Holy crap, it's my face! And two chicks!

Nobody told me the water had to be out of the bottle for it to boil...

Such was the case yesterday for one Christian Ulderman, a resident of Northern California from his or her IP address and likely someone using a false name since it returned no MySpace and Facebook search results.

I struggled with the idea today on whether or not to address the e-mail or simply ignore it altogether, but I figured this would be more fun. Christian opens his or her e-mail up with the following lines:

For someone with such mediocre talent, you're inflated ego is an incredible display to witness. Nobody cares about your perspective on anything, Matthew. You're just as contrived and desperate as any other blogger out there. In fact, it's very saddening to see you drone on and on about things that for the most part are inconsequential.

The line in there that bothers me the most is "You're just as contrived and desperate as any other blogger out there," somehow alluding to this idea that everyone who blogs in the world is some kind of attention-seeking psychopath. I don't see this to be as big an insult to me as it is to everyone who follows me and everyone whom I follow in the blogging world.

I've met some incredible people who I would not hesitate to defend if their character was attacked as it was by Christian. People like Monica Brady, who has risen to become one of Walmart's 11 mom bloggers along with 10 others in the nation; people like Lori Hahn, who rallied with her colleagues in the past election to raise a substantial amount of money to battle a political cause she believed was worth fighting against; people like Jason Daniels, who founded the Capital Elector and delivers some of the best political commentary I've seen in this market (I often wonder when he sleeps).

These are people who did not begin a blog as a way of gaining attention; they did so, like me, because they had something to say and wanted to gift their voice with the rest of the world. To boldly stand up and put your opinion out into a world where it'll likely be misconstrued and rejected takes a lot of courage and a lot of dedication. I think that's a pretty unselfish, un-egotistical thing to do, is it not?

Speaking of "ego", when it comes to my "inflated ego" and "mediocre talent," it's true that I have a lot of pride in myself and in my work. However, it's only because other people have made me out to be a viable resorce -- so much so that when I told my audience I was going to end blogging, it was written about in The Sacramento Bee.

And when my "mediocre talent" landed me a job with a respectable news organization (at 21, mind you, when a lot of people are still in college and begin working their journalistic career in Terre Haute, Indiana or Billings, Montana), that was also mentioned in The Bee.

Attitudes from people like Christian are most welcomed in my life, because they remind me just how far I've gone (watch out, that's my inflated ego talking there). To know that someone would take a few minutes out of their day to write a letter on how much they hate you means you're making an impact. May not be a good impact, necessarily, but it's definitely a large impact. And everything is circumstantial -- where people see something as negative, others will see it as positive (please, hold your Nazi Germany rebuttals until the end of this reading, okay?).

My opinion has, at times, been the source of controversy. Nobody's denying that. I'm not even going to deny it. It's unpopular at times. It's made people uncomfortable. But it's important to speak your mind, or you become victim to letting other people speak it for you.

My voice and talent is often what turns people off, but it's also what turns people on. And where I choose to focus that voice now is toward the people whom it matters most to.

To all the jealous twenty-somethings of the world, you're capable of doing the same exact thing. You're going to need the courage to stand up to your enemies, and you're going to need the determination to do what you want to do in life.

I recently had the opportunity of a lifetime -- drive two hours to Mountain View, California and travel 40 miles per hour above the San Francisco Bay Area in a balloon filled with helium. The world's largest zeppelin calls Moffett Field home, kept in a large hanger at a now-defunct Air Force Base overtaken by NASA employees.

Our flight a few weeks ago was set for 10:00AM that morning. Our reporter, photographer and myself would fly about an hour over luxury homes, large public schools and Stanford University. We rode with two other passengers -- a man from near Tempe, Arizona and his father from Beverly Hills. The man was an alumnist of Stanford; the father had provided for the man's education years ago, and the ride on the dirigible was the man's way of giving back to his father after years of receiving his love.

Hearing stories this man and his father had to share made the experience all the more enjoyable and memorable. I started thinking about that ride above earth tonight when I found photos, like the one above and the ones here, on my computer.

In the fast, ever-changing environment of television news, so much happens and so much is experienced that moments like the one on November 18th are often lost in the shuffle of what experiences are to be had in the future and the moment of "now." This is why celebrities, television journalists and politicians write books -- only part of it is because they have a story to tell.

