Diary - 9

In the first week of August, I was exploring a story idea for business editor Tom Ginsberg. His idea was that Amish farmers in Pennsylvania might have very good times these days as not only the food prices were high, but as they use less machinery on their farms, they might be less affected by the high energy prices compared to other farmers. He was not sure if this assumption was correct so I had to find someone who could confirm or deny it.

I started with looking up the archives which helped me identify a couple of farming and business organizations that might be able to help. Then I had to make numberless phonecalls as nobody could give a definitive answer, but passed me on to other experts. By the end of the week I found a university professor who deals with agriculture at the Lancaster County (the home of the Amish in PA) extension office of the University of Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, he told me that my editor's assumption was not correct as the feed for horses (that the Amish use instead of tractors) and the diesel for their machines (they don't have electricity but use diesel) have both became very expensive.

Although there was no story I could write about, I did not feel I wasted my time. I did track down the person who had the answer after all, and my conversation with him resulted in another story idea. I did not start to work on that one, however, due to lack of time (and to be quite frank, my editor, although supportive, was not that crazy about the idea either). During the week, I also talked a lot on the telephone in English, something I used to try to avoid in favor of in-person interviews for previous stories.

Next week, I had the opportunity to shoot and edit an own video. I have already spent some time on the online desk with the main goal of learning some multimedia, but I was not offered a training. Now I got something like that from the photo department. Tuesday, August 12 I learned the basics of how to shoot from media editor Karl Stolleis, then shot a "story" starring my design artist friend here Sterling Chen. I edited it the following day with the help of Steve Benjamin; the result can be seen here:


Saturday, August 2 Maria gave me a tour of the Northern part of Philadelphia. Sunday I went to Yardley, PA to visit a Hungarian family, Ferenc Jakab and his wife, Izabella whom I met on the Hungarian Day in July. They are currently sponsoring a Hungarian girl who won a U.S. green card on the lottery. She has lived in their house since February.

We went to church, watched a film about the Amish, then after a tasty lunch we went to Lancaster County to visit their farms. It was not especially spectacular, but they surely live in a nice environment. After returning to Yardley, we climbed up to a nearby hill called Bowman's Tower.

Wednesday, August 6 I went to a Judas Priest concert with editorial assistant Rob Copestick, his neighbor Bob, Bob's girlfriend Allison, and another friend Joe. Judas Priest followed Motorhead and Heaven and Hell.

Friday, August 8 I paid a farewell visit to John Lukacs. We had a lunh in a restaurant in Paoli, then went to his home in Phoenixville. The weather was beautiful and it was all very pleasant.

Saturday I went to Blue Bell, PA to visit a relative, Kalman Beothy who found me after he read one of my articles in the Inquirer - my family has not even known about his existence. So it was a very strange experience. He lives with his second, American wife, Sally. We had a nice dinner in an Australian steakhouse called Outback. Sunday I have seen some beautiful lights and rainbows after a heavy storm that caught me walking in the evening in West Philly.

Sunday, August 16 I went to see my Hungarian friend Joe Szabo in North Wales. We went to a nearby swimming pool where one of his sons, Dominick holds most of the records in breast-stroke. He told me his son used to train together with Michael Phelps, who just the day before won his 8th gold medal in the Olympics.


Judas Priest Metal Masters Tour, Camden, NJ, August 6 2008

Dawn of Creation
Prophecy
Metal Gods
Eat Me Alive
Between The Hammer And The Anvil
Devil’s Child
Breaking The Law
Hell Patrol
Dissident Aggressor
Angel
The Hellion / Electric Eye
Rock Hard, Ride Free
Painkiller
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Hell Bent For Leather
The Green Manalishi
You’ve Got Another Thing Coming