allied

Drum roll please...

I got it! I landed the job! You are now looking at the new managing editor of a B2B trade magazine! Thank you, thank you... I'd like to thank the Academy for this tremendous honor...

I had my doubts that I'd get it. The decision came down to three people, which are not great odds, but apparently I blew them away with my writing sample (New boss: "Terrific job on the story. Did you really call all those people?" Me: "Yes, I found the names in the back issues you gave me and just started calling. I wanted to get a lot of insight." New boss: "That took guts... I like that."). It's an interesting position; the publication covers selling merchandise over the internet. Because it's a trade magazine (i.e. a niche publication catering exclusively to businesses), you'll likely never see it, but I'm pretty stoked because I've been concentrating on business journalism for the last several years. It's not a full-time position; I'm an independent contractor, so my hours will be my own and I'll largely work from home (Ikea, here I come for that new Mikael corner desk set up), which will be nice considering it's a 40-minute drive to the office. The money's not bad, but there are no benefits because I'm a freelancer. But, my UPS job covers that so I'm all set there. I'll be phasing into the job over the next several weeks/couple of months, but I couldn't be happier.

Thanks everyone for all the kind words of encouragement. It's been a long time coming, and lord knows I've been a boring, depressed grump a long the way. But you're the best, and I couldn't have done it without you. Seriously. Wish me luck.