It all began as an insane idea sitting at my parents kitchen table, stuffing resumes, coverletters and tapes into envelopes. After sealing up an envelope headed to Woodis Avenue in Norfolk, he looked at me and said, "You're not moving to Virginia." I told him, that of course I wasn't going to move 3000 miles away, that I was trying to track down a new job and sending tapes to the far flung corners of the country is just part of the biz.

About a month later, I got a phone call from 13News Assistant News Director Mike Lopez asking if I could fly out for an interview a few days before Christmas. And about a week after that, I called up Dad and said, "Guess where I'm moving to?"

Now, it's been a year.

I've moved past the point of getting hopelessly confused by I-64 and how it's marked east and west, when it's actually heading north and south. (The day I moved here, I tried to get to Chesapeake from Norfolk International, but ended up in Hampton.) I can pronounce the name "Norfolk" without offending the F.C.C. When somebody says Pungo, I no longer think it's the name of a board game.

In these past 365 days, I've covered some of the most intense stories of my career: Seung-Hui Cho's rampage at Virginia Tech, Michael Vick's dogfighting ring, the death of a Chesapeake police officer killed in the line of duty.

Getting to know the people of Hampton Roads and North Carolina and their stories have made this year the best one of my life so far. I know there are more years and more stories to come, and look forward to bringing those stories to you at home.