Thursday, November 3, 2005
Ok, well through all of our stress about where that next house payment would come from, Pat was doing interviews, calling on various newspaper jobs. Nothing was really available. Like I said, along came the satellite job. Upon accepting this job, the phone started to ring. He had one job offer on the table from another local paper but the money just was not worth the work that would have been involved and again, it meant him managing an office, sports, school board meetings, editing and both him and I just were not all that excited for that same repetitive lifestyle to start again. Which is why he took the install job.
Funny how when one is actively looking for a job, there seems to be none but once that person is actively employed, well, there is just a string of them. Pat was getting calls from 3 different newspapers, they wanted him to work for them. He turned them down and decided that he was going to sacrifice his love of writing for the money. The editing job that was offered to him, well they had called him 3 or 4 times in a month to do stringer work. The other job that he had writing for the bigger newspaper he let go because there just wasn't enough time in a day for him to juggle it all.
So, he worked this install job, made extra money doing custom work in homes, and made some pretty good friends. One guy also backed into the rear of our van and crunched it. So, this bigger newspaper? Well, they called Pat, wanted to know if he was interested in a full time spot, city council meetings, school board but just as a reporter. Pat never returned the call.
Skip forward to the day he quit the installation job....we were screwed but we figured we would find a way, we always have.
So, Pat is unemployed again, my daycare is not getting any bigger, school is beginning meaning sports expenses, school supplies. Life. We took about a week to digest things and I bought the papers and the big newspaper was still sending him copies of theirs. I began looking in the want ads again although we had figured that Pat would end up going into the cities to find a job that paid good enough. Well, I saw that this bigger newspaper still had that full time reporter postition opening. Pat grabbed that paper and made the call. An interview was scheduled immediately. This position had been in the paper for about a month...guy gave ample notice and they were just about to make their decision when Pat called.
Well, after all of Pat's stress, my stress, an interview that Pat was sure went well, the phone rang and the job was offered with excellent starting pay, full benefits, and with a company that has about 20 other newspapers throughout Minnesota. Pat was shocked to say the least, me, I was in disbelief--benefits, we have not had that in years, and with a company that has many different locations. "Wow!" was all we could muster. Even still we sit and think that something is just not right.
The biggest thing that hit Pat was this. All that time he had spent blogging on the computer, he had chalked up as a waste of time, pointless and a selfish act on his part. However, had he not done that he may not have gotten this job. Why? Well, he has had to learn all sorts of technical things when it comes to his blog. Things that I wouldn't be able to do without his help. Templates, design, etc. It was not that he sat and wrote for a year and a half but that he learned to be computer savvy that got him the job. The paper already knew that he could write as he had been doing so for over a year already and had more than proved himself in that department. The manager told him that it was the computer experience that weighed heavily on the decision. So all of you out there that blog with even a hint of a dream that you can make it more, don't underestimate your ability.
So, with all of that written, Pat is about a month and a half into his new job and he loves it. He is soooo happy these days, less stress and he loves that he gets to do the layout. He is also becoming involved with other more serious aspects of the future of the paper and will attend a company meeting on this and present an idea that he has discussed in depth with his editor.
But, that is not what I am congratulating him for! I am so excited for him, so happy for him and so damn proud of him today and this is why........
Last week he came home telling me that he was mentioned in the company newsletter for having 'Good Coverage' of a local story. Here is that:
"ECM Post Review:
When there are two 100-year rains back to back in a city, that's news. Those downpours floodedstreets in Rush City, 15 homes, and displaced five families. MaryHelen Swanson, editor of the Post Review, did the fact-filled news story.
New reporter Patrick Tepoortencovered the review of the flooding and how it was handled at the city council meeting. The city had eight inches of rain in an 18-hour period while recovering from five inches of rain the previous seek. Good coverage."
I told him congratulations and told him that he is already being recognized for his writing ability. He of course said that it's the company newsletter and he was a new reporter....I said I thought that he was being watched by the higher ups and he simply laughed.
WELL, This morning I got another email from him. He has been recognized for the 'best story'. I saw that, read the exerpt in the newsletter and got butterflies in my stomach. Finally my husband is being recognized. Here is that exerpt from todays news letter:
"One of the best news stories in a week of excellent ECM stories was written by Patrick Tepoorten in the ECM Post Review.
Patrick, one of our newest reporters, wrote about JayValez, 17, who landed his Cessna Skyhawk on the northbound lane of I-35 W, after his engine began to fail. No one was injured, and while motorists may have been startled, Valez missed hitting any cars. He had only earned his pilot's license a month ago.
Patrick tells us everything we want to know about the flight, how it began routinely, how he followed the St. Croix River ultimately to Duluth, stopped and headed to Minneapolis to view the lights. While following I-35, the pilot noticed the smell of oil and the oil pressure gauge was reading zero. Realizing he was in serious trouble, he and his passengers decided to land the plane on the freeway. He saw little traffic on the northbound lane, so he took it down, avoided an SUV directly under the plane, steered it to the shoulder and stopped.
He said, "I do thank God for bringing us down safe."
Now, I know that this is nothing to some out there but this is probably the best thing that has happened in our lives for a VERY long time. I couldn't be more proud of and more happy for my hubby.
CONGRATULATIONS PATRICK!
Here is a link to the newspaper he currently writes for: ECM Post Reveiw
I know that it's only our local news but if there is an interest, check out the link.
Written by louie0768 .
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