by Cheryl Mathis on October 22nd, 2009
Our pumpkins aren’t carved. Our garden hasn’t been dismantled. The house trim I scraped hasn’t been painted. Surely I am not the only person in town who is about two months behind her to-do list.
As many of you know, my family has undergone a transition over the past few months after my husband lost his job. The job search hasn’t been very fruitful, so The Husband has dedicated himself to finishing his degree program. Hopefully once that is complete, more job opportunities will suddenly appear. I am taking a class as well, just to dip my toes back into the pool of scholastics.
Sometimes your prayers are answered in ways you weren’t expecting or weren’t really wanting. My husband didn’t find a full-time job, but I did. Despite a hiring freeze all over town, my former employers were anxious for help, and that’s where I stepped in as a full-time temporary employee. I dance around from department to department, using my years of experience in the company to prove me useful in many different areas where job openings exist but will not be filled any time soon.
As I sit here writing, designing, editing, and running scripts, I’m dreaming of quilts left unfinished, crayons left abandoned on a high shelf, toddler arms waiting to hug me fiercely. My crazy work schedule shifts around The Husband’s school schedule, which leaves us with little to no time together as a family unit. Other obligations and commitments like RCIA and my own class also get a chunk of the calendar.
After letting a handful of submitted posts lie dormant in my inbox for more than two weeks, I finally had to wake up and realize that I had overextended myself. Unfortunately, Citizen Wausau was one of three side projects that had to be put on the back burner.
In my absence, the amazing Brad Schjoth will be filling in as Interim Managing Editor. He will do a much better job than I did. He has youth and inexperience on his side. He’s not jaded against journalism and the world at large. He’s ideal. I leave you in his capable, willing hands.
I’ll be in the background, lurking when I can. Have a fantastic season!
by Citizen Wausau on September 14th, 2009
After what seems like years of hard work and a final push over a busy weekend, the Citizen Wausau of old has been taken out back sent to live on a nice farm upstate to make way for a new site that is bigger (sorry), badder (in a good way), and bolder (slightly?).
We hope you’ll take a few moments to browse around and explore, but before you do, we have a very important favor to ask of our existing members. As you may have noticed, this new iteration of the site offers features that we could only have dreamed about when we launched two years ago. But to use the newly-added social networking options, you’ll need to login to your profile. Once you’re logged in, use the My Profile link, go to Profile » Edit Profile and fill in the Name field.
While you’re there, feel free to add any other profile information or add an avatar, but the Name field MUST be filled out for your account to work properly. We apologize for this hiccup, but there doesn’t seem to be any way around it.
Thank you again for your support, interest, and patience as we work out the kinks in this new design, and as always, we look forward to hearing your feedback!
by Citizen Wausau on September 9th, 2009
Citizen Wausau launched in October of 2007, and while we’re not a household name, we feel that we’ve managed to make at least somewhat of a mark on the community. We’ve had some good times, but now that we’re nearing our second anniversary, the consensus is that it’s finally time to take the site down….and replace it with a new one.
That’s right! We’ve got a shiny new version of Citizen Wausau that we’re just itching to unleash. Of course, no site (re-)launch is without its hassles, and so we ask of you, the reader, to bear with us during what will probably be about a week (or less) of downtime as we put the old site out to pasture and get the kinks worked out of the fancy-schmancy new one.
After we return, please bear with us through what will hopefully be a mercifully short beta period while we get all the kinks worked out that we missed until people actually started using the site.We don’t have an exact schedule, but expect the site to begin its hibernation sometime on Friday.
We’ll be sure to Twitter away when it’s back. And if you’re following us in RSS, you’ll see a post when we return.
Thanks for all your support so far, and we can hardly wait for all of you to check out the new digs!
by Andy Laub on December 4th, 2008
Citizen Wausau is proud to announce Citizen Wausau Loves…, a collection of items that we at CW can’t get enough of. CW♥ is a partnership with Amazon.com, which means that purchases are still through Amazon directly, but Citizen Wausau will receive a tiny bit of each purchase. It’s an easy way to help keep us going, all by doing what you were already doing!