The other part is because they have memories they enjoy reliving in their minds.

Matthew here.

You may have noticed a change around here. Writings that are a little more personal, not written in a news-esque fashion. Gone are the tech, music and media writings of the future. It's not that I've lost a passion for it, I've just found a different and broader outlet for them is all.

You know what I'm talking about.

What I do miss are the days when I could have little conversations with myself, so I'm reverting back to that part of me. Outside of work, I still find myself alone. Not so much lonely, because I never really feel that. But more alone, isolated and by myself. And wow, the things I think about when I'm conversing with myself...they're pretty amazing thoughts.

So why not just start anew? Because in the months I was blogging about tech, music and media that catapulted me toward the beginning of my career, I manifested a ton of informative articles that, to this day, are still being read and referred to. They're being linked to on Wikipedia, social news website and even other blogs. It's an insane feeling, it really is.

So that's why they are still there, tucked away in an archive of what this place used to be. I can't bring myself to the thought of potentially depriving anyone in the future of information, met with broken links and redirects.

Welcome to an old kind of writing with a new kind of expression--and hopefully, in the process, I don't offend anyone or get fired from the job I love.

One thing still remains, and will always remain: As the new slogan goes, I am still Sacramento's very own.

Meet my friends, Bethany and Ben.

They're the two newest bloggers at my work's website, FOX40.com. I'm really excited to see the work they produce. Ben kicked off his blog with a behind-the-scenes look at our studio, while Bethany had some fun with the guys at Rock, Inc.

If you can, patron their stories and entries. Feel free to give them feedback. They're just starting to bloom, but I know they have so much potential, and while I'm trying to encourage them as much as I can, I know even more encouragement would provoke them to write even more.

There's more photos from our blog promo shoot on my Flickr account.

What you see above is a picture of my car keys. I'll explain why it's important in a moment.

The weekend before the national election, there was a huge rally in a city called Citrus Heights, California, on one of Sacramento's busiest (and that night, congested) street corners. It was cold, and moist because of the rain that had come the night before. There was mud in the grass and on the sidewalks. There was an ungodly stench coming from the crowds where people had stepped in mud and God-only-knows what else. Thousands of people there.

You know how jeans have that little coin pocket above the right leg near the right pocket? Those have been perfect for putting my keys in, by just the remote with the rest dangling out, since I bought my car. But since I've lost weight, I've often heard them clunking to the ground after wiggling out loose. But out of habit, I still put them in there every now and then.

Back to Citrus Heights now...I hurried to get to our video photographer and reporter in order to make it for their live shot at the top of the 10PM block. Turns out, despite running and rushing, I had been two minutes late, but had made it in time to see the end of our reporter's live shot.

Shortly after he wrapped up his reporting, a police officer came up to him and asked him if a set of keys belonged to anyone at FOX40 News. My keys had somehow fallen out of my pocket, and someone had spotted the "FOX40 News" keychain I had among the others from Borders, Petco and Best Buy. They gave them to police, who in turn gave them back to me.

Had someone not found my keys and turned them in, I would have been oblivious to the idea that I had lost them until it was time to go home, and by then they would have been long gone.

Someone out there--I don't know whose side they were on, but someone--was looking out for me. And had I not had that little symbol of my employment, they probably never would have reached their owner again.

Norah Jones has been background music for too long. Her song "Don't Know Why" came out when I was in high school, and it was a big hit on the radio. Never did figure out why. Sure, I liked it, but I didn't connect with it at the time. Music is all about a connection with me. Now, I connect somehow with her music.

It's because I tuned in to her melody and lyrics, rather than passing it off as another soft rock hit. There's real artistry in her music. There's melody and instruments that jump out at your ears. Her words are poetic. It's soothing, in both a maternal way and in a euphoric way.

It's like being in a room surrounded by people and feeling really lonely. You're not alone, but you're lonely. Funny how that works sometimes. Then, suddenly, out of nowhere, someone sits down next to you. They put their arm around you and smile. It totally comes out of nowhere, and in the course of just a few minutes, it's gone. And it leaves you wanting more.

That's what it sounds like to me. And in this case, you can just rewind the track or replay the Internet video and get that comforting feeling all over again. It never goes away, no matter how many times you replay the song over and over again.

These guys are really good.

