The past two weeks have been a whirlwind.
As such, it’s not unusual for me to be thinking on the way home or on the way to work that I haven’t blogged. And then, in typical ADHD fashion, to start thinking about ponies or Apartheid or something equally irrelevant and to totally forget that I have neglected to put something meaningful on here.
Such is life. I am not going to beat myself up over it. See? Okay, maybe I am beating myself up a little bit, as per the picture to the right, but not too much.
Anyway, onto the good stuff… Which some of you already know about…
Last week, my boss called me into his office. Being the nervous stress-ball-esque creature that I am, getting beckoned into the boss’ inner sanctum is enough to make me a little worried. And in this economy, who wouldn’t be, right?
“Sit down.”
I don’t like it when I’m told to sit down by a superior. It makes me worry that they don’t want me passing out from the bad news.
“There’s going to be some changes in the newsroom.”
Here it comes, I remember thinking. Maybe if I beg hard enough, he’ll at least let me have a job in packaging or circulation, delivering papers. I can make some off that…
“I’m moving you to the cops beat.”
Woot! I asked for this!
“But I’m also putting you in charge of our Web development.”
Wait… what? Is there a geek word powerful enough to describe the joy I am experiencing? The flame of enthusiasm in my chest burns more furious than the flaming fires of 10,000 suns! Be still, my beating heart!
“You’ll still be writing, but two to three days a week, I want you to focus on improving the Web site and our online efforts.”
And then he was quiet. Time for me to respond.
“That sounds great.”
Be reserved! Don’t jump up and down and cry on him with obvious happiness! That’s over the line!
And so here I am. Honestly, it’s very strange to step off the health beat. There, I was in my element. I know hospitals and doctors. I’ve known that world all my life. To take over a beat about law enforcement is to step into a world mildly familiar, as it’s what I did for a year in college, but otherwise, I’m on unfamiliar ground.
That’s not to say I don’t like it already. I’ve been on that beat for months now, covering it while I covered health. The cops seem to like me, as they haven’t tased/shot/beaten me yet. The firemen likewise seem to like me as they haven’t hosed/beaten/pantsed and rolled me off the boat ramp yet.
So far so good. Web development also seems to be off to a good start. If you’d like to see some of my shameless self-promotion efforts, visit http://www.omicrime.wordpress.com. I have to blog regularly on that one, so I am hoping that helps prod me a little more into blogging on the personal level. At the very least, it will help get the gears going.
That’s all I’ve got for now. I will keep you apprised of the situation.
Oh, and Dr. Mom and Sis… Try not to worry too much about my new job description. There should be a healthy mix of in-front-of-computer-at-desk time and out-with-cops-trying-not-to-get-shot/out-with-firemen-trying-not-to-get-burned time.
What? Don’t look at me like that. If I die, you get the life insurance! Gosh!
Dude! Congratulations. That’s huge! I’m happy for you.
That’s crazy and exciting! I hope you like the cops beat. I think it takes a special person to really do it well (I didn’t have it, I don’t think). And tell your mom that there was only one time where I was in danger of getting shot, and the nice police officer stopped me before I could walk into the line of fire.
Totally excited for you!
Congratulations there, Mr. Studly. Try to not get so close to the crimes that you have to dodge bullets, now.
Congratulations on the re-assignment and good luck with the website. Got to say you won’t like what I have to say about the M&I’s current website situation (post coming soon). I hope your first act is to make the site free! From what I understand, your Health reporting for the M&I has been pretty good (probably the best the M&I has had in a while), lets hope you can extend that quality to your new assignments.