And even if you don’t see anything there that interests you, you can use this link to shop on the main Amazon.com site while still using our referral code.
Thanks, and happy shopping!
by Cheryl Mathis on November 21st, 2008
I know it’s premature, but I’m totally getting into the holiday spirit already. I’m trying very hard to resist putting up our Christmas tree so soon. After all, it’ll be the first Christmas when my daughter can grab stuff off of the tree, and I’m not sure I want to give myself another chore to be doing all day long, ie. keeping her away from the tree.
1. The cold weather has arrived. It’s not bitterly cold yet, but it’s still a shock. What activities have you had to halt because of the chilly weather?
2. I was singing Jingle Bells while walking through Sam’s Club last night. Sometimes I forget that not everyone makes their life into a musical, and I’m refreshingly oblivious to people’s irritation or giggles in response to my outward happiness. What is your favorite holiday carol? Or do you avoid Christmas music at all costs?
3. I misplace my keys at least four times a week. I’m always asking The Husband for his keys because I’ve lost mine. It’s not a big deal because we only have one car, but I know he gets annoyed. I think maybe if I had a bigger keychain with lots of fun things on it, I wouldn’t lose them as often. What is on your keychain?
4. A while back, I posted a couple videos in various places online with me and/or my family dancing like the dancing fools we are. I was ripping off the bandaid as far as forcing myself to relax in online videos are concerned. Later, I heard from a friend that a lot of people had felt embarrassed for me when they saw the video. *gulp* Part of me was horrified, but the other part told myself that it doesn’t matter, that many other people were delighted by it. The question is… have you ever made an idiot out of yourself online? How?
5. And finally… how do you feel about dogs wearing clothes? I always used to mock people who would dress up their dogs. How ridiculous! They have fur coats! That is until we got Molly, our Boston Terrier. As soon as the temperature dropped below 40 degrees, she started shivering and snorting when she went outside. She’d rush to do her business and then pull to get back inside the nice warm house where she’d plop down in front of a heating vent. Now for walks, we’re putting little sweaters on her, but they don’t help that much. I think we’ll have to get her a jacket. She doesn’t like walking on the cold concrete either, so maybe we’ll have to get her some booties. Are we being silly? Have you ever known a dog who is reticent to go out in the cold?
by Andy Laub on November 20th, 2008
Frequenters of CW will notice as of a few days ago a new addition to the site: a few conveniently-placed but hopefully not-too-intrusive banners served up by Google. Clicking on the ads gives Citizen Wausau a few cents here and there; money that will be put toward our standard operating costs (hosting, etc) and other side projects.
I hope we can count on your continued support and enthusiasm for the site!
by Dino Corvino on April 11th, 2008
I guess, in a lot of ways, I like speakers to headphones. I am winding my watch, though it does not need it, it is digital. But I wind, because it makes me think of Thanksgiving, and days of yore, and my pony Willie Boy. I think that sometimes, it is simply enough to say thank you, and to feel good about it. But more than that, it is really enough to own a rowboat and enough lipbalm for a weekend trip to Scottsdale.
- Do you have a sense of your death? Not in a morbid sense, but in a real sort of time is limited sort of way? I was thinking about it, because I was watching a West Wing episode and a scene between Stockard Channing and Martin Sheen was particularly moving.
- Do you think the Mike Morrissey situation is ever going to amount to anything? I feel that this is an area where we might just see the infamous circling of the wagons. I have often been critical of our fair city for not being transparent enough, and maybe that is our fault for not looking, but I wonder. I wonder how this all works? If the city denies the claim of this Jasurda person, then what happens? And what about the Van De Yacht thing hot on its heels? Tough time to be a the City Attorney, lots to do.
- What is your favorite place to read? I like my chair, because the dog is not interested in my reading in bed.
- I am a movie guy. I am getting a sense that movies are getting a bit more narrative intense now, and less Jerry Bruckheimer. Do you like this trend?
- What are you doing this weekend?