The first time I heard this song, it was the Chris Brown version. I was over at a friend's house in Sacramento about a month ago. We were laying on his bed, one of us on either end. We were meditating, and it was extremely peaceful.

His iPod Touch was docked in his stereo, streaming Pandora from his computer. He had created a playlist full of R&B songs, and many of them were extremely enjoyable. At one point, Frank Sinatra came on...we're still not quite sure how it happened. Eventually, "Forever" by Chris Brown started playing.

My first thoughts were, Wow, this belongs in a Doublemint Gum commercial, at which point my friend says, "Hey, did you know this song was in a Doublemint Gum commercial?"

Figures.

Boyce Avenue was a band I subscribed to a while back on YouTube. I can't remember why I initially found them captivating, but Saturday, I spent a ridiculous amount of money purchasing their covers on iTunes when I could just as well have heard them on YouTube for free. Maybe it's because they've given me a deeper appreciation for music that I would, otherwise, not have appreciated. Maybe it's because they can actually sing and perform without the need of thousands of dollars in computer software and studio equipment.

Or maybe it's just because they're fucking awesome.

Either way, they're well-deserving of my money.

People who know me will tell you I do not discuss politics. It's about as personal as where I live specifically or what I look like naked. But nonetheless, I took an unusual stance on my blog in endorsing a political measure that, to me, would be very scary if passed.

Over the past week, I've done a handful of stories on Proposition 8 that I found to be balanced, fair and objective. I did not let my view of Proposition 8 cloud my judgement as a writer for the station I work at.

And then, there was the candlelight vigil the day after Election Day. Earlier that day, I had to write about two men who were denied a marriage certificate in the middle of their ceremony. Later that day, I found myself surrounded by hundreds--and by some estimates, a handful of thousands--of people just like those two who now found themselves being second-class citizens.

I took my photos of the event, I wrote my article, and I went home. I laid in bed, and I started reflecting on what I had just been witness to. My generation's civil rights movement. Sure, I don't believe either side was right in this battle, and I feel compromises could be made without drastic action being taken on either side.

But the fact of the matter is this--those people I was with tonight had lost their battle on Proposition 8, but they weren't ready to lose the war when it came to their beliefs. They were pissed off. They were angry. They were upset. But they weren't destructive, they weren't looting stores or setting fire to cars.

Instead, they delivered their message that the war wasn't over yet and they did so peacefully. That's one of the most moving things I've ever been a witness to, and the entire aura of that evening is one I'll remember for a long time coming.

Since 2004, the people of California have engaged in a long and stressful battle regarding the definition of "marriage" and to whom the rights and responsibilities of "marriage" should belong to. Proponents of Proposition 8 will argue that our country was founded on religious principle, and they would be correct. However, it was also founded on the principle of a separation between religious institutions and a people's government.

Over time, however, that separation has narrowed. The words "In God We Trust" grace the paper currency we freely trade back and forth when resolving debts and making purchases. The words "Under God" are said daily by schoolchildren who pledge their allegiance to our country.

And the word "marriage" has undergone significant change since the year 1776.

We have marriage licenses and marriage certificates, both issued by the government. We have marriage counselors, and marriage retreats, none of which have any religious requirement attached to them (you don't need to be a member of the clergy to be a marriage therapist). Over 200 years, we have lost touch with the "sanctity" of marriage, a value I hope we one day regain. I look forward to the day when the number of marriages is not closely tied with the number of divorces.

Since the announcement of Proposition 8 on the California ballot, I have struggled with the idea of which side was correct. True, marriage should be a sanctified religious ceremony between a man and a woman. True, homosexual couples should be allowed to enjoy the same happiness as any other couple. And true, the approval of gay marriage in our society has the potential to open a door to people marrying animals, trees, aircraft carriers and children--the line could become very blurry.

So why speak out against Proposition 8?

Proposition 8 is not about redefining the term "marriage," and Proposition 8 is not about the State of California. Proposition 8 is about fundamental human rights. It would be more dangerous to allow Proposition 8 to pass this election than to allow a few promiscuous homosexual couples the right to marry.

If Proposition 8 passes, we would be giving fundamentalist extremists (and make no mistakes, the talking heads you see in the Protect Marriage commercials are extremists) the power to tell Americans how to live their lives and conduct themselves on a day-to-day basis. We would erase decades of protests and struggles for human dignity--from the emancipation of the slaves in the 1800s to the rights of migrant farm workers in the 1960s.

