News is a tough business

It has been a very rough month. Starting the end of December it seemed there were things going on almost every week that needed to be covered for the newspaper. I felt like I was working at a daily and I was the only reporter. I only have a couple of people who can cover news, and they had already been given assignments. I took the brunt of the work and was doing some of it with up-to-the-minute updates on our Facebook page. (We're going to redo our Web site this year. It doesn't allow for quick updates.)

While I admit I am a huge news nerd, and I usually live for this kind of stuff-- a kidnapping, a pharmacy burglary, post office mailbox thefts (two of them, the huge blue boxes) and a beached dead whale( very sad) and a trash truck that barreled down a hill with no brakes and landed in the water (driver was OK)-- after a few weeks of this, plus all of my regular duties, I was tired.

I'm still tired. And I'm fighting a sinus infection and some other strange symptoms, and trying to carry on like nothing is wrong with me. 

The blessing is that I get to work from home. It allows me to take breaks when I need to go rest, and I can work late if I need to.

I'm handling a lot of things I never dreamed I'd be handling, ever. I always said I would never become an editor. To me it seemed like a boring job and people hate editors. I never imagined being in charge, because it just wasn't something I ever thought I could do.

Now I'm an Executive editor, not just editor. I not only get to edit, I get to handle all of the business transactions, make those really tough decisions that aren't popular, and deal with things I never knew were brewing out there. 

It has taught me so much and I understand a little bit about some of the past bosses I've had. I can see where they were right, and I can also see where they were wrong. I think about the good ones and how they handled things, and I try hard to emulate them. 

Grace under pressure in this position is sometimes very difficult. I pray a lot, and I read what I can about management when I have a moment.

I've learned more about hiring procedures, firing procedures, non-profit status, how to delegate, how to recognize a person's strengths and weaknesses when it comes to their talents, and how to try to give them the tools to become great at what they do.

I still have SO MUCH to learn. 

I'm learning a lot about myself. My weaknesses especially. I am trying to find ways to strengthen myself too. 

This job doesn't pay a lot, but it's enough to keep us sheltered and fed. And I love being home with Sean. And with everything that has happened with layoffs and newspapers shutting down, I'm very thankful to have this job. I get to do what I love, and get paid to do it.

Plugging in again

Months have gone by, and we haven't been plugged in to the world. When the switch to analog went into effect our television reception was reduced to about 5 channels of garbage that I would never watch. On top of that, it was not reliable reception. We no longer got any of the channels we watched, like PBS and our local CBS, ABC or NBC channels - nothing. I truly got better reception and more channels before the switch. I unhooked our converter boxes and said, "forget it." We live in a mountainous area, and I've been told the analog signal doesn't work well with mountains.
I was not happy about this switch, and I know that puts me in a minority. I just felt like it was something forced on us as a population, and while they offered the converter boxes, no one I've talked to who has them, except one couple who lives within a straight shot of the tower, likes them. Most gave up and got cable or satellite. So for those whose budget was already stretched, they also had to pay for television.
I was against it on principal. I figured we could get by without it. I've known a lot of people who got rid of their TVs. Remember the "Kill your Television" bumper stickers?
While this was a nice experiment, going without television, I found myself missing it at certain moments when I really needed to just be fed something entertaining without doing a lot of work to get it. My job is stressful, and when crunch time comes there can be many hours spent with no break. The last thing I want to do is sit at this computer searching online for a TV show.
I tried watching things online. Yeah, it's a pain. I have to search for it, download some sort of player, update it almost every time I go back to that site and try to watch something new, and I get completely sick of sitting in this chair. I wanted to move from my desk to the living room and just watch something on television.
What I didn't want was my 7 year old to be bombarded with commercials. But gone were the days of free PBS programming.
So I caved in.
We got cable TV today, and we've spent most of the day in our PJs, playing with the new remote, surfing the channels and keeping track of the ones we like.
It's something brand new for us, so we were excited today. For me it's already pretty well worn off. I'm glad to have access to some channels that I was missing, for news, and PBS, and a couple of extras that I haven't had in years.
But I know I will have a TV schedule for us that limits the time it is on.
I do love the quiet.