Do we ever say goodbye to people?

It’s almost cliché to say the world is more interconnected today than ever.
But it’s true.

With social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter and many folks just a short text message away, it’s easy to maintain a friendship with a person halfway across the country.
So as I say goodbye to friends, colleagues and all others in Amarillo, it’s comforting to remember I can easily keep in touch with everyone I want to.
Today was my last day as staff writer for the Amarillo Globe-News.

I worked at this newspaper for nearly 3½ years covering health, higher education, cops, courts, business and many general assignments thrown my way.

I worked with some great people and learned and grew a tremendous amount along the way. I am proud of numerous stories I’ve covered and broken as a journalist.

This was my first job out of college. I moved to the Texas Panhandle three weeks after graduating from the University of Georgia to take what I thought was a great opportunity to launch myself.

I wasn’t disappointed.

But it’s time for something different. I’m seeking a more stable industry to try to advance my career.

I start next Monday writing for Chemical & Engineering News, the member publication of the American Chemical Society.

I want to apply my chemistry education to jump into the world of science writing. Washington D.C., where I’ll move later this week, is a Mecca for journalist. It’s time for me to travel to the Holy Land.

I won’t miss the Panhandle winds. I will miss lunch at Sharky’s.
I won’t miss dealing with hospital spokeswomen. I will miss seeing the television news report the same story I broke in that morning’s newspaper.

Thank you to all the kind and generous people I’ve meet.
And remember, if e-mail is too antiquated for you, there’s always Facebook and texting.

In a foul mood for no reason

A colleague of mine rightly pointed out midday Friday I was in a bad mood.
I’m not a great fan of 10-plus inches of snow falling in one day.
Also making me grumpy late last week, my car was stuck in a snow drift on South Van Buren Street outside the newspaper’s offices. I was sans car for more than a day, needed a ride home from work Thursday and a lift to work Friday morning. But a series of events around the end of my workday Friday made me realize I wasn’t seeing the goodness in people.
First, several members of the sports staff at the Amarillo Globe-News helped push my car out of the snow dirt Friday afternoon.
I managed to make it home safely, only to get stuck in more snow in the gutter of my driveway.
About that time, two men stopped the Jeep they were driving, got out with two shovels and started to move the snow from around my stuck car. They didn’t even ask if they could help. They just started to shovel.
Venturing out this weekend, I saw a number of examples of people stopping to help others stuck in the snow.
That colleague was right Friday.
I shouldn’t have been in a bad mood. I should have been kind to others the way they were to me.

Funny story I wanted to pass along

Two nurse friends of mine at Baptist St. Anthony’s Hospital were surfing the Internet early Saturday morning to catch the latest news on their boss, former Chief Executive John Hicks, who had suddenly left the hospital the day before.
A security guard, I’m told, approached the nurses and told them to leave the Web site of the Amarillo Globe-News, Amarillo.com.
The security guard had received orders to enforce the rule. The reader comments on the site were “too negative,” the nurses remembered being told.

Land dispute years in the making

I wrote this for this piece for the story in today’s paper on the whole Harrington Regional Medical Center-Amarillo Area Foundation dispute:

The issue of selling/donating land dates back to at least the early 1990s when High Plains Baptist Hospital, now called Baptist St. Anthony's Hospital, sought to buy the land along Wallace Boulevard across from itself and the Harrington Cancer Center.
“We couldn’t negotiate a price that was acceptable to us as best as I could remember,” said Steve Dalrymple, then senior vice president and general counsel for High Plains Baptist Hospital.
High Plains was looking for additional parking space, he said, but instead the hospital expanded its existing employee lot.
Steve Gens, president of the Harrington Regional Medical Center, remembered a different scenario. The hospital was looking for the land to be donated, but Gens said High Plains Baptist wouldn’t disclose how it would use it.
Later, High Plains would withdraw from the medical center, “but it was for a number of reasons, not just this land deal,” Dalrymple said. “We were looking to save some money,”
When High Plains merged with St. Anthony’s Hospital in the middle of last decade, BSA joined the organization only to withdraw last week.
“I think it’s been an ongoing issue since the medical center organization has chosen to sell property,” Dalrymple said. “I know some organizations had trouble with that.”

No raises for Tech docs in Amarillo

A story appeared in Saturday's Globe-News on pending raises for Texas Tech faculty.

"Faculty and staff for almost all Texas Tech institutions will receive up to 6 percent more in pay under a budget approved by the system's governing board Friday," the story by the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal's Elliott Blackburn stated.

However, I ran into Tech School of Medicine Regional Dean Richard Jordan at a meeting early Monday morning and he said faculty at the Tech Health Sciences Center in Amarillo will not be received raises this year.

Things are looking pretty tight this year, he made it seem like.

Hello (blogging) World

Where do I start?
I was asked to write an opening blog entry to “introduce” myself to readers before I take a dip into a new medium, blogging. One question most out there are wondering is why do I want to start this?
Those who work in the newsroom of the Globe-News recently held a staff meeting to introduce two summer interns. Everyone in the room took turns to introduce themselves and state their job.
I was the fourth person to speak.
“I’m David Pittman. I cover higher education, health and medicine, general business stories.”
My answer drew some chuckles from colleagues, mainly because I have a lot to cover. Inevitably, I don’t have the time or space to do full stories on all issues that come before me.
I envision this blog as a way to serve as an outlet for some issues left uncovered, including the wave of news releases and alerts that always flow in. I can expand upon stories already written about and don’t have space or time to touch on. I can still provide analysis of on-going issues I cover.
The concept of journalists blogging is nothing new in an era when a vast majority of Americans go online for at least part of their news.
This blog will be my attempt to provide more information and insight on a different medium. I’ve already built a large twitter following at twitter.com/David_Pittman.
Stick around. We’ll probably both learn something.