I'm not really sure what I should write about for my first blog, sooo I'll write about one of my first days here at the job site! ok here goes:

SO...first off I just started working at the Nevada Daily Mail, as the editoral assitant! Now instead of just a paycheck I have a semi professional title to go with it! YAY FOR ME! My job discription is this: I type obituaries, birth announcments, deaths, the weather (which is actually only a copy and paste job, not to much typing involved), fire, sheriff, police, and EMS reports. Also I update the website with the front page and sports stories; on Fridays I have to do the religion page, and the senior page as well. The cool part about my job is that on page 2 (the births, police reports ect.) if there is room left I get go PICK the news stories that go in the left over space!! I that thats so cool!

Sounds easy, right? WRONG! It's actually kind of complicated. Now on top of me being new, I have to work with Mac's instead of PC; which in itsself is a new journey! Not that I'm Mac illiterate...ok I lied, I AM Mac illiterate...but everythings different! COMPLETELY DIFFERNT! This led me to realize I'm not good with change! I thought I was but I am not! NOT AT ALL!

One of my first days here I had four obituaries to put on page 2. I did them as I'm supposed to do. After my page was done I began updating the website. I was almost done when I heard "blah blah blah, Korea, blah blah" from outside the news room door. Right then I knew I made a mistake in one of the obituaries...this specific person was a Korean war Vet. and I accidently skipped a line in the paragraph about the day he was born and put the day he got married as the day he was born...this person was married in 1950, but born in 1929...then served in the military from 1951-1953, making them one year old when they served in the armed forces according to my typing error.

All that can be easily fixed by opening up the ever so lovely program called QuarkXpress (it's stupid and it doesn't like me), with just a couple clicks of the mouse and punches of the keyboard I'd be done. (mind you that if I were using a PC all I would have to do is use the mouse...NO KEYBOARD AT ALL!)

Now I that's simple enough, but the only problem was, was that the press had already printed out numerous copies of the newspaper before anyone saw my error. So after muttering some work unrelated words, I dare not say on here for fear of losing my job, I was going to fix the mistake...my only problem then was my boss and a co-worker were hovering over my shoulder watching my every move. I. Froze. I froze, because of post tramatic stress disorder that has carried from elementary school all the way up to my 21 year-old-self, from teachers walking around and looking over my shoulder and telling me what I did wrong. Which brings me to another self realization: I'm never wrong! EVER!

I think they felt my vibe and were going to move away, but my boss told me to get up and read it to her, and then she would type it in. Which was a good idea because it always takes me a couple seconds to recuperate after initial "shock" of my PTSD starts to wear off. So I read the sentence that I had missed to her and she typed it in...TA DA! It was fixed! After all that was over with the press went on printing the many, MANY papers that would've already been out had I now read the hardcopy of the obituary wrong!

So what did I learned? I learned everyday you learn atleast one thing new about yourself my boss is a life saver, Mac's suck, the weekend is a time to die and make trouble (if you had to type up the arrest reports, and obituaries you'd think so, too!) And last but not least I ROCK!

I believe I've gotten better at the whole typing exactly what I read thing, but I'm kind of a dork sometimes....so we'll see what happens! Good news! I'm getting better with working with QuarkXpress!!! I hope/know I will be happy working here for a while...I gotta keep it in the family; working at a news paper that is! (FYI: my mother, Teresa, and aunt, Christi, both are employed at the Fort Scott Tribune)

Peace!