Monday's tasks went well. I signed up for unemployment and found out it will be out 55 percent of what I was making -- big sigh -- and I still have a telephone interview before I'm approved. That remains scary. Unemployment is the difference between being able to make a reasoned decision on the direction I want to go or taking the first thing I can find.
A friend in the legal field then helped me prepare some child support documents and I was done with all the big stuff by 11:30 a.m.
The rest of the day was doing some research on an intriguing opening as well as making some phone calls to see if I was qualified for it.
I picked Hannah and Emma up from school, had dinner at Karen's and then ... cleaned out my desk.
Some of the gang was there, including Dave Shultz, who started at the Register Star in 1962, seven years before I was born, and still outlasted me.
For the most part I wasn't sad. I was a little choked up at the end because it was night and I remember all the times I'd come in to do extra research or get caught up on a story or in 2009 and 2010 because simply I missed my family and I didn't want to be by myself. I'd spend hours swapping stories with Dave or just sitting staring out at the river.
Some interesting stuff in the desk:
* Lots of my old tax and income records. Basically, the entire financial history of my failed marriage. No reason to keep that.
* All of my awards at the Register Star. There were a few even though I didn't like applying for them. It seemed like busy work and with my family here I wasn't going anywhere. One time, Doug Gass entered stuff for me because I didn't submit anything and I won a state award. Ironically, I won employee of the month once in 2013 and an "Unsung Hero Award" in March 2014. I'd forgotten I'd won that last one. I have an interesting history with March. Some other time.
* Lots of pictures of my daughters. The saddest thing from this past Thursday was telling them I didn't work at the Register Star anymore. That's all they've ever known. As kids, they'd run around finding all the creepy places in the building. My oldest daughter said she didn't go through a single year in school where at least one teacher didn't recognize my name as a writer or remember seeing me on TV as part of the WREX partnership. In my years at the Register Star I met two U.S. Senators, Johnny Bench, my baseball hero growing up, and spoke with Barack Obama for an hour when he was running for the U.S. Senate. I talked on the telephone with Warren Buffet. The girls grew up listening to those stories.
* Ticket stubs from nine of the 10 straight Cincinnati Reds opening day games I attended with Tony Garcia. Surprisingly, the one I was missing was the last one, 2011 against the Brewers. What I have from that game is a picture of my name and Tony's name on the scoreboard for having come to 10 straight openers.
* I took home trophies of Register Star championships in softball and basketball. The golden era of Newshound softball started in 1997. I'll leave it at that.
* And some important stuff. I found my birth certificate and my Last Will and Testament witnessed by Wally Haas and Brian Leaf.
And that was it.
Today, I got up in time for Brian Leaf's spin class. I'm off to get my hair cut soon and pick up a couple of items for crock pot chicken. I have to watch my spending so there won't be too many restaurants unless it's business related.
At noon, I have the first of several meetings set up and this is an important one. It's with a professional I really respect and would love to learn from. I don't have real experience in anything other than journalism so I'm going to need a good mentor.
I was encouraged last night when another business owner I'd talk to occasionally said he'd "sound out" people for a couple of other opportunities.
In the afternoon, I have to get a bevy of items off to the organization that has that intriguing opening. The Register Star let me get back into the computer system to retrieve family photos and some personal files. That included two different resumes. Deep down, I knew this time was coming for me. I'd been somewhat quietly preparing for a while.
Last note. Dorothy Schneider of the Register Star was assigned to watch over me last night. It was awkward because Dorothy was my intern years ago and in the end had to sit through my termination meeting. When she first started full time at the Register Star she told me how excited she was to work with me again. But by then I was sensing my time in the industry was winding down. Times change. People change. The industry changed. I wish we'd worked together 10 years ago. I wish Dorothy well.
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