Journalism, Our Biggest Export?

I'm a bit tired so this is going to be a short entry today.

But I had to write because I'm getting the sense that a lot of journalists are leaving, not the business, the country.

At my last count, former Sun Sports columnist Paul Oberjuerge went to United Arab Emirates (Abu Dhabi); former Daily Bulletin reporter Todd Ruiz works in Bangkok; former Daily Bulletin editor Rob Wagner writes and teaches in Saudi Arabia; former PE staffer Tom Griggs, left to Japan to join Stars and Stripes (though I'm not sure he is still with them.)

Now I see that John Miller, a city editor from the Los Angeles Daily News, is leaving to teach high school English in Kuwait.

Are we all that fed up? I think most of us are. I know that if someone offered me or Bill a job in Costa Rica, we'd start looking at the cost of airfare.

Am I thinking of leaving? Well not right now. Patch seems to be holding its own much to the disgust of members of the news hierarchy.

So where does that leave us? Becoming a more generic form of media rather than members of the press. That's my fear. We're moving out and money makers like TMZ (Michael Jackson story,) The National Enquirer (John Edwards story) and even Facebook (viral video of a cat playing the piano and a woman weeping over an In & Out burger) are moving in.

That's an exaggerated fear, perhaps. But it just feels like all the of journalism we molded and created in this country is better appreciated and welcomed elsewhere.

To me that's a sad thought.

Side effects include funeral costs?

I had a funny experience recently with my asthma medication.

As most of you know, I've had a life-long battle with asthma. We all know that the illness can kill. But I've always been one of those sufferers whose life was never quite at risk. I have two inhalers, Symbicort, a maintenance inhaler, and a Xopenex emergency inhaler (which I was told was better for the environment than other aerosol inhalers.)

My health is fine.

Recently I started working with a young man who deals day-in, day-out with a serious condition. He's open about it in his blog so I won't go into it here. But on his most recent blog entry, he listed the side effects of one of his medications.

They included:

• Diarrhea
• Dizziness
• Drowsiness
• Indigestion

(snip)

• Severe allergic reactions (rash; hives; itching; difficulty breathing)
• Tightness in the chest
• Swelling of the mouth, face, lips, or tongue
• Bloody stools
• Blurred vision

(snip)

• Blistered or peeling skin
• Ringing in the ears
• Seizures

"Geez," I told the husband. "Are these medications even worth taking?"

"All medications have side effects," he said.

That's when I started thinking. He was absolutely right. So, obviously my medications do too!

I called up Google, where everyone else gets their medical advice, and looked up Symbicort. Here's what I found:

Long-acting beta2-adrenergic agonists (LABA), such as formoterol one of the active ingredients in Symbicort, increase the risk of asthma-related death.

Ok, it's a warning. I kept looking but kept finding the same darned warning. Now they're bumming me out.

I told Bill, "Either I'm about to die or I suck at Googling."

I obsessed over finding something. Then it occurred to me, the medication guide! There, for the world to see, were the side effects. The first of which was "death from asthma problems."

BUT that was followed by the full compliment more common side effects including throat irritation, fever, headache sinusitis, flu, back pain, stomach discomfort, vomiting, thrush, increased blood pressure, nervousness, tremor, a fast irregular heartbeat, chest pain and all sorts of allergic reactions (hives, rash swelling.) My favorite side effect is "increased troubles breathing."

Nice. Can't breathe before, can't breathe after.

Trust me when I tell you that NONE of the side effects I listed COME CLOSE to the ones my fellow journo listed. But it is interesting. I can say that when I'm in the midst of an asthma attack, nothing else flipping matters than sucking on that inhaler, so I guess it's worth it.

Whaddya gonna do but pass the prescription pad.

How do you make a couple thousand in a few weeks? Seriously? My grandmother turns 102 in July. She lives in Costa Rica. We just lost my father. We could soon lose my grandmother. How the hell do you raise enough money to pay $350-$400 in plane tickets for three people? We really need to see my abuelita!

Hee hee Where have you gone?

I've been trying to recruit bloggers for my site. The Patch. For those of you who had forgotten about this blog, believe me, I don't blame you. I disappeared.

I have been all sorts of annoyed that people have not been committed too their blogs. Then I logged on and checked to see the last entry on mine.

Right! I think I'll be dropping by as often as I can. To at least throw in a couple things.