Moodle/Ning OR First Responders?

I was faced with a hard decision Monday afternoon. I potentially had TWO decent story ideas for my looming-way-too-quickly feature article (and multimedia project - both are due this Wednesday at midnight), but I only had time and grades allotted to write one of them. And, in my indecision, I ended up at not one, but two, meetings.

I've done an article on Moodle and Ning (Moodle is an online learning site, and Ning is an online password-protected social networking site) - and how UGA faculty are using those sites and in-person meetings to train childcare providers who work with babies. I enjoyed that article a lot. Unfortunately, their next (and last) round of in-person meetings happen after my article is due. Grumble.

And then there was the unknown, the unwritten, the hardly-thought-of, the notes from a 2-hour phone interview with an energetic young lady who loves her volunteer work in Oglethorpe County.

That's Lisa. She's awesome.

Ah, gotta love indecision. Quite thankfully, one meeting left me looking for the exit. The other meeting was crazy. And awesome. And fun. And again made me miss community journalism.

First responders win. I think it's a good choice. It's a program that hasn't gotten much attention anywhere (google "first responder" and maybe add "Georgia" for good measure. You won't get much). I think part of the reason for lack of attention is that most first responder programs function in rural counties. Urban counties, like Clarke, don't need these volunteers because they have emergency personnel everywhere.

Now that I've made my decision, I've got another one. I need to pick 10-15 photos from the 45 I like (I took over 100 and narrowed it down from there). Decisions, decisions.

That's the old bell. Fortunately for people in Oglethorpe County, the EMS station has a new building - and a new bell. And first responders. Without them, a few less people would be walking around.