Another Manic Wednesday

“Chris? You still coming?” I slowly close my eyes and open them again, as the screen of my cellphone comes into focus. Still coming? I read the name across the top: Beth Holland. Uh oh.. What time is it? Looking at the clock, it clearly reads 4:45 AM: 45 minutes after I was supposed to be up. With a few choice words, a yawn, and a travel mug full of orange juice in my hand, I run out the door. Sure enough, there they were: 2,000 newspapers, neatly arranged in front of my garage. I swing out to pick up my friend, glad for the company, and we are on our way. With the sun slowly rising and the roads coated in ice, we head out, stopping first on Lake Street to visit the first Boyne Marathon. Stopping to talk to Sue as I gently set fifty papers on her shelf, I wrote her a receipt and continued on the route. Much of the day continued in that fashion, stopping at houses, stores, and schools to deliver newspapers. It continued, that is, until I reached for my cell phone to make a call. Gently tapping my pocket, I find it unusually flat. Reaching in, I pull out the contents: five bucks, a couple of quarters, a pen, a packet of salt from McDonalds, a bank receipt… No phone. Alright, fair enough. It must be somewhere in the car. Looking over at Beth, I force a smile. “Hey, mind calling my phone?” I say evenly, waiting to hear the obnoxiously loud sound of my vibrating phone. Dead silence creeps over the car, as I turn the radio down and shut down the engine. Beth whispers “I don’t hear it” I return with a glare, indicating my agreement. So where is the last place we went? I ask. “I think it was that place of of Marshall.” Well that’s a relief. My long-time friends up on LacVue. It’s still 7:30 in the morning, I’m sure they’re still asleep, I must have dropped it in their driveway. So back up the hill, and five minutes of rearranging the snow in Vince and Geri’s driveway (yes guys, that’s why your driveway was a mess) reveal nothing. Fair enough, back across town we go, searching driveway by driveway for a lost phone. An hour later, I’m sitting at my desk at the office (209 S. Lake St. Boyne Valley Printing Building if you haven’t stopped by yet) and loudly complaining to Aunt Gina as Beth sits in a nearby chair, sympathetic to my cause but laughing at my word choices used in expressing this. So in short, it’s been an interesting week. No, I never did find my phone. I did manage to get a new one, and we accomplished a lot this week.

So what’s new this week in The Boyne City Gazette? Well, the first edition of our weekly e-mail newsletter went out to over forty different business owners. In this newsletter, anyone interested can get a preview on Monday Morning of what is coming in the Gazette on Wednesday, as well as access to advertising specials only available to those on the mailing list. Contact me if you are interested.

Also, the office you see below has truly become the center for our newspaper. People routinely come in to subscribe, place ads, and even just say hello. Anyone is more than welcome to stop by. I hope to see all of you out there in the trenches with me this week, as we set off to help our town thrive.