Whether you know it or not, we owe you an apology. We have fallen way behind with regard to our website this semester and it appears that we will not be able to implement some of the changes that we had hoped to accomplish.

Technology issues have been hindering our work in the newsroom all semester. Some of the computers were making funny noises before they would randomly shut off, discarding all of our work. Some of the computers had (or still have) viruses that would not allow us to access the internet. The server that runs our version of Adobe InDesign, the software that we use to create the pages of the newspaper, crashed so many times that we were not able to upload the file to the printing company until many hours past our usual time. It has been frustrating, exhausting and sometimes overwhelming just trying to produce the printed version and that has been reflected in the quality of the paper.

All of these obstacles, coupled with the lack of a web editor for this semester, has resulted in the website taking a backseat.

Admittedly, it is a shame to not be making use of this valuable resource that the school generously provides us and I wanted to take a moment now to assure you, our digital readers, that this is important to us and we are again working to populate the website with the latest content. We hope to be all caught up by the time this issue hits the stands, since everything in the newsroom seems to be working fine now.

We wanted to take this opportunity also to thank a few people without whom the last three issues of the Observer would not have gotten done at all:

We are truly grateful to the IT department. Especially Lenin Tejeda, who has made the trek across campus at least a dozen times to replace and repair our equipment. He never loses patience with us, even those weird times when the computer fixes itself before he gets there.

We are also grateful to the printing company that totally had our backs by accepting our file many hours late, printing us out of order and getting our papers to us faster than we ever could have hoped.

Finally, but perhaps most important of all, a shout out to our faculty adviser, Mary Jo Shafer. Often the only person in the room not crying or losing her temper, our faithful leader gently reminded us that issues like this are the nightmare of every news organization in the world, not just ours. In a world that relies so heavily on technology to perform every task, it’s a big part of the career we chose and learning to overcome obstacles now will help us to better cope when problems arise in our future lives. Thanks. We are well prepared.