6/5/03, 10:25 PM EST
BIG NEWS! SEE THE BIG TEXT BELOW!

I haven't posted a front-page report in about a week, mainly because I have lived in a state of constant irritation since my nasal surgery. The doctors put a splint in my nose to make sure everything held up, and it also succeeded in severely blocking my nasal passages from receiving very much air. So it was a rough week.

But I'M BACK! And I've got some HUGE NEWS! This is the type of HUGE NEWS you put in ALL CAPS! and surround with UNNECESSARY! EXCLAMATION! POINTS! because it's ABSOLUTELY! TREMENDOUS! and you want THE! WHOLE! WORLD! TO! KNOW!

I GOT A JOB!

After three months, 35 resume tapes, and $65 in postage, I received my first job in television news earlier this week.

Here's the lowdown: I am working for a TV station in Sioux City, Iowa. On the weekends I'll be the sports anchor for the 6 and 10 o'clock news, and during the week I'll split my time reporting for both news and sports. (I do get two days off, thankfully, so no worries there). I interviewed last week and received an offer letter this Monday; I signed it and sent it back, officially making me part of the team.

I don't start until July, but the next month should still be extremely busy. In addition to finding a place to live, researching the market, and getting everything set up, I will also be graduating college in the middle of it all. And, of course, when I do have free time, I'm gonna try to squeeze every last drop out of the New Jersey/New York experience (OK, mostly the New York experience).

I'll send my new contact info when I arrive in Sioux City. Unfortunately, unlike my stint at KELO in Sioux Falls, South Dakota (90 minutes away from Sioux City, incidentally), my newscasts will probably not be available online. However, if you're interested, I can definitely send you a tape of my work.

So now I can finally breathe easy about the job search -- and in real life, thanks to the removal of the splint that had been up my nose for a week. My nose still isn't 100%, but I'd put it somewhere in the 80-90% range. Let's put it this way: I'm still not supposed to play sports for another week, but if my team needed me, I could certainly step up.

Finally, I have a bit of bad news to report. The Matt Pages, as you've come to know them, will face its first major challenge starting tonight.

I have been using Macromedia Dreamweaver to produce the wonderful pages in front of you. However, it's a 30-day free trial edition, and today is Day #30. I'm gonna see if I can figure out a way to get it back, but if not, the web site could be in some danger. I know a good deal of HTML and can certainly update the site by hand, so to speak, but it's sooooooo much easier with a program like Dreamweaver.

So we'll see what happens. But trust me -- this job stuff is the biggest news you're gonna see for a while anyway. I'm really excited, and I'd like to thank everyone out there who supported me and kept my head up during a hard time. You guys rock.

Adios.