Sunday, April 19, 2009

A look around

It's funny, but sometimes you can cheer yourself up merely by taking a look around.
The day job has been a real grind lately. We're remaking our Friday edition and moving Monday's publication to Saturday and turning that into more of Sunday-type of paper. That work, on top of the all of the other shit I do, really piled up on me. Typos have flared up, largely because I don't have the time to really go over pages featuring copy I rewrote. Proofreading your own work is tough; on deadline it's impossible.
To top all of that off, I really miss my wife. We've been separated for over a year, but when I was home we still saw each other three or four times per week. I've seen her once since moving to the North Pole. The kids have been a handful (to be polite about it) and I'm no help 500 miles away. Keeping two households going sucks up every dime I make, so there's not even gas money to drive home.
Combine that stuff with the rheumatiz and a knee that is all but shot and things can get grim.
I was at work feeling sorry for myself Friday when I looked at a copy of the paper from last summer, before I arrived. I then looked at Friday's paper. There was no comparison. The paper is infinitely better today, and I deserve some of the credit for that. The editing is better, the mix and number of local stories is better and the layout is much better. The boss and composing manager deserve credit, too.
I've never been one to define myself by my work, but I will take some pride from it.

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