Although I do not believe in astrology, I often read my horoscope just for kicks. Sometimes, what I read amuses me; other times, it really bothers me.
As reported in Monday's Tribune, here is a portion of my horoscope for today: "Sudden changes in your everyday routine will cause upset."
Well, that is just not the thing to hear on the very day you are in between jobs.
On Monday, I spent my last day at the Tribune as my employee. On Tuesday -- the exact day I am going to have a very sudden change in my daily routine, thank you very much -- I will spend a day off, and I will start my new job as the news editor of the Reno News & Review on Wednesday.
It will not be a total good-bye for me and the Tribune; I will still be writing my weekly humor column in this very space, and I may still freelance and do some movie reviews. But as for the everyday routine of being a Tribune employee, that time is over.
I have written my last Police Blotter. I will never know what it is like again to have reporter Willie Albright sitting across from me, using words like "duuude," "wang dang doodle" and "tofurkey." Never again will I have to look sit across from managing editor Dan Eckles, gazing upon silly bleached-blonde hairdo.
Leaving the Tribune is a bittersweet thing for me to do -- and I say that with all the seriousness in my heart.
When I started as the police reporter for This Fine Newspaper on Jan. 19, 1998, I did not know what to expect. After having been away at college for much of the prior four years, I really knew very little about the Tribune. All I could say I honestly remembered of the Tribune was the screaming, huge-font bold headlines during the Randy Frisch era, such as the "WE KICKED ASS" front page during the Gulf War -- which some viewed as hilariously great, while others viewed as horribly tacky and tabloidish.
I did not take the job here because of the pay, or because of the Tribune's reputation, which I knew little about. I took the Tribune job for one main reason: I wanted to do journalism in my home state of Nevada, in my home area of the Truckee Meadows. Oh, that and I hated the Reno Gazette-Journal.
And boy, did I get that opportunity, to be a journalist in my hometown. I was thrown onto stories which it would have taken years for me to be allowed to do at other, larger newspapers.
I had Jan Jones and Kenny Guinn in my office less than a week before last November's election, as I was given the chance to do one-on-one interviews with the man and woman who would be governor. I was able to break a story that made national headlines involving a rape suspect accusing the Sparks Police Department of mistreating her. And I was even given a chance to be a big smart-ass once a week on what I truly believe is the best opinion page in any newspaper, big or small, in all of Nevada.
I was also given a chance to work with some great journalists and some great people. Names you saw in bylines and staff boxes -- Jerry Thull, Dan Eckles, Janine Simonoski, David Hunter, Debra Reid, Ben Kwasney, Chad Hartley, Pat Loveless, Kelly Stevens, Lorna McDaniel-Weaver, Linda Brown -- became names that meant so much to me as colleagues and friends.
Let me just say how hard of a job it is to put out a quality newspaper six days a week -- it is a REALLY FREAKING hard job. Trust me -- I somehow ended up the acting managing editor during such crises as last year's Hot August Nights riots and the Columbine school shootings. But we never failed to get a newspaper out. And we, to my knowledge, have never been sued since I have been here.
OK, maybe once, but that is a long story.
I do not regret a single day of my time here as a staffer for the Daily Sparks Tribune. I have learned so much, and gained so much experience -- and friendship -- the Tribune has left its mark on me forever.
But financially, and career-wise, it is time for me to move on. And despite what my stupid horoscope says, sudden changes in my everyday routine will not cause upset -- they may cause a little sadness at first, but they will not cause upset or regret. I leave this newspaper's staff very proud to say that I once was a reporter for the Daily Sparks Tribune.
Jimmy Boegle is a fifth-generation Nevadan. His column appears here Tuesdays; he can be reached via e-mail at jiboegle@stanfordalumni.org.