- Do you take notes throughout the day in pen or pencil? Do you have a paper calendar, a digital one, an online one?
by Citizen Wausau on April 7th, 2008
[A Note from Dino: This week, we look to Mike Murphy from the Citizen Wausau community. Mike is clearly a blues legend in Wisconsin, having slugged it out for many years with little or no acclaim. He has been playing the blues longer than I have been alive, and has been doing a good job of it around the state. We are thankful that he joined the Citizen Wausau community, and hope that he blogs about his shows, and maybe adds some cool photos as well. Thank you all for submitting.] (more…)
by Dino Corvino on April 4th, 2008
I am upset today. Mad at the actual internet, the tubes, the whole nine yards. It’s not a truck, and as a result people just talk and talk and talk. So, Sarah Lacy, from me to you I thought your interview was really great. Its just more of the same. As if Tipple versus Hadley was not enough, now people I enjoy are ripping on people I really respect for being interesting.
Sigh. Web 2.0, when will it stop being about you?
- Were you happy with the outcome of the election? The Mayoral election seems to be interesting, and more important what are your thoughts what happened to Karl Cluz? The theory is that Karl is a minor league Karl Rove, who gets behind people, and as result they seem to have negative campaigning happening. Far be it from me to know what is going on, but does anyone else think that he is in fact the Karl Rove of Wausau?
- Who was your favorite Peanut character?
- Why do you think there is chunky and extra chunky peanut butter? I mean do you believe there is any possible way to quantify the number of chunks?
- Do you prefer to listen to music in headphones or through speakers? I find I am less able to boogie if I wear headphones. And I love to boogie.
- Can you bake?
- What was the first car you owned? Mine was a Pinto. A gift from my folks. A Pinto. I bought a Nissan Sentra as my first car. I still wish I owned it.
- Do you nap?
- My dog and I have started doing spoons. She sleeps next to me, and at some point my arm ends up on top of her, is that weird?
- Have you heard that it was the 6 month anniversary of Citizen Wausau recently? Have you been happy with it? When will you submit an article for the front page? If we formed some sort of advisory committee or deeper involvement board, would you like to help us out as we need the help?
- If you wake up angry, do you think your cursed to be angry the whole day?
- Would you like to write a list of questions for next week?
It is not that I do not want to keep doing the questions, but on some level I wonder about this one-way conversation. My talking at you. I do not think I am listening enough.
by Andy Laub on April 3rd, 2008
Wow. So it’s Good People Day today, as Dino mentioned. I apologize for these coming at you so late, but we were late in finding out about it. But still, it’s an amazingly cool opportunity for us to step back and reflect on the good things we’re doing (or trying to do). Furthermore, we’re just two days past the six-month anniversary of Citizen Wausau, and so this comes at a time when I’m very excited about what we’ve accomplished so far.
It’s only fair at this point to follow in Dino’s footsteps and give a little thanks to the people who’ve gotten us this far. Stop me if this starts to sound like one of those hip-hop songs.
And before I get into it, Dino is the one who deserves the most thanks. He is a content machine, giving us things to talk about where before there were none. He also has my tremendous gratitude for dealing with my ever-changing moods on a daily basis; talking me into the good ideas and out of the bad ones. Without him, there’d be no Citizen Wausau. Thanks Dino!
Others include:
- Bill Coady the grandfather of Wausau Blogging
- Tom Neal, for his continued help and guidance
- Paul Farning, for getting me into WordPress
- Rob Mentzer, for his friendship and constant linking
- Wausau Daily Herald & The City Pages, for giving us some attention at the very beginning
- Gary Barden, Deb Hadley, & Mayor Tipple for taking the time to talk with us
- Abe Gabor, for being Abe
- Pete, Jason, Chris, Joey, Jim, Becky, John, George, Lisa, Kevin, Erik, Pat, Alex and many more for the positive words at one time or another
- The Users, for giving us a reason to keep going. Thanks to those who’ve contributed articles, comments, and blogs. This site is about discussion, and we couldn’t have that without you!
A huge thanks again to everybody! We’re looking forward to making Citizen Wausau bigger and better, but we couldn’t do it without you.
PS: I know this comes hot on the heels of Dino’s post, so here’s a link if you missed it.
