At some point between 11:30 a.m. and noon today, the editor-in-chief glanced over at his managing editor and said, "Why don't we go for it?"

And by "it" he meant me.

I didn't even have time to wrinkle my shirt. At 11 a.m., I had just gotten out of the shower and started to put on my shirt and tie. At 11:15 I got in the car and drove up to the offices of the publishing company, the same company that houses Casey's magazine. At 11:30 I was walking toward an empty office in the back -- just over the divider from Casey's cubicle, I think -- to meet with the EIC. Minutes later, he offered me the job as a writer/researcher, more money than I'm currently making, and a start date of Sept. 12.

I think I'm in shock. I mean, I'm ecstatic, thrilled to be moving on with my career, to a new venture, after a year of searching. It was only a week or so ago when I received an e-mail from Monster.com telling me my account was up on Aug. 23 and I had to go and renew it to keep it active. I made it before the anniversary.

Tonight I get to go into work at the newspaper and hand them my resignation, effective in two weeks, which just happens to fall during my vacation, scheduled in February. I'm not changing that. I can't, actually, since I'll be going away at the end of it. I get to spend five of my final work days at the ballpark, and I get to spend my final official days on vacation with nothing in particular to do.

I'm not overly giddy, like I expected to be. Maybe because it won't seem final until I do hand in my resignation. Maybe then I'll be unable to surpress my smiles, I'll be rejuvinated and refreshed.

But right now, I'm just hungry. I haven't eaten since I left for the interview. I need to do that.