AN ACIDIC INTERVIEW

I sometimes have problems letting go of things.

There’s probably a lengthy sequence of my DNA that would explain my pack-rat tendencies. Anal retentive? Hell, I’m anal-acquisitive.

Scanning my cell-phone directory, I realized that three of the numbers I have stored on speed dial belong to dead men. There is absolutely no reason to keep those numbers...and yet, it’s as if deleting them will somehow delete more of their respective memories than I am yet prepared to part with.

That may be one reason I still have Gut Rumbles on my blogroll, albeit now in its own unique category. At least, it is a category to which I would prefer not to have to add new members.

I have a pile of photographs of Rob “Acidman” Smith that I will eventually slap up on the ’Net, most likely in a passworded location, so that Samantha and Quinton can enjoy them when the time is right.

But there is one other thing.

On April 17, WAGA, the Fox affiliate in Atlanta, sent a reporter and camera crew out to the Crackerbox to interview Rob for a news report focusing on Blogging and the Workplace. The main point of the story was that, despite having nebulous policies concerning blogging, some employers have a thin skin and will fire your ass for doing it - even if it is something you do on your own time. Also, the report stressed that nothing you put up on the Internet will remain hidden from current or prospective schools or employers: Discretion Is Advised.

Rob was featured prominently in the report, which finally aired on May 4 - the week right after the Blown-Star Blodger get-together in Austin. Rob did not see it when it aired in the Atlanta area, but the station was supposedly going to send him a copy of the news segment. I think The Acidic One comes off rather well: soft-spoken, thoughtful, intelligent, refusing to allow himself to be cast as “victim,” disappointed but not bitter.

Anyone who has wondered what Rob sounded like now has a chance to find out. I’ve pulled the video off of my TiVo, digitized it, and uploaded it to YouTube in three parts. Here they are:


Part 1. ©2006 WAGA.


Part 2. ©2006 WAGA.


Part 3. ©2006 WAGA.