15 posts from 2007

Well, we're likely on the move again.

I got a new job. After a year at a small weekly newspaper, I'm stepping up to a small daily newspaper, and I'm excited by the opportunity.

It's about an hour from where we live now. It's in another scenic area surrounded by mountains. I'll be covering a city beat. The city has about 20,000 people in it. It means, though, that my wife and I are looking for a new place, just months after we moved into a new one.

For me it'll be my fourth move in the last year; for her, it'll be four as well, but counting college and post-graduation until now, it's much higher than that. It's hard to put down roots, that's for sure.

Just when I was getting used to telling people I was from one place, I start to hedge, because I don't know where I am, and then ultimately, I hesitantly tell them I'm from the new place, and then, slowly, over time, I tell them with more confidence that I'm from the new place. But by the time I do that, we could well be on the move again.

That's how I feel about not writing here since August -- about a month-and-a-half.

I've been writing 5-7 stories a week (I'm the only full time news reporter now; our editor is having to do everything but actually write now; we have an intern who does a feature every week or two, and takes pictures at community events; we have a stringer assigned to one of the towns; we have a sports editor and a person to type up the community/religion listings). Now I'm having to fill in answering phones and doing other odd office jobs for various reasons.

I'm tired all the time. I like the compliments I receive, but I could do without the evil media cracks I get every once in awhile (then have the person say that he/she wasn't talking about me). I got one such comment last night saying we don't get our facts straight on stories; it was from a school board member).

Funny thing, I interviewed the chairman of the school board today, and he told me he had been meaning to compliment me on my stories about the school system; he thought they were well-written, that I was even-handed in my approach to the stories and that I had my facts right.

I wish I could share more of my stories with the few people that know me away from where I live, but our webpage isn't any good, and what articles it does post only stays on the site for a week and then it disappears.

If any of you are still around and reading, ask and I'll send some articles your way.

I feel like I've written some good stuff. My paper emphasizes a narrative approach to writing and reporting, and I think I'm good at it. But I can't get to all the stories I'd like to simply because I don't have the time. I also compete against a daily and another weekly, so I have to come up with another approach to the same story. Often that means we might not run stories on newsworthy events just because it's "already been covered" by the daily paper.

I'm not sure if our superiors understand what a crunch we're under, and the faulty equipment we have. I had to help explain today that my paper's editor has to handle all the photos for myself and the intern because our computers can't handle the software required to do it (the sports editor's computer can, though). I have to borrow time on someone else's computer just to look up information or to check e-mail, and that won't be as easy soon when our new graphic designer starts.

I don't mean to sound like I'm complaining; it just means longer days and nights, and Fridays where I have to fudge my timesheet because our company doesn't pay overtime past 40 hours. And it's not like I make a lot. I know teens that flip hamburgers (nothing wrong with that) who make more than I do.

My wife and I are doing well. We went away to Assateague Island a few weeks ago, and we went to D.C. to go to the book festival on the Mall. We made a day of it in the city, going to the waterfront for fresh seafood and then to a soccer game. She really got into the game; it didn't hurt that 25,000 people were there and she got the full effect of chanting, singing, drums, smoke bombs and really good goals, especially in the second half. We also chaperoned a homecoming dance last week -- one of the perks of being a teacher's husband. It actually went fairly well. We went apple picking the next day, but we both were wishing it had felt more like fall.

Enough for now.

I love you all...

I'm thinking about the next step in my journalism career. I'm in a general assignment position now with a large side helping of photography.

My first love is sports, though, and I'm not sure when I'm going to get back to it as long as I stay where I am.

Then again, sports positions anywhere are few, and the good ones that open up have over 100 applicants for every opening.

I'm flexible enough that I can write about many things, but they don't always enthuse me. Even the photo assignment I had today didn't enthuse me. It was just to find random people and take pictures of them -- whatever they were doing.

We're doing more of those kinds of photos because the bosses on high think it'll boost circulation by having local names and faces in the paper. I'm not so sure.

With us being short-staffed, I don't have time to do depth pieces. Someone else is assigned to what I want to do, and the other thing is that most positions I'm looking at involve a level of layout -- the one thing I'm not doing here.

So where do I go? Am I being led in a different direction? I've thought about most of the options. Continuing to pursue sports jobs, specializing in another subject matter (agriculture, religion, education, travel, whatever), photography. I like the idea of storytelling, and I'm trying to read some of the current storytelling geniuses to get an idea if I can do that.

I feel like I've gotten a late start on all this (it's not an excuse, but I feel like I need to make faster progress than I am).

Listening to: October Came Late by Mainstay on Pandora Radio.

Thoughts of the song: Never heard it, but love it! I love the mood of it.

My wife is asleep now. She's getting in her school routine. She had a very good first day at her new job today, and I'm so happy for her. Even with a long drive, it's a much better place for her to be.

Now if I can find where I should be -- career-wise.

I'm at a location going through a bit of turbulence.

Everyone, including the people that hired me, said this would likely be a stepping-stone for me. One of them told me that if I was still there in two years -- meaning that I hadn't advanced beyond a small weekly newspaper -- something would be wrong.

Well, I'm not going to say I've done everything I need to do to move up, but I'm confident enough in my abilities to know that I can. I'm trying to decide what level is an appropriate next-step. Also, at the moment, I can't just look for anything, because we're locked into a lease that goes until next June, and my wife will have to work a year at this job. There are a few places I could move to that are within an hour of where I live, but most are owned by the same company I work for now. I'm not saying I wouldn't make such a move, but I'm just trying to make steady improvements and see how that goes.

I may offer up some of the work I've done and get some thoughts from the few of you that read this.

I apologize for being so sporadic in writing. I've had lots to say, but little time to say it. Plus, when I'm writing almost all of the A-section news hole, and taking numerous pictures every week, it's hard to rest from the work.

Plus, outside of my wife, I don't have real friends around here. It's not to say that I won't, but it's hard. Plus, I miss soccer. I don't get to go to nearly as many games or even watch as many. I'm almost two hours from the nearest professional team. I went almost five years without missing a home game for two teams (three if you count the three years the women's professional league existed), and now it's a game here, a game there. I'm missing Beckham at RFK in DC tomorrow to cover a school board meeting, and I'm hoping I'll be finished with the photo assignment in time to drive to a game Saturday.

There's a lot of job stuff I need to sort through, so I hope to write more.

Here's a wedding photo my good friend Ernestine took of my wife and I during our wedding. Then there are pictures of the church, and of some people in our wedding party, including one of my wife's bridesmaids and my best man and woman.

We had a little scare this weekend -- well, actually, the last few days.

My wife swallowed a fish bone that became lodged in her throat. Problem was, we couldn't tell if it had stayed there, but it felt like it had to her, so on Saturday, going on her third day without sleep, we finally broke down to see a doctor.

But here, because there are no walk-in clinics, we had to go to the emergency room, which meant three hours before we knew that she just had an inflamed throat and no fish bone.

At least she had insurance, and at least neither of us were too worse off for it all, though I could have done without the woman talking about how she sliced off the tip of her finger, or hearing other similar blood and gore stories. Doesn't do much for my stomach.

Glad my wife is fine. Today she got a lot of rest thanks to NiQuil, and I have peace of mind knowing she's feeling better, and better rested.