I'm just going to come right out and admit it: the new KMBC building scares me! Maybe you've seen the promotional spot running on Channel 9, lately. The way the camera moves around...the stuff hidden in the shadows...the commanding voice telling us something major this way comes! I keep waiting for an alien ship to land and large headed creatures to disembark...commandeering the newscast. "On the lighter side, from Venus, we have this: a water-skiing zeptelotte named Kondar." (A "zeptelotte" is quite similar to a squirrel and "Kondar" is Venusian for "Skippy." Speaking of Venus, apparently all their window coverings are Venusian Blinds. Good thing, too, or it'd be curtains for all of us.) Anyway, I'm scared. I think I'll end up getting lost. It is going to be embarrassing to hear, over the intercom, "We have a little boy up here at the front desk who tells us his name is Joel and he seems to have misplaced his co-anchors. If you could come up and claim him, he'd sure appreciate it." Maybe the receptionist will give me a Tootsie Pop like they do when I get lost at the mall and my wife has to come and get me.

I've been over to the new place about three times. Once for a quick tour. Once for Picture Day. Once for Make-up Day. I also was given my new key card for entry into the building. On the surface that may make one think that one's job is secure but in this case, I'm not so sure. My ID tag is marked "TEMP" and my name is spelled Joan Nitchels. At the old building downtown, the weather center is in the basement, away from the rest of the newsroom. In the new digs, we're all in one big area. What will that mean for my attempts at free-form yoga every morning at 3:15? Right now, I can pick up a stack of weather maps, walk briskly through the newsroom looking worried every couple of hours and people think I'm on the job. How am I supposed to keep up that ruse on a full time basis? And, if Jere Gish thinks I'm sharing my breakfast of Oreos and chocolate milk with him, he's crazy.

A few people have asked when we will actually make the big move. (In fact, just today at a stoplight, a guy rolled down his window and yelled at me "Hey! Are you going to move or what?" I think the accompanying gesture meant "You're number one in my book!") Folks have been going around the station labelling things with "MOVE" and "DON'T MOVE" and "WORKING" and "NOT WORKING" signs. As you might imagine, moving a TV station is a major undertaking. It happens in stages like becoming a butterfly. Some folks are already over there...spreading their wings in full-blown Monarch fashion. A few are hanging out in the netherworld of chrysalis. Then, there are some who are crawling around like caterpillars. For me, I'm just barely to egg status. And, I suspect, once I make the transformation, I'll end up being a moth.

More on the move in the days ahead....uh oh! Someone just came along and slapped a sticker on me: "NOT WORKING. DON'T MOVE."