Overcoming Football Fear Syndrome with Live Blogging

One of the best things about creative work of any kind, but especially writing is being paid equitably - rewardingly, even.  I'll write you anything, and I'll write it with passion and in a way to inspire interest, so long as you pay me!  I'm happy because I got a raise at Mahalo - actually, all of the writers got a raise, and some of the tech work, such as inputting related pages and such - has been moved out of our purview, to give us the opportunity to produce better content.  The only thing better than money might be fame, and the M4 software at least gives us a byline, so that's a big step too.

I've had more of a chance to play with the M4 software at this point, and I have to admit that some of the changes are beneficial.  I don't like that everything is centered around the how-to videos, but that's a content rather than a software issue.  Some of the things I really didn't like, such as the new formatting of related pages, I don't have to worry about any more.  I've switched to using Chrome as a browser, which I was extremely reluctant to do, but it's solved most of the bug issues I had at the beginning, so that's something.  Richard continues to run into more bugs than me, and has perpetually lost work due to hitting the backspace button (which takes you back a page in your browser, and causes you to lose your work - OUCH!)  I live in fear of hearing cusses thrown about in regards to backspace.  Cats flee at the mention.  Dogs hide under the bed.  It's almost as bad as my dad watching football....

Speaking of which, I also have to admit I had a blast working on my first live blogging event with the Super Bowl.  This is an event which has not seen TV time in a home of mine since I moved out of my parents house.  Why?  Okay, sorry Dad, but I have to admit it - your football watching style traumatized me.  Football games make me anxious, always waiting for the yelling and cursing to start.  My dad is mild-mannered in almost any way, but he's rabid and scary about football.  I'm told he's mellowed some the last few years, which is good - I used to always think he'd have a heart attack during the games.  I wouldn't date guys who were big football fans either - thankfully my husband is a hockey lover, good Canadian boy that he is.

Okay, so I managed to get the game on, and had a great time writing alongside other like-minded folks, who were mostly there for the shows and commercials rather than the game itself.  It's as entertaining as anything else about the day, and getting to collaborate on pages with such a lovely team made it even better.  Check out some of the pages I worked on during the big day:

• Black Eyed Peas Halftime Show
• Bud Light Severance Package Commercial (Check this out for sure if you missed the live airing - one of the best of the Bowl!!!)
• Captain America The First Avenger Ad
• Go Daddy Ad
• Kung Fu Panda Ad
• Bud Light Super Bowl Ads
• Coke Animated Kingdom Ad
• Jack in the Box Ad
• Bridgestone Carma Ad

There are tons of other pages on the site which include ALL the ads from the Super Bowl as well as coverage of the events surrounding it, so check it out!