Proposition 8 wants to open a Pandora's Box of erasing human rights. Ask yourself when you vote in November--is Proposition 8 patriotic?

As spotted on Six Degrees with Annalee, this may provide a troubling perspective of the digital switchover coming next February.

If your Granny wants to continue watching her "stories" without cable or dish, do her a favor--hook up her DTV box for her.

The six tiered packages will include an "all news & talk" and "all sports" packages, while the a-la-carte packages will allow subscribers to choose up to 50 or up to 100 channels of their choosing, with specialty channels like "Howard 1003 and "The Virus" running extra. A package called the "Best Of Sirius-XM" will run subscribers $16.99 a month and will allow listeners to choose programming from both services.

Also rolling out sometime this fall will be brand-new Sirius XM Radio receivers, which will allow even more programming options in the future. A launch date for the new radios has not yet been set.

Speculation says Apple will unveil a new line of its iPod Nano music jukeboxes along with high-definition video in an upcoming release of its iTunes Music program. Leaked photos have appeared on tech blogs of a slimmer, wider iPod Nano as well as protective cases, but it's unclear if these photos are authentic.

Speculation also points to Microsoft releasing a new line of optical keyboards and mice, as well as the potential for new Zune music jukeboxes with bigger memory capabilities.

Apple's event for September 9th will be held in San Francisco.

From BBC Radio 1's "Big Weekend," the Welsh band Stereophonics perform their track "It Means Nothing," which you can purchase at the iTunes Store here.

This track hasn't had much radio play in the United States, but was featured on the Fox television drama Bones and appears on said show's soundtrack.

"We searched nationwide for the right combination of wit, wisdom, perspective and honesty (for Fox40 Live)," Mercer said to RadioMatthew.com. "Turns out, the perfect anchor was right here in Sacramento."

Robins will be joining Natalie Bomke and Rosemary Orozco on the station's new morning show, "Fox40 Live," which is set to launch in early September. Reporters Darsha Philips and Bethany Crouch will also be a part of the new morning program, which will run from 4:30AM to 9:00AM weekdays.

"The opportunity to work with Brandon and the team at Fox40, to build something new, was just too good to pass up," Robins said to RadioMatthew.com

Robins was host of "The Paul and Phil Show" for over 20 years on KGBY Sacramento before the station flipped formats last December. No stranger to television, Robins previously worked with The Discovery Channel on the program "The Answer Guys" as well as on a late-night Fox television program in 1987. His television appearances snagged him two Northern California Emmy nominations and a Cable Ace award.

Robins will grace the Sacramento area on television beginning September 8th. Seven months of waking up without an alarm clock is over.

"Everything about this job is exciting," exclaims Robins. "Except the hours."

As host of the "Paul and Lori" morning program on the old KGBY 92.5FM Sacramento, Paul Robins would often brag about the excitement surrounding his expected grandchild. Two months before his daughter gave birth, Paul was asked to leave the station along with co-host Lori Sacco, the result of Clear Channel's restructuring of KGBY to a new music format.

Paul was unable to share the joy of his grandson's birth in February. Now, the photos are here for the world to see.

"My handsome grandson's name is Luther," Paul writes. "He's actually hanging out at my house for a couple of days right now. I got the last diaper before bedtime tonight."

Paul's oldest daughter had the baby a little off-schedule. Back in February, Paul mentioned that his daughter was due on the 23rd of that month. "My oldest daughter's due date was yesterday, and still no grandson," he wrote. "My wife and I have an overnight bag in the trunk of the car and my cell phone is never far from me."

Now almost six months old, Luther is a bouncing bundle of joy. "Cute is only part of the package," Paul writes. "In person, he's just a really nice little guy."

As for an update as to what Paul is doing?

"I'll officially defer (elsewhere) for any updates," Paul says. While it's unclear what Paul will be doing in the future, his past work in the Sacramento area is extensive. Aside from working with well-known colleague Phil Cowan, who was also asked last year to leave Sacramento radio, Paul has appeared in corporate videos for various companies including Levi Strauss and the California Highway Patrol. His biography also sports running the Boston Marathon twice and raising over a quarter-million dollars for the "Food For Families" charity.

