At the end of this week, I'm leaving the Pioneer Press to take a new job with our parent company, Digital First Media. The biggest change, though, is that I will be working from home.
My new job -- senior data reporter -- is a newly created position that is part of a "data team" at Digital First Media's newsroom that is nicknamed, "Thunderdome." The data team currently consists of a team leader, two web developers, and a web designer. My job will be to spearhead national reporting that can be shared among the hundreds of papers in the DFM chain, and then also provide training (in doing data analysis) to reporters and editors in the chain, as well.
I will spend the majority of my time doing the same thing I do now. But instead of working with only reporters at one newspaper, I'll be helping reporters across the U.S. from a wide variety of papers. The Pioneer Press is the 2nd largest paper in the chain, so most are relatively small and there are many that are even just weekly publications.
When I travel, I'll likely make a lot of trips to New York (to go to headquarters), Los Angeles, San Jose, Salt Lake and Denver (where we have big publications). Other papers are in Vermont, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New Mexico and Texas (down along the Mexican border), Michigan and Pennsylvania.
Working from home will be interesting. I really enjoy the social aspect of being in an office, but I've been having so many allergy problems at the Pioneer Press in recent years that I'm ready to get out of there. (I could've chosen to continue working out of the PP building).
Jamey is helping me set up a really awesome office at home. I'm going to have two desks -- one set up for standing, and another for sitting. (I have a similar setup at the PP and spend most of my day standing). I hope that will ease the transition.
And certainly not having to commute everyday is going to be a huge benefit. No more mad dash to get to daycare before the place closes! That will mean Ben and Maddie get a little more time with me each day, as well.
There will be a transition period the next couple of months, where I'll continue to do work for the Pioneer Press and gradually move into DFM work. So you'll still see my byline in the PP at least a couple more times.
Monday, January 27, 2014
Wednesday, January 8, 2014
LEGO-mania!
My brother, very thoughtfully, gave us a giant bin of LEGOs -- the ones that he and I played with when we were kids. I pulled them out a few days after Christmas, when we were hibernating due to massive cold, illness in the family and closed daycare. They were a huge hit!
I have never seen Ben & Maddie play so nicely together and sit and work on the same thing for such a long period of time. There were a couple days when we just built Lego stuff for two or three hours at a crack in the morning and then again in the afternoon. Crazy!
I was especially impressed by Maddie, because she has a hard time doing things on her own. She usually needs some direction. But with the Legos, she just went to town building and she wanted to make her own creations -- without help from me and without looking at any guidebook.
Ben, on the other hand, wanted me to make him the creations in the guidebook that came with the Legos. And of course that was impossible because the stash of Legos didn't necessarily have all the right pieces. UGH. But we did our best.
Here are their two spaceships!
I have never seen Ben & Maddie play so nicely together and sit and work on the same thing for such a long period of time. There were a couple days when we just built Lego stuff for two or three hours at a crack in the morning and then again in the afternoon. Crazy!
I was especially impressed by Maddie, because she has a hard time doing things on her own. She usually needs some direction. But with the Legos, she just went to town building and she wanted to make her own creations -- without help from me and without looking at any guidebook.
Ben, on the other hand, wanted me to make him the creations in the guidebook that came with the Legos. And of course that was impossible because the stash of Legos didn't necessarily have all the right pieces. UGH. But we did our best.
Here are their two spaceships!
5th birthday party
Ben & Maddie invited their friends to a party at the YMCA in Shoreview, where they played in a bounce house for an hour and then had cake and opened presents. We ended up with 13 kids, including the birthday boy and girl.
They had a great time and came home with even more gifts! Our house is now officially overflowing with too many toys.
Here are close-up pics of the cakes that I made.
They had a great time and came home with even more gifts! Our house is now officially overflowing with too many toys.
Here are close-up pics of the cakes that I made.
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Airplanes!!
Ben & Maddie spent well over 2 1/2 hours today building airplanes and helicopters with the Trio blocks that Ben got for Christmas. They had so much fun and actually played together, too!
5th birthday
I feel like I blinked and my two little babies turned into full-blown kids! Aaahhh! And they are such wonderful children. I simply couldn't ask for more.
The 5th birthday festivities began today with presents, bowling with our friends and a small cake. The big cakes -- Spider-Man and princesses -- will be saved for Saturday, when Ben & Maddie will have a party with their friends. I'm sure there will be plenty of additional, random celebrating between now and then.
Gifts were plentiful, as usual....Daddy got them small dome tents (which they are sleeping in tonight in their bedrooms) and compasses, Mommy got Ben a toy helicopter (with blades that actually spin!) and Maddie a Hello Kitty passenger airplane. They also got new books and games, plus Lego sets from Uncle David. It didn't come as much surprise to me when Ben insisted on putting together his new Lego set immediately this afternoon!
Christmas 2013
I think the best way to sum up this Christmas was that it was a roller coaster of really good and really bad. I'll start with the good. The kids have been so, so excited for this Christmas. And on Christmas Eve they were itching to open presents so badly that we let them each open two.
The next morning, they tore through the remainder at record speed. Ben, in particular, went so fast I couldn't keep up.
And after the dust settled, Ben was so eager to put together a Lego truck, with boat and trailer that Grandma gave him. Luckily, Uncle David volunteered to help him put it together. I was just amazed by how patient Ben was to work on that. I bet they sat there for at least an hour putting together the little pieces. Ben played with that thing the rest of the day. And he kept saying, "This is the best Christmas ever!"
Notice, I haven't said much about Maddie. That brings me to the not-so-good. The night before Christmas Eve, Maddie was the first to come down with the stomach flu. So she wasn't feeling so hot. She was especially run down and low-energy on Christmas. It seemed like she wasn't excited about her presents, but I'm guessing that had more to do with being sick.
Ben and I made it through Christmas and then both got sick that night. He threw up 7 times between midnight and 4 a.m. Needless to say I didn't sleep at all.
The next day, the four of us laid in the living room and stared at the TV all day. Jamey didn't get sick until Saturday, just as me and the kids were returning to normal.
My brother and Jamey's grandmother were here for the chaos.
And after the dust settled, Ben was so eager to put together a Lego truck, with boat and trailer that Grandma gave him. Luckily, Uncle David volunteered to help him put it together. I was just amazed by how patient Ben was to work on that. I bet they sat there for at least an hour putting together the little pieces. Ben played with that thing the rest of the day. And he kept saying, "This is the best Christmas ever!"
Notice, I haven't said much about Maddie. That brings me to the not-so-good. The night before Christmas Eve, Maddie was the first to come down with the stomach flu. So she wasn't feeling so hot. She was especially run down and low-energy on Christmas. It seemed like she wasn't excited about her presents, but I'm guessing that had more to do with being sick.
Ben and I made it through Christmas and then both got sick that night. He threw up 7 times between midnight and 4 a.m. Needless to say I didn't sleep at all.
The next day, the four of us laid in the living room and stared at the TV all day. Jamey didn't get sick until Saturday, just as me and the kids were returning to normal.
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