We are now fully remote

Well, we did it. We are moved out of our office and are now fully remote.

We rented a 35-cubic yard bin from CNP Waste, had it parked behind the building last Friday, and by Saturday at 6 pm we were done.

I’m sure you can imagine what it was like to purge 90 years of stuff from the office.

We moved to our location on Main Street in 2003 and I’m sure both my mom and Buddy did not purge anything in that move.

It’s interesting what they found important. I found old issues of the Pass Herald from 1930 and calendars from 1998.

Buddy loved to leave handwritten notes everywhere and I never had the heart to throw them away. Notes like “Turn off the Lights”, “Lock the Door”, “If you continue to leave a mess, you’ll lose your privileges”. So they stayed up on every wall throughout the office after he passed. I just removed them all and packed them away as a memory. I’m not ready to give up. He’s been gone for seven years, seven months and twenty-five days and to me it honestly feels like seven minutes. It was hard to clean out my mom and Buddy’s old offices. My mom’s office had its door closed for nine years. I just couldn’t go in it.

When it was all said and done, I left the office with three big Rubbermaids of old Pass Herald issues. I keep 25 years of papers in the office. I have an issue from every week of the paper from 1999 to today in the office.

We left with two computers, two laptops, a point-of-sale terminal, and our commercial printer.

It’s incredible how little we need to run this business.

I called Telus to see what my options were regarding the Pass Herald landline and to my surprise found out that we can keep the current number, 403.562.2248. Anyone calling the office can use the same phone number and it will automatically forward to my cell. The ring will be different from that of my personal calls, and I can even have two answering messages. Technology really is insane.

Although the move is great from an economic standpoint, and helps me keep this paper in the community, it was still bittersweet.

I have so many memories within those walls. I worked with a lot of great community reporters and advertising managers within those walls. I was blessed enough to work alongside my mom and Buddy within those walls. My dad did circulation every Wednesday from within those walls.

Memories were everywhere.

We have been lucky enough to have the most incredible landlords with John and David Vigna. Johnny the Barber, as most in the community know him, left his space a few years ago and to be honest it hasn’t felt the same since he left. Johnny took care of me, always checking on me and making sure I was doing well. David, his son, has been equally incredible. They have always made me feel like family, in their family-owned property.

So .... here’s to change. I’m not great with change, but once I made up my mind to start a new chapter of the Pass Herald, we got it done in about a week.

I’m off to PEI next week for a newspaper conference, but when I return, we’ll set up a way to hold office hours in town.

We’ll pick a day, advertise it a week in advance on this page, and if you need me you can meet me at the Mercato over a coffee and a visit.

Nothing will change with the Pass Herald, other than we won’t have an office. You will still get your paper each week, you can contact us through email and phone. It’s new but exciting times!