Called a "train of thought about human endeavor, built on an outrageous groove," British rock band Keane released their newest single Spiralling for free on their website earlier this month. A preview of what's to come in October when their third studio album Perfect Symmetry drops, the radio edit of Spiralling has already been downloaded over half a million times since its debut online. Not one to outdo themselves, Keane also announced their second single from the album will be a track called Lovers Are Losing.

"The band and the label are very keen to share something right away," the band's manager Jon Turner told MusicWeek.com. "The general international feel is of excitement and Spiralling is a favourite track of the US company." Apparently, it's a hit with the British company as well, as Spiralling has already entered the Top 40 chart following it's debut on BBC Radio 1 last week.

But was Spiralling the correct third-album intro for long-time listeners of Keane, or simply a way for the studio to enter an aggressive pop market? While the track maintains the band's course of deep meaning hidden in ironic and surreal tempo and melody, Spiralling presents a pop-like element usually not found in Keane tracks.

"This song is TOTALLY different from any of (their) previous recordings," says a listener comment left by Nina on Keane's website. "Yet we can still find some lingering elements which remind us its Keane."

One thing that is definitely different about this track is the revelation of a slight political side to Keane. "Did you want to be famous? Did you want to be the President? Did you want to start a war?" lead singer Tom Chaplin questions in the bridge of the song, an almost obvious shot to the current American Presidential administration. Not quite as politically heavy as Coldplay's anti-war song Violet Hill, which was released earlier this year along, but the elements are still there.

Nonetheless, Keane fans are eager and anxious for the band's newest album. While the band continues to push their limits of creativity and success, "we remained anchored," says Nina on their website.

The song that got me started on British pop sensation Alison Moyet, from BBC2's Graham Norton Show is her performance A Guy Like You.

Formerly part of chart-topping pop-band Yazoo, which was formed with former Depeche Mode member Vince Clarke, Moyet decided in the mid-1980s to launch a solo singing career. Her single Invisible attracted a mild audience in the United Kingdom but was an instant Top 40 success in the United States.

Today, Moyet is active in British theatre, at one time starring alongside famous comedienne Dawn French in the play Smaller. Moyet composed three songs for Smaller which are featured on her seventh and latest album The Turn.

It's the only tour of Downtown Sacramento on wheels, cruising the Capitol City on a Segway. If you think you know there is to know about this city, this tour proves you don't know Sac!

"Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to welcome you to the Hysterical Walks & Rides city Segway tour!" booms a voice out of a loud speaker somewhere. We all remember President Bush's Segway spill, but here it's safety first.

"First, we want to get your vest and helmet on, and then we're going to start your training," says Paul with Hysterical Walks & Rides. "Then, what you're going to do is you're going to stand up onto the machine as if you were standing up on a staircase. We haven't had a person yet who hasn't been able to ride these."

"We'll see about that today. This is such a weird experience. I feel like I'm standing on a flying saucer." After a fifteen minute training session, we hit the gas...or, battery-powered motor.

We embark on a guided, taped tour with the voices of an arguing husband and wife, complete with some classic cruising tunes, little-known facts and humor. "Our next stop is the famous Haunted Mansion," the taped tour guide instructs, "This is the mansion that was once the home of California Governors."

"There's a lot of people who live in the Sacramento area who hardly come downtown unless it's a special occasion," Paul says. "So they really don't know where a lot of the sites are. This is a great way to really be able to see the sites." From the Governor's Mansion to the Sacramento River and back, there are more than seventeen different sites to see!

"We cover almost six miles on our tour. Even walking, that's a pretty good walk." The tours are limited to eight riders at a time and one guide, and if you can't stand for long periods of time, this probably isn't the way to go. "Our oldest tourists have been a seventy-seven-year-old man and a seventy-five-year-old lady, and they had a great time! If they had been walking, it would have been pretty tough."

If you're a native or newcomer, set sail...or Segway...in Sacramento! Segway city tours operate seven days a week, twice per day at 9AM and 1PM. Tickets will run about $80 per person, and you must be over the age of sixteen to operate the Segway on this tour.

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Natalie Bomke is a features reporter and morning show anchor for KTXL Fox40 in Sacramento. Her Sacramento Scene segment airs Fridays on the Fox40 Morning News. Natalie also contributes to Fox40.com by writing the Sacramento Scene Blog, an online extension of her weekly segment. She can be reached by e-mailing natalie.bomke@fox40.com.