My Dream Job ... Has Been Taken

There is one book that changed my life more than almost anything else. It convinced me to be a journalist, it reenforced my wandering habits. It taught me that good stories don't come from good writers, they come from great subjects. William Least Heat Moon's "Blue Highways" was loaned to me when I was a very impressionably 16-year-old and I reread it regularly.

Least Heat Moon had lost his job and his wife, so he sold everything, bought a 1970s Ford Econoline ("the basic plumbers model") and headed out on the blue highways on a "journey into the heart of America."

Now, Matt Gross at the New York Times has begun a three-month journey around America, telling his stories online through photos and videos. The video work is good - not great. He's using a tripod to keep people from bouncing around in the frame (or his image stabilization package is stunningly good), but he could use a talk about light ...

I'm so jealous ...