8391: The Second-Best Job in the Building (Wednesday)
Every Wednesday afternoon, there is a staff meeting for the newsroom folks. Besides the usual pitching of stories and announcements for the good of the group, today, the newsroom staff introduced themselves. I already know quite a bit about Denny, my boss, but when he introduced himself to the group, he said, "And I have the best job in the building. And Brandon, you're going to have the second-best." If Denny is right, I'd say I did pretty good for a first job out of school. It may be a small building, but there aren't many places where you can have the building's second best job on your
Because of my game coverage the night before, I wasn't needed before 9 a.m. I made it in 10 minutes early or so, and found that my article had been received and required only light editing. In fact, it was on the page, 1B above the fold, and ready to go just minutes after I arrived. I spent a little time watching the design process, something that I am going to be intimately familiar with very soon. As one of only two full-time sports personnel, I'm going to need to be able to be fully-capable at layout very soon. I'm trying to do a lot of watching and learning so when called upon I can be effective.
For lunch, I was thinking Arby's. They've actually got one here on the main drag, unlike Marquette, where the Arby's closed in about 1992. After lunch, we had our staff meeting. No one told me that such a meeting existed until about an hour and a half beforehand. I "pitched" my hockey player story, and I'm going to need to come up with more of these on a regular basis.
I got to meet all of the staff and find out a little about them. As usual, I'm not sure how much is appropriate to mention, but here's a brief sketch of this cast of characters.
Kim and I were hired on the same day. I think we may have also graduated on the same day (she from Northern, me from Central). Her dad happens to be the former host of High School Bowl from the season Gwinn won it all. When we discussed this (she played for Marquette), she did say "Gwinn won?" I will not hold it against her.
Next to her is Mary, originally from downstate. She's mostly in charge of entertainment, though I've seen her laying out pages all week.
Lee finally got off the bottom of the seniority totem pole this week, he's originally from Munising. Also a High School Bowl alumnus. (Sense a pattern?)
Jenny lives in McFarland (someone actually lives in McFarland--I was shocked, too), covers cops and courts (among other things) and is probably somewhere in her 30s.
Brian, the managing editor (the newsroom's second-in-command), is originally from Iron Mountain, and his son is a chef at one of the best restaurants in Chicago.
Nicole is our photo person and occasional staff writer.
Julie just gave birth a few months ago and reports part-time.
Dorothy grew up in Brooklyn, edits Lifestyles and is retiring within a year.
There's another Mary, too, but I don't remember what she does.
Rick, the executive editor, was born and raised in Escanaba, went to CMU (he and I are the only Chippewas on staff), came back to the Press and never left.
Finally, there's Denny. The guy is pretty damned remarkable. He's been working here since 1970 (with an exception for a stint in Green Bay). He has files upon files of any info you could ever want to know about just about anything that is sports-related that has happened within our coverage area in the last 25 years. He's played golf twice already this week. In January. He has an irreverent sense of humor (and a thing for Raquel Welch). He's also got two Purple Hearts from Vietnam. Simply put, there really isn't anyone in this area I could learn more about how to do this from than this guy. On the flip side, he's been doing this for 27 years, and I've been here for two days. It can be a little scary at times, but so far, he seems content to deal with my struggles.
I finally made some progress on my hockey player story, getting a hold of a coach and the player himself. I think I may want one more source, but I should have something worth writing about.
At about 4:30, I was out the door and headed home. I was rather tired, and rested a little bit before and after dinner. However, "Rocky IV" was on tonight (easily, the most fun of the Rocky films because it is the easiest to make fun of, yet not universally horrendous, as I'm told Rocky V is), and I watched the second half (the fight is ridiculous-who lands that many clean shots to the head? Seriously?) and did my best to get to bed quickly. I was going to need to be in the office at 7 a.m. tomorrow, which given drive time, meant I was going to need to be out the door at 5:45 and out of bed at 5 a.m.
It's not a particularly easy schedule, and the mornings are going to take a lot of getting used to. However, I figure it's worth it, especially if the job is as great as Denny tells me it is. Good night.
Because of my game coverage the night before, I wasn't needed before 9 a.m. I made it in 10 minutes early or so, and found that my article had been received and required only light editing. In fact, it was on the page, 1B above the fold, and ready to go just minutes after I arrived. I spent a little time watching the design process, something that I am going to be intimately familiar with very soon. As one of only two full-time sports personnel, I'm going to need to be able to be fully-capable at layout very soon. I'm trying to do a lot of watching and learning so when called upon I can be effective.
For lunch, I was thinking Arby's. They've actually got one here on the main drag, unlike Marquette, where the Arby's closed in about 1992. After lunch, we had our staff meeting. No one told me that such a meeting existed until about an hour and a half beforehand. I "pitched" my hockey player story, and I'm going to need to come up with more of these on a regular basis.
I got to meet all of the staff and find out a little about them. As usual, I'm not sure how much is appropriate to mention, but here's a brief sketch of this cast of characters.
Kim and I were hired on the same day. I think we may have also graduated on the same day (she from Northern, me from Central). Her dad happens to be the former host of High School Bowl from the season Gwinn won it all. When we discussed this (she played for Marquette), she did say "Gwinn won?" I will not hold it against her.
Next to her is Mary, originally from downstate. She's mostly in charge of entertainment, though I've seen her laying out pages all week.
Lee finally got off the bottom of the seniority totem pole this week, he's originally from Munising. Also a High School Bowl alumnus. (Sense a pattern?)
Jenny lives in McFarland (someone actually lives in McFarland--I was shocked, too), covers cops and courts (among other things) and is probably somewhere in her 30s.
Brian, the managing editor (the newsroom's second-in-command), is originally from Iron Mountain, and his son is a chef at one of the best restaurants in Chicago.
Nicole is our photo person and occasional staff writer.
Julie just gave birth a few months ago and reports part-time.
Dorothy grew up in Brooklyn, edits Lifestyles and is retiring within a year.
There's another Mary, too, but I don't remember what she does.
Rick, the executive editor, was born and raised in Escanaba, went to CMU (he and I are the only Chippewas on staff), came back to the Press and never left.
Finally, there's Denny. The guy is pretty damned remarkable. He's been working here since 1970 (with an exception for a stint in Green Bay). He has files upon files of any info you could ever want to know about just about anything that is sports-related that has happened within our coverage area in the last 25 years. He's played golf twice already this week. In January. He has an irreverent sense of humor (and a thing for Raquel Welch). He's also got two Purple Hearts from Vietnam. Simply put, there really isn't anyone in this area I could learn more about how to do this from than this guy. On the flip side, he's been doing this for 27 years, and I've been here for two days. It can be a little scary at times, but so far, he seems content to deal with my struggles.
I finally made some progress on my hockey player story, getting a hold of a coach and the player himself. I think I may want one more source, but I should have something worth writing about.
At about 4:30, I was out the door and headed home. I was rather tired, and rested a little bit before and after dinner. However, "Rocky IV" was on tonight (easily, the most fun of the Rocky films because it is the easiest to make fun of, yet not universally horrendous, as I'm told Rocky V is), and I watched the second half (the fight is ridiculous-who lands that many clean shots to the head? Seriously?) and did my best to get to bed quickly. I was going to need to be in the office at 7 a.m. tomorrow, which given drive time, meant I was going to need to be out the door at 5:45 and out of bed at 5 a.m.
It's not a particularly easy schedule, and the mornings are going to take a lot of getting used to. However, I figure it's worth it, especially if the job is as great as Denny tells me it is. Good night.