I'm coming to you live from Springdale, Arkansas.

That's right, folks. I'm no longer in Conway. I've gone ahead and won gainful employment at The Morning News here in the land of Mustain.

I'll be designing the sports pages, so this'll be the only place I'll get to do some writing, unless some freelance work that doesn't conflict is shot my way.

You may not have realized this, but designing a newspaper page is just as important as writing some story or taking some photo. And somewhere along the line during my college career I discovered I was pretty stinkin' good at it and there toward the end of my career started to enjoy it a lot.

So, now here I am doing it at a professional level for one of the largest newspapers in the state.

It's too bad I had to move nearly three hours away from everything and everybody I've known for the last four years of my life, but I know a few folks who would've slapped me had I not taken this opportunity.

And sure, I'm still one class away from graduation. But I'm pretty sure when folks ask, "Why did you go to college?" most folks say, "To get a good job." Well, BAM! got that good job.

I liken my situation to that of a stud college athlete who goes pro early. Only I'm doing it a class early, not a year or two... or three.

The whole situation hit me by surprise. Out of nowhere I received an e-mail from the sports editor and from there I set up an interview, ran up here one Saturday and the next Tuesday they offered me the job. The whole process took maybe three weeks.

So far, everything is going pretty good up here. My cable and Internet gets turned on today (Monday). When I signed up they gave me three preferences for the date to get my cable turned on. Well, my first preference was Friday, so I could have some cable and Internet as soon as I moved in Saturday. My second and third were both on Saturday at varying times.

But, when the confirmation e-mail came in, it said my cable would be turned on July 10. In the e-mail it says the appointment is at midnight. So at midnight I flipped on the TV and still had nothing. Here I am finishing this blog post at 9:30 a.m. still without cable.

But once I get this thing finished, I've got to run by the office here at the apartments to drop off my move in inspection sheet and pick up my mail key, then it's off to Cox Communications to pick up my modem and hopefully find out when everything will be operational.

Later today I'll be participating in some orientation action (something I'm still waiting on from my previous employer), then I'll be at a cookout for everyone working on the football preview section.

See folks, this is why you get in to journalism – numerous opportunities for free food.

Other than all that, I've been hanging out, kind of exploring town a little bit, getting some rest and getting a lot of PlayStation in. I've discovered a few things. Downtown Springdale is better than downtown Conway; Guido's makes a good pizza pie; AQ is still the best chicken I've ever had, and now I can have it for every meal as long as I have a little cash; and once you get used to playing Madden 06 with precision passing, it's tough to go back to NCAA 06 with the old standard passing.

This is the second time I've moved away from all my friends and family. The first time was after high school, when most of my friends decided that college wasn't for them. I did pretty good after that first move. I made lots of good friends in college and had a hell of a time.

I'll stay in contact with all my college people and they're still only two and a half hours away, so the only difference there is that I can't just roll over to people's houses. And so far, everyone I've met at the new workplace has been great, so it's time to add some new friends into the mix.

I'm ready to go. I'm going to try and set the professional journalism world on fire. I've never been more excited about a job than this one, and you really can't ask for a better area or newspaper to start at than what I've ended up with.

Stay tuned to getoffus.com for updates. We're still going to do the Web site real big, so don't think it's going to end, just 'cause I moved away. If anything, I've got more time to devote to it, since I'm not going to class again until August, and that'll be twice a week. This thing is only going to get better.

We're almost statewide now. We've got Josh Goff, who is from Northeast Arkansas and resides in Conway, Scott Stirling is from like North-Central Arkansas and lives in Conway, and soon I'm going to get Matt Knowles hooked up with a blog, and that guy is from southeast Arkansas and lives in Conway. So, we just gotta get someone down in the southeast and we'll be able to bring to you perspective from all over the place.

So, if you're from Pine Bluff or somewhere in that area, hit me up and maybe we can bring you aboard or something. But, be warned, we don't pay well.

Alright, kids, I'm going to wrap this up and go see if I'll ever get cable so I can post this damn thing. I'll be in touch.

Two fingers.

(Note: I finally got some Internet at about 5:45 p.m., better late than never I guess.)