DennisPillion.com

Birmingham Restaurant Week, or How I learned to stop worrying and buy bigger pants

2011-09-01T02:07:01-05:00

For 10 glorious days, restaurant-goers in one of the fattest states in America could give themselves a higher class of diabetes.

14 hours in Tel Aviv

2011-04-28T14:37:07-05:00

How much can you really learn about a city in 14 hours? Not much, especially when at least half that time will be dedicated to curing jet lag after escaping a deadly tornado by only a couple of hours on our journey to Israel. Tel Aviv was the first stop on our Israeli adventure, and while it wasn't the highlight of our travel package, this Mediterranean beach town would not at all be a bad place to spend a weekend of R&R. "If I could stay in Tel Aviv full-time, I absolutely would," said a flight attendant on our flight...

How to find a job in the media, or die trying

2011-02-25T14:01:26-06:00

Finding a job in the media is not as easy as it used to be, but it's not quite the Great Depression either. You probably won't get paid as much as you could in some other walks of life, but working in the media can provide you with a career full of excitement and satisfaction. If you're looking to get rich quick, or coast to a comfortable living, you might want to try other industries. Be the best you that you can be: Get experience any way you can - student media - freelancing - internships Track job ads and...

President's Day 2011: Hailing all 43 chiefs one-by-one

2011-02-22T10:00:00-06:00

Review my Presidents' Day Twitter posts honoring each of the 43 U.S. presidents.

We've been exposed

2011-01-26T17:49:00-06:00

I couldn't help but share this comment I got on one of my al.com posts today. I believe this story may have something to do with advertising revenue for the al.com site. ... It's possible that the more hits (including posted comments) this site gets the more attractive their pitch is to potential advertisers (like Blue Cross or Regions). I really believe that the original story and the follow up are an attempt to just generate hits to the site. ... tHEN YOU CAN PROMOTE YOURSELF TO ADVERTISERS AT A HIGHER PRICE. I WOULD LIKE TO SEE A B'HAM NEWS...

Media geek out at the Georgia Dome

2010-12-04T14:38:08-06:00

So, I'm sitting at a table eating my lunch in the press box at the Georgia Dome when I'm joined by Dan Wetzel of Yahoo! Sports and Pete Thamel of The New York Times. They sit right across from me. A few minutes later, Clay Travis and Andy Staples join us. Without realizing it, I'm sitting with four of the big boys on the national scene who were breaking the Cam Newton scandal story. Of course, they all talked about Newton for a few minutes, swapping stories of who they've talked to and what they said, the crazy NCAA ruling...

Scoping out ESPN's 3D broadcast of the Auburn-Clemson game

2010-09-21T14:19:37-05:00

As I was doing my thing at the Auburn-Clemson game Saturday, I got a sneak peek at ESPN's 3D football-broadcasting operation. The 3D sideline cameras were quite an elaborate setup. The basic principle is that the camera has two lenses, which function more or less like human eyes, providing depth perception. I snapped a couple of quick photos of the operation during the game (sorry they're not great, but I did have a job to do). As you can see in the photo, the camera is a shoulder-mount, and it looks really uncomfortable. There are more wires running out of...

What would Shawn Spencer say?

2010-09-16T13:50:37-05:00

How do you respond when a co-worker tells you look "very un-slovenly today"?

The peaks and valleys of biking to work in Birmingham

2010-09-01T14:01:01-05:00

In my own modest attempt to decrease my personal impact on the planet, I've taken to riding a bike to work instead of driving. I figured, hey Alabama's among the top-50 most bicycle-friendly U.S. states, so why not pedal my way to work every day? Like the city in which I live and work, there are a number of peaks and valleys associated with being a bicycle commuter. Here are but a few: Peaks: Exercise, yo - Since I work online, and work out about 1/10 as often as I post on Twitter, most of my time is spent hollowing...

Vacation update: I found oil and missed Jimmy Buffett

2010-07-01T18:00:43-05:00

And I'm back, live from the Gulf Coast. My original plan for the first week of vacation was to take in a free Jimmy Buffett concert in Gulf Shores, spend some cool-down time along the coast with the parents before heading over to Louisiana to catch up with some college friends. Depending on how you look at it, I missed Buffett by either 24 or 48 hours. Buffett's originally-scheduled July 1 concert was canceled due to the impending impact of Hurricane Alex. Since my parents and I left Tuesday, June 29, for Panama City Beach, we decided to head through...