Week the First

Posted by Bob Greenberger on July 2, 2006

So, you wonder, how was it being back at work in the city? What’s it like sharing space with Bat-Boy?

First of all, you know how you feel after slipping back into the routine, coming back from a vacation. Instantly, the vacation feels like a long ago, distant memory when it was just 48 hours ago?

The six month hiatus from commuting felt the exact same way. Same train, same seat, some companions. Comforting in a way.

American Media, which owns Weekly World News is at 32nd and Park, directly across the street from where I started by career at Starlog, so it felt like coming full circle.

The offices are lots of cubes, clustered down different aisles and each magazine team tends to stay amongst themselves. As AMI shifts personnel between NY and their Florida HQ in addition to selling off some of the magazines they acquired from Weider, people are constantly shifting. I took a cube that I know to be temporary, separated a bit from my two colleagues on the paper. By the end of the week, one of them was moved next t me and we’re all going to be relocated to be together at some future point.

I have more space in my cube than I did at Gist, which wasn’t even a cube but a small section of a long work space. I started with a PC but needed a Mac, which didn’t arrive until Thursday. I’m still not connected with the network where the WWN files are stored so I’m doing everything via phone and PDF.

Essentially, I have been brought in to build systems to better track the work from between editorial in NY and production in FL. The goal is to expand the WWN brand and to do so, keep things streamlined and running smoothly. So far, I’ve drafted some schedules and charts, astonished that a newspaper in existence since 1979 had no set schedule except a due to the printer date.

The people are nice; some have gone out of their way to introduce themselves. It’s definitely a more relaxed, casual atmosphere than it was at DC or Marvel, which is amazing since most of AMI’s work is weekly publication.

With each day I’ve been a little busier which is nice. I find myself missing some of the writing for the paper but don’t mind being in on some of the brainstorming.

All in all, not a bad first week.