Wow! what a journey it has been for my family and me for the past nine months. From the time I left CNN to the time I arrived at WGCL-TV here in Atlanta, I've learned a lot along the way.
I've learned never to take my job for granted again. I've learned more about networking and meeting people in 2012 than I did for the past decade. I am more appreciative of what I have now than ever before.
With the help of my wife Kelly Sanders Irwin, my family, and my friends, I overcame the fears and anxieties of not having a job to go to for the first two months of my transition. Every time I had a chance to work a shift or a string of shifts at The Weather Channel, I was always grateful for each opportunity.
Thank you everybody for reaching out to me via phone, e-mail, and facebook within hours and days of my departure and eventual transition from CNN. You all showed great care and class towards me during one of the most difficult times in my life. I will never forget you and all that you all have done for me from that moment. Even just the kind words that you said to me carried me through the early stages in Mid-November.
A special thank you and shout-out goes out to the people and members of Life Lessons in Atlanta for many things, especially welcoming me into the group. I also thank Louis Gruver for showing me the way to Life Lessons. I took a few things away from some of the guest speakers at Life Lessons. I made my resume look a little better and met new people and networked much better from the times I attended Atlanta Press Club events. I won't take networking for granted anymore.
A special thank you to Alex Sembra, Eric Ferrell, Bob Parker, Michael Scharff, and Jim Proeller for getting me into the Weather Channel as a Freelancer and for continuing to give me work for 2012 up to this moment.
One more final shoutout to Katharine Dorsett Bennett and Phil Cantor for helping me get in at WGCL-TV, where I am now. The opportunity to work there as a temp and later as a full-time staff member came faster than I ever dreamed it would. I won't let CBS Atlanta down.
The best parts about my transition were: I got to spend more quality time with my wife, I got to enjoy all the big holidays with my wife and her family in 2011, and we didn't have to pack up and move away from Atlanta to get to my current full-time job.
I will treasure my 11+ years with CNN and all of its sister networks and for the friendships that will last a lifetime. I will treasure 2012 as a time that I got to work with great and talented people at The Weather Channel and for the new friends that I have made along the way. I never dreamed that I would get to work for two major networks here in Atlanta and work with so many talented people along the way, people I would argue that are more talented than I am.
I love news, sports, television, media, and social media too much to do anything else in my career right now.
I'm excited about this next chapter in my long 13+ year career in television, and I'm looking forward to a long stay at CBS Atlanta News.
Life is good and it is getting better.
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