A 30-year tour of hope and disaster

Even after 30 years in the news business, sometimes I think I haven't had a very interesting life. Then I remember the fires, floods, plane crashes and murders, and I realize that I don't have much in common with the neighbors.

When I started out, I packed up a rusted-out Ford and headed for a three-month internship in California.

When I got there, I had no money and no place to live. Like most reporters of my generation, I started near the bottom of the business, working for papers that paid little more than $1,000 per month. After rent and student loan payments, I had less than $1.50 a day left over for food.

But the stories made the sacrifices worthwhile, and in 1997, I started writing a column for The New York Times on the Web.

These days, I'm working as a freelance writer.

I spent several years teaching news writing and computer-assisted reporting for the Annenberg School at the University of Southern California. In recent years, I have worked as a contributing editor for Interactive Week, and I have written for several publications, including The New York Times newspaper, Discovery Communications and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

And I'm still looking for that next great story.