9:49:54

Welcome to this week’s Reno News & Review.

Friday morning. I’m drinking some coffee left over from yesterday and reviewing my options. Kat’s working at home today. Brad’s out at Black Rock City by now. Dennis is off doing journalistic journalism. Kelley isn’t going to be here til noon. I’m going to have to work Monday, Labor Day.

Hmm. Hmm. If I could finish Editor’s Note, Letters to the Editor, and write an editorial before noon, I could conceivably take half a day off in lieu of the holiday I’m going to miss out on because Brad wanted to write about the art of Burning Man. But that kind of dedication deserves a reciprocal response, so I’m going to honor Labor Day by laboring—which is not a reciprocal response to Brad’s dedication, but to the concept of Labor Day. (Sorry, I’ve been punning all morning.)

At any rate, after a few minor glitches, both our Biggest Little Best Of Northern Nevada readers’ poll, and our Biggest Little Songwriting Contest, are up and running and ready for votes. I guess I’ve said this a few times already, but—man—I was just blown away by the response to our songwriting contest. I imagined we’d get 30-40 songs, but we got like 100 entries. The ones that got kicked out were either pre-published on some kind of a professional level or they were not in MP3 format. We’ve got just about every genre and age group represented, and the quality of songs is nothing short of amazing.

There’s not a light on here on the third floor of the World Headquarters of the Reno News & Review. Just me and this humming box before me. No one’s going to make one little peep if I sneak out for a long interlude before I pick up Hunter at 5.

One down, two to go.