End of an Era.

To be fair, it was a very brief era.

Today was my last day at the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, where I've been working as a business intern while secretly pretending to be a real reporter. Overall, it was a great time, I learned a lot, and I feel like I have really improved as both a reporter and a writer. I've also had some great first-hand experience with one of the best papers in the country, and I got more than two dozen by-lines (the most recent ones are here). So, if anyone from the "D&C" is reading this (and I doubt you are, or I probably would have been told to stop posting from work a long time ago), allow me to say thank you once again.

The last eight weeks really flew by. It felt odd to be packing up my desk this afternoon because I guess there's a part of me that feels like I still have more I want to do here. For the first time ever, I think I might actually miss going to work next Monday.

Regardless, the fact of the matter is that I have now joined the ranks of the unemployed. And soon I will be joining the ranks of the unemployed who are living in their parents' houses. So there I was, thinking that the future does not look too bright for me, when out of the heavens - like a shining beacon of hope and salvation, like water to quench my thirst, like a promise of better days to come and life over the rainbow and a million other lovely little things - came this: the latest report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics that says unemployment has actually DROPPED in the last month, from 9.5% to 9.4%.

Hallelujah, we are all soon to be making money hand-over-fist at our dream jobs. The recession is over and, probably by next weekend, prosperity will be raining down like so many golden coins from the skies.

Well, it's at least some kind of good news, right? Certainly better than the second-derivative effects that we were all trying to convince ourselves was really, truly, positive news about a month ago.

Also, kudos to Dave for calling this about a week ago. I guess I should believe a guy who works for a job search engine when he tells me stuff about the job market.