I suppose a quick intro is in order.

Thanks, naturally, to Rick for giving a shout-out to this here space in his Sunday column. We've still got a kink or two to work out, no doubt, as is the case with all new technologies.

Lots of papers have gone down the blogging road, but have jumped on what is the most popular bandwagon -- offering expanded commentary from members of the community. I see this as missing the potential of the Web log phenomenon. I also see this as a failure to keep the newsroom as current with new, more fluid technologies and media realities. As it is today, print reporters thumb their noses at bloggers and bloggers thumb their noses at reporters in traditional formats (television, print); but I think future success will be found in a hybrid of the two.

But enough of this "deep-thinky" stuff. This is the Internet. Come back, have fun, and if you've got a news tip or just a question about something you can contact us. E-mail addresses are embedded with the names of the staff members off to the right.