The weekend is just about over, and my review of all the major league e-mails that I have are coming close to an end as well. To check the validity of the addresses, I have invested a very small sum–$2.95, just a little more than a large Starbucks–in software that allows me to take my Excel spreadsheet and place it in their server for inspection. Sure enough, several of the addresses came back as being bad, but it is better to find that out now rather than after trying to send the contacts an e-mail. That would be very embarrassing albeit unavoidable given that many of the addresses have not been made publicly available, leading to an educated guess based on the research performed. The e-mail addresses identified as invalid I will need to go back and try to find a different one and keep going until all viable options have been exhausted.
Looking ahead to the week, I am in the process of scheduling interviews for former student profiles, so those will be coming up. Always nice to get back to my journalistic roots once in a while by asking a few questions, really more of a conversation about people and their lives. I think I have always been more drawn to those types of stories than the ones about fires and fraud. Anyway, I will be sure to share some of those conversations with you once I have had the chance to have them and review what was discussed. I’ll also take you through my tried-and-true reporting method.