Whatup?

I haven't blogged in a while and there are a couple of reasons for this.

Reason number one. I've been a little frustrated with various events, and as I have learned before, it's best not to blog when I am like that. I'm not just talking about work events, but other events as well. Political, personal... Plus I have been really fucking busy.

Which leads me to reason number two. I'm leaving Las Vegas.

Yup. I finally caved in to my old homeboy from Springfield, Chad Mahoney and sent a tape over to KOKI in Tulsa, where he's an assistant news director. They apparently liked it and last Thursday flew me out for an interview. I enjoyed the city, it reminded me a lot of Springfield, which now that I am not there I realize I missed. The station and all the people who worked there were very nice... I just hope when I arrive I don't find out that they are actually Cylons...

Anyway, was going to accept the offer they gave me (more than I was expecting!) when by random coincidence, Matt - my chief here in Vegas - did my annual review and gave me what I will call a 'wow' raise. So I told Tulsa that I couldn't accept the offer. I was trying not to make it about money (I was, and still am taking a pay cut), but the differences in the two salaries was to great to ignore.

Tulsa counter offered. Something I have never had happen to me before, and had I known that they would have counter offered, I would have asked for more! (Yeah, it's capitalism. Suck it.) At any rate, the counter offer made up for the increase KLAS gave me (in fact, it moved me above what I started at KLAS for), so I took the job.

Quite frankly even though I am taking a pay cut and moving down in market, I think the quality of life improvements will make up for it. Everything is cheaper there; gas, food, rent, my car insurance bill is dropping from around $120/month (that's with a spotless driving record, mind you) to about $200/6 months. Why?

No southern Californians in Tulsa. That in its self makes up for over half the pay cut.

There are many other advantages as well. Oddly enough, many having to do with food. 6.5 hour drive to Springfield (free food!), Steak 'N Shakes (best Midwestern chain restaurant ever), Waffle Houses (smothered and covered, beeyach), four seasons (fall, summer, etc., not the hotel), tornadoes (yes, I do count that as a positive), and actual community (despite what many of the people who live here say, there is no sense of community in Las Vegas, with the rare exception of when someone like a police officer dies. Outside of that, no one gives a flying fuck about anyone else.)

I will miss a few things about Vegas. I'm not ready for a teary goodbye yet, so I won't talk about the people I met. I will miss 24/7 booze. I will miss half nekkid women on all the billboards. I will certainly miss the fact that during even the coldest winter months I can survive with a sweatshirt and my KLAS issue jacket. And I will miss people who I meet on the internet thinking I am somewhat cool because I live in Las Vegas.

So that is that. My last day at KLAS is on April 11, and I will be moving to Tulsa the weekend of my 29+1 birthday, April 22. I'll talk more about things as the next three weeks progress, but for now, this is the end of this post.