it. Unfortunately, I'm no good at doing that. I tried. But no-one important would be interviewed, and I just couldn't do that. However, if there are more of you who really want a newsblog, I'll find someone who can. That can't be too hard, right? Leave your opinions in the poll I set up.

Anyway. Over the past few days, I've been flat hunting, thus the name of this entry. I know, I'm working for my parents for now, and they're already paying for my trade school which doesn't end for a year and a half yet and why bother looking already? Well, my parents said that I had to support myself by the time I was done with school if they were going to pay off the loans for me, and while I have time, they've been sending signals. Little things, like the empty suitcases that keep 'appearing' in my room, and the draft of a want-ad for a tenant I found on the table. I get it, mom! So I figure I move a couple miles away, and I can walk back here for work and to school for...school.
I started by looking at official mortgages. I know that I'm not likely to pay for it (at least until I can get an electrician's internship, that is), but a girl can dream, can't she? It turns out, though, that they are either incredibly expensive, or decades long. I mean, it figures...only so much space, period, and extra rooms are at a premium, but wow. The only reasonable 1 year and 6 month loans were for deep suburb houses, which were out of the question; I'm not going to bike 50 miles to work, and of course the monorail can't penetrate into the tight grouping of houses. So I'm not renting a house anytime soon.
After a quick trip to the newsstands, I printed out a quick list of rent listings nearby to check. Perhaps, though, it was a bad idea to do all this on Halloween. Most of the empty places wouldn't answer the phone number listed, and the ones with other tenants just gave me candy and a quizzical look. I guess I look younger than I thought! Flattering, but fruitless.
So, here I am with a list of phone numbers and empty candy wrappers. There's a good number, but it looks like it'll still be about a month until I can start renting. At least my parents haven't posted that want-ad yet.

--Trepa Mayfield

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

...and we're back!

So, for those of you patiently waiting for an update, you've both been very nice. For first time readers, you should know that the format juust changed after a few rearrangements. Though it didn't make many other news sites, the NMD News Corporation collapsed a while ago, and this domain was shuffled around to tiny companies that never bothered with it. So I decided, ya know, why not? Expect more visual changes as I get time.

Anyway, you're probably thinking, "An 18 year old girl? Who's got a factory farmer job? Just where can she find news?". I respect that. That's what Mom and Dad said too. But I figure, why strain myself? I'm currently typing this on my flexiboard as I'm walking around town, and, ya know, I'll just post the first thing I find that seems important. Huh. 'Steve's Sandwich Shop'. Let's try that.
Me: "Heya Steve! What sorta sandwiches do you have?"
Him: "Uh...mystery club, veggie, hot bean. Oh, and we've got a steak special while it lasts"
Me: "Really! Steak? From old dairy cows, I suppose."
Him: "Of course. I'm friends with Heda. The--"
Me: "-outer layer farmer on path 117 past the western lock! I know him! My dad has some sort of deal. Thanks Steve! You might get some new business soon"

I probably shouldn't have winked like that, but oh well. That's todays news: Steve's has steak.

--Trepa Mayfield.

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Three Dead, One Presumed Missing
in Botched Escape Attempt
The drastic changes to our world have had drastic
effects on various movements and sectors, but
probably none so much as the environmental
movement. Greenpeace was one of the few groups who
completely opposed the great retreat, and, while they
have become less radical, other nature groups have
taken up their mantle. Their main argument has to do
with the thriving world outside our cities and farms. To
quote one member of Verdant Force (a semi-legal
organization whose stated mission of “breaking out, no
matter the cost” has drawn suspicion to their suspected
ties to organized crime) “The food chain has stabilized,
the organisms look healthy, and I bet that if we left this
claustrophobic environment, our species would
survive.” Obviously, most people have been loath to
test this.
However, one group has taken that risk. There are
still internal investigations, however, the defense
company contracted to protect the Belgium edges of
the French dome agreed to provide a spokesman to
relate what seems to have happened. “We know that
they applied for a regular nature tour, because we have
their signature and payment on record—I'm not allowed
to give out those names yet”, said one Evette Mongarde.
“We also know that they knocked out their tour guide at
one point—and that’s when they most likely discarded
their hazard suits and oxygen tanks—because we found
the suits and tanks and the tour guide in a closet nearby.
What happened then is rather unclear. It was an
uncloudy day, so it wasn’t too difficult to track them
down. They went about forty feet southeast, probably
trying to avoid bumping up into the German dome.
Their pace looked unhurried, as if they were unaware of
any problems. And then…we just found three
bodies—not me personally, but I was told the story in
very stark details—within about ten feet of each other”.
Our spokesmen confirmed that four people left, and that
one is unaccounted for. “We are unable to divulge any
theories we have on what happened to the fourth due to
security reasons”, stated Ms. Mongarde. Though the
blogosphere has been alight with speculation, no
consensus has been reached yet.
--Weston Digno, NMD News.

Saturday, June 7, 2008

NOTICE: THE CURRENT STAFF OF THE ONLINE EXTENSION OF NMD AND ITS AFFILIATES HAS BEEN CHRONICALLY LATE AND HAS RECENTLY BEEN FOUND TAKING A "YEAR OFF" DESPITE THE YOUNGNESS OF THIS WEBSITE. DUE TO THESE MISTAKES, THEY HAVE ALL BEEN TRANSFERRED TO OUR SECRETARIAL DEPARTMENT. WE APOLOGIZE FOR THE INCONVENIENCE CAUSED BY OUR NEGLIGENT EMPLOYEES AND WE HAVE HIRED AN ENTIREY NEW STAFF TO UPDATE THIS WEBSITE. THERE WILL BE NO BACK POSTING, BUT EXPECT WEEKLY UPDATES STARTING NEXT SATURDAY.
--SENIOR PRODUCER OF NMD NEWS