Where Do I Start?

For the first time in, well....ever, I'm not sure about my future. That's not to say I haven't thought about switching careers before. Lord knows that's been the case several times.

But today I find myself really wondering if we'll survive.

The journalists, the newspaper employees. The newspaper business.

Recent (as in yesterday) layoffs and repeated (again today) salary hatchet-jobs have brought me to my knees mentally, and it's got me sweating.

I have lots of good friends that work along side of me, and we're all wondering the same thing. 

Can we get through this?

If you've noticed, lots of newspapers are closing. Some are still partially functioning either online or only a few days each week. But NO newspaper is beyond the scope of this damage. Their simply isn't a solution that anyone's been able to put their minds around yet.

It's kinda surprising since many newspapers figured out a long time ago that the internet was going to be where it's at. Nonetheless, NOBODY was able to forecast the doomsday scenario come to life that we're in now. (insert 2-hour dinner break and 3 glasses of cabernet here)

Where was I? Oh yeah, today's been rough. And lest I forget, many of my friends have joined the ranks of the unemployed, so my situation pales in comparison. But everyone has their own reality, and mine is pretty f***ed up right now.

It seems like I had a lot more queued up in my brain to write a few hours ago, but for some reason much of it has left me. What I AM left with are these things.

•I have an optimistic wife, who despite playing devil's advocate at some interesting times has made everything seem like it will workout ok.

•I have two daughters who are not only oblivious to the current crisis but who are amazingly talented and beautiful.

•I have a lot of work to do in figuring out what the future holds. I never would have imagined in my wildest dreams that I would be in this spot right now. This was never going to affect ME. Newspapers will always have a place, I used to say. I can't say that anymore.

An upside? Yes, there is one, even if only for me and 3 other people on whom I choose to bestow the tickets.

I got in on a U2 internet pre-sale today, and I have 4 tickets to the opening of their North American tour which kicks off at Soldier Field on September 12th. Wanna go? Start the bidding folks. They're mostly spoken for, but as they say, money talks.

And I have roughly 7% less of that now than I did 24 hours ago.

Yet nothing is going to stop me from seeing the boys from Dublin in September. Nuttin'.