Dean of White House Press Corps Dead at 92

Helen Thomas reports on President Gerald Ford, 1976

It’s hard to imagine doing nearly the same thing for more than 65 years, and working for only two employers to boot.  No wonder Helen Thomas became such a Washington D.C. institution.

She started work at United Press (later United Press International) during WWII, and joined its White House bureau in 1961 shortly after President John F. Kennedy was inaugurated.

Thomas went on to cover 10 presidents until she resigned from UPI in 2000 – after 57 years of service.  She spent the next 10 years as a political columnist for Hearst newspapers.

Known simply as “Helen” among her colleagues and competitors, Thomas will be remembered for breaking down barriers for women in journalism. She was the first woman to serve as president of the White House Correspondents Association.

Picture of the Day

A fleet of sidewalk plows sits idle in a parking lot off University Avenue in Rochester.

Target Texting Scam

For the second time in two days, I've received a text message telling me I've won a gift card for Target. I first heard about this scam going around about a month ago. I'm always surprised when people fall for these things - but it's a real shame when they do. Here is the message to be careful of:

"[Paul K.]  Your entry last day is 3-rd! Go to 4uTargetPrize.com and put 6371 to claim your target card."

The name in the brackets changes - the second message I got was from "Juanita C." The BBB says it's been a bad year for these types of scams. There have apparently been several for multiple stores. For more information, go to
http://www.bbb.org/us/article/text-message-gift-card-scam-is-back-for-the-holidays-38633.

Like a Kid in a Toy Store

I finally made it to the Lego store at Eastview Mall for the first time this past weekend.  I've been wanting to go since it opened months ago.

Legos were my favorite toys growing up, and I still love playing with them.  Seriously - the only thing that's been stopping me is a skyscraper I built a few years ago that I haven't had the heart to take apart.

Time to Start Blogging Again!

It might be a little early for New Year's resolutions, but I've already come up with one of mine.  I've let this blog go for far too long, and it's time to start writing again!

Expect more posts soon about the latest happenings in Rochester, plus thoughts on anything else that crosses my mind.

I have a feeling that going forward this site is going to be a little less "newsy," a little more fun, and a lot more of me.  I want to bring this back to where it was when I was blogging from my semester abroad in London - a sense of adventure, a little bit of commentary, and regular updates.

So...we'll see how it goes!

~Nathan