You may have noticed that Applesauce hasn’t been very saucy lately. In fact, this blog has actually been a pretty baron blip on the Internet since my posts have been few and far between.

However, the absence of Applesauce isn’t necessarily a bad thing. In my new role as online reporter I have been taking on some new duties. Recently, a lot of those duties have involved training and assisting reporters with evening fire coverage. My training involves self-teaching myself how to create videos, podcasts and other online-specific features for the Web site you are currently viewing.

Unfortunately, the downside of all the fire reporting and training (aside from there being fires to report on, of course) is that I have little time to blog, which is something I greatly enjoy doing. I think blogging is a excellent way to connect with people in a conversational and personal manner, as opposed to the newsy tone most of the articles I write take. I also see blogging as an opportunity to give personality to my byline and remove the “man behind the curtain” feeling some readers may get by reading news stories.

With that said, I wanted to share with you what I was working on yesterday prior to a fire breaking out in Twisp.

I spent my Tuesday morning watching a beginning guitar class for fifth and seventh graders. I took some pictures and about five or 10 minutes of video for an online feature. I am using the beginning guitar class video as a guinea pig of sorts since it will be my first online video and I am currently training myself how to edit video on iMovie.

So that is what’s been taking up my time this week. Hopefully there won’t be any major fire news and I will be able to complete my training and have a video (and possible story) soon.