First day on the job

Some of the editors at the paper warned me about "Island Life" and how things move a little slower here than stateside. I was expecting and sort of looking forward this way of living. Who needs to work fast all the time? Not this guy. Easier said than done.

So when I left my cozy beach villa to head to the newsroom for my first day, island life caught up with me very quickly. About 300 yards down the road, a construction crew had accidentally knocked down a power line shutting of the electricity to the east side of St. Thomas and the entire island of St. John. To sweeten the deal, the power line fell across the glorified bike trail that also serves as the only way to get downtown.

"Your first day on the job?" one of the construction workers asked with a heavy accent. "Whoa. This may take a minute..."



Tony Soprano once said every problem usually presents an opportunity to also gain. Leave it to my Jersey mafia hero to speak words of wisdom to me while in a pinch. I pulled out my iPhone and snapped a few pics for two reasons (1) this was probably news worthy and (2) I wanted to provide proof to my boss for my tardiness on Day One at the Virgin Islands Daily News.

I asked my gf to take my car back to the villa, finagled a ride into town with another construction worker and made it to the office with minutes to spare and a somewhat adventurous first day story already intact.

The guy's truck I got a ride in should be featured in the A&E show "Hoarders." As I climbed in he apologized for the mess and asked me to make myself comfortable.

For me, it was a joy ride.

He honked and waved at every single person we passed on the side of the road as if they were old friends. He honked louder for the attractive women. We listened to a local political talk show on the radio and he chimed with his opinion from time to time. I could barely understand his muttering but I kept nodding in his favor.

When he dropped me off in front of my office, a McDonald's to-go bag fell out along with a few semi-crushed empty cans of soda and beer that had been marinating in the debris near my feet fell out of the car. He sped off before I had a chance to properly thank him. I turned around, looked at front door and took a deep breath.

What an entrance, I thought.

Turns out, they used the downed power line photo on an inside page as a stand alone with a long caption. I filed my first story before they even assigned me my new email address. I finished with three bylines by the end of the day and a photo credit that will forever serve as another eye-opener to "Island Life."