READING THE NEWS

               I am a news-aholic.  My wife will confirm this: I am addicted to the news.  I try and watch NBC Nightly news as often as I can. 

           

            In addition to this, I review Yahoo’s news on my homepage daily, and I have at least six news apps on my phone, because I need at least six.

            My favorite is the New York Times app.  The Times recently changed its policy regarding its app where if you read more than three articles a day you get charged for it.  As a result I haven’t updated my New York Times App in over two months, it just sits there on my phone telling me it needs to be updated.  Since I haven’t updated it, though, I can still read all the articles for free.

 

 

            To balance out The Times I also have the Wall Street Journal app.  However, the Wall Street Journal was smarter than The Times and it charges for about 90 percent of the material it offers online.  As a result I don’t read it as much.

            I also have the L.A. Times and Washington Post Apps. 

I have the App for the news magazine The Economist too.  I suppose I have the latter just because I have become somewhat of a news snob.  To round things out I have the ESPN app, but I don’t look at it as much when the NBA is in off season.

            That may seem like a lot of news, but just to be sure I haven’t missed anything I have an app called The Pulse, which collects all kinds of news from a wide variety of sources.  I don’t play Angry Birds.  I read the news.  Every day.  Every single flippin’ day.  Several times a day, as a matter of fact.

            If something is happening somewhere, and some under-paid over-worked journalist has taken the time to write about it, I have probably read what has been written.  To say I am well informed is like saying Miley Cyrus is trying to shed her Disney image.  It goes without saying.  (And yes, while I don’t listen to her music, if Ms. Cyrus makes it into the news, I will probably read about it.  And I guess I should explain that I have nothing against her music, she is just not writing for 56 year old, grey-haired, grandfathers.  I listen to Beatles and ZZ Top type music.)

 

            Does it make me sound conceited to say I am “well informed”?  Maybe.  But I can’t truthfully say I’m good looking, or that I am especially athletic, (I do enjoy watching sports) or that I am rich, or feared, or much of anything else.  So, at least give me this one thing:  I am well informed. 

            It may not be much, but it is what I got, not all that I got, but all that I am going to write about today.  Where was I going with this?  I started out by confessing that I am a news-aholic.  I am not aware of any 12 step program for people like myself, if there was one I wouldn’t go to all the effort that 12 steps take anyway.  (Fortunately my bathroom is less than 12 steps from my bed.)

            So, . . . I still don’t know, so what?  I read the news, and probably more than you.  Well, you’re probably better looking, so . . . I guess we’re even.