7.27.2012

The -30- update

When Chris got home at midnight, we
toasted his termination with some whisky.

Folks very kindly ask me how things are going. It's been two months since we got word that The Birmingham News would move to publishing only three days a week — Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. With the push to the digital side of things, the corporate powers reduced the staff to almost nothing, laying off 60 percent of the newsroom ...

Yesterday, Chris officially signed his termination papers. So, our time with the News has come to an end (I say our time because I worked there four years and sometimes it feels like I haven't left the building). But not quite yet, because while Chris, and most of our journalism family, got the pink slip, they still have to work until Sept. 30. If not, bye-bye severance package. Talk about making a bad situation worse! I hate sending him off to work every day. Morale is awful!

We're doing all right on the home front though, considering. We need to figure out what the future holds. We have cut back on expenses but need to do even more. I don't want to go back to work yet but hey, que sera sera. I'm more worried about what it's going to be like having Chris home at nights come October 1. He's worked a night schedule the last 20 years. Talk about a big adjustment for all of us. And we'll have whole weekends off — what the heck do people do on Friday and Saturday nights?!

So when you ask how things are going, I don't have a very good answer right now. We're treading water but I feel like the water's getting deeper. Ask me again in another two months.

Just to be clear, since Chris is applying for jobs and all, that bottle is empty and the picture was totally staged. He would never abused Maker's that way. Especially now that we can't afford it.

(Curious about the title of this post? -30- is used to indicate the end of a story. And it makes for a pretty cool T-shirt too.)

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