chuckography

Remember the "good old days" back in 2019?

As has become a New Year Eve activity for me, I drove down to the paper's office for its annual Salute to this year's retirees.

It has been 15 years since I retired and the NYE Drop-In is a chance to stop by and give good wishes for the newly-retired.

A chance to see old faces - and show my old one.

I was reminded by some that they saw my beard last year and others remembered me as clean-shaven.

Many faces in the small crowd were reporters whose bylines were familiar and others totally new to me.

A cadre of older retirees like me was engaged in conversations around the room and I joined a few to catch up.

Oh, and there always is a nice spread of food.

I put my diet aside and sampled pieces of crispy fried chicken, a few biscuits with sliced ham and cheese and a chocolate chip cookie.

Most of these delicious bites are not part of my normal menu but - hey, it's a special time-out day! A new decade beckons.

After some nice conversations, I drifted away to see what was the same and what had changed in the last 364 days.

While I was hired to run InfoLine for the paper, I still had an affinity for the press photographers whose work always pleased me as I scanned my daily paper.

My press photo roots harkened back to the 1960s in San Diego where I was a staff photographer.

I got to chat with this year's retired press photographer Wade Spees and, while neither of us had a camera, we both had Smartphones in our pockets that could capture some great images.

Right after his Summer retirement, we both had attended a Retirees quarterly luncheon and I was armed with a 4x5 Speed Graphic!

He was pleasantly surprised to see such an old-timer...as well as the bulky classic news camera.

Many fond memories of racing to grab the right image while being mindful of approaching deadlines for the morning and afternoon papers.

This was the same situation here growing up when my two brothers and I carried - and tossed - the News & Courier and The Evening Post.

Long after I headed West, the two papers here merged as did the two in San Diego.

All around the building, I saw dazzling photos taken by staffers.

The one in England of a colorful double-decker bus in the midst of a black & white scene caught my eye.

I have a buddy who drives modern buses around London. He will chuckle when I suggest he check my blog.

New to me this year was seeing "lounge areas" scattered around the second floor.

I believe the paper has an in-house ad agency now called King & Columbus.

I didn't see any pool tables or other recreational break areas.

Understand there are such areas that GOOGLE workers can retreat to for relaxation.

Not sure about another new site I saw near the advertising cubicles.

Did they bring in prospective clients to a cozy retreat area?

Or, was it a place for the ad sales reps to relax and recharge their batteries.

Either way, I seem to recall that room was a designated smoking area. There was one on each of the three floors but I had quit smoking before I was hired so never ventured into the smoky enclosures.

One image I will add to this NYE account.

It was NOT at the downtown newspaper office but IS symbolic of this time of the year.

A friend gave me a small Christmas Cactus plant that I have nurtured along for a few months.

Apparently, it had its first bloom while I was spending Christmas out in California with two of my children.

A nice seasonal happening that always pleased my Mother when her cacti bloomed starting around Thanksgiving and throughout the holiday season.

Happy New Year, everybody!

Labels: Break area, chocolate chip cookie, Christmas Cacti, crispy fried chicken bites, London double-decker bus, P&C Retirement annual Drop-in, Photo Lab, Wade Spees

posted by chuckography @ 12:00 PM