It’s been a little more than half a year since I moved to Madison and began reporting full time at WISC-TV. So, what’s it been like?

I have to say, it’s still a little odd to think that being a journalist is my full-time — and only — job. Sure, I clean my apartment, pay the bills, and do grown-up tasks, such as determining how much I should contribute to my 401(k). But I no longer juggle three jobs, five classes, post-graduation plans, and the other things that come with college life.

My job is it. I’m a professional. At first, I wasn’t sure what to do with all this free time in the evenings. But I’ve taken that “professional” title to heart and started to research other stations, reporters and stories. It’s a learning process, because we never really know it all.

My position at WISC is different than the one I held at KOMU-TV and KMOX/1120 AM in Missouri. I don’t have a specific beat, as I did at the Missouri statehouse. That requires me to have a working knowledge of just about everything in our market — or at least, to learn quickly. No longer am I talking to lawmakers everyday, dumping open requests requests on the governor’s office, or sifting through economic data.

I work with photographers regularly, instead of one-man-banding exclusively (although I still shoot and edit my own video about once a week). I’ve realized that five days a week of reporting requires an even temperament, because the highs and lows of the job will wear any reporter out.

My move to Wisconsin came after the emotions inside the statehouse boiled over in early 2011, as Republicans stripped collective bargaining rights from most public sector unions. The fallout continues to unfold, although it does so at a much slower speed than the world-famous political fight that started it.

I arrived in time for the recall campaigns against nine state senators. Our newsroom managers put me in charge of our viewing area’s only contested district. I made the hour’s drive north to the district a dozen or more times over my first month on the job. Election Day came and went with Democrats taking back two seats — but failing to win control of the Senate.

Next came the implementation process of newly passed laws. Public employees began paying more for health insurance and retirement in August, costing the average state worker about $300 per month, according to data from the state Legislative Fiscal Bureau. Wisconsin became the 49th state to allow concealed carry in October. Gov. Scott Walker’s administration even decided to allow guns in the state Capitol — joining only a handful of other states.

Last spring’s protests turned to action, as organizers of a recall effort against Walker officially began gathering signatures in mid-November. We covered the process at length. In fact, in the 60-day window they were allowed to collect names, I covered the signature-gathering effort an average of once every four shifts. Recall organizers ultimately got more than enough names to put Walker, the lieutenant governor, and four Republican senators back on the ballot, pending certification.

But politics are hardly my main game here. In fact, our political reporter covers the frantic nature of Wisconsin politics very well, so I’ve focused on my other main interest — the economy.

Numbers out this week indicate Wisconsin has lost jobs for six consecutive months, as the national employment situation continues to improve. Walker’s promise of creating 250,000 jobs in his first term now has administration officials scrambling. Depending on the study you look at, Wisconsin added 3,200 jobs or 21,400 jobs in his first year — far from the pace needed.

So, I dove deeper into who the economy is affecting. I found Wisconsin banks paying back bailout money with other government funds. I went to find where the jobs were — and found trucking companies begging for qualified applicants. I broke the story that Madison’s rental vacancy rate had fallen to its lowest level in 16 years, and explained how that hurt poorer residents. I profiled unemployed older workers’ job searches after hearing how their task is twice as tough. And I was first to report how Wisconsin companies had more major layoffs in 2011 than a year earlier, and how the state agency that provided the data disputed its own numbers.

And then, there have been the memorable stories on the general assignment beat. There was the homeless family of eight that slept in its van in Madison, unable to find shelter. Imagine my joy when I got a call around Christmas that my station’s viewers had helped the family put money toward a rental home — and getting to update our audience about the news.

There was the time when state administrators installed a massive net in the state Capitol, aiming to protect the dome’s murals from protesters’ latex balloons. (The net, it was quickly decided, was too ugly to remain.) Then there was the day a New York man rode into town on three horses, making his way across the country to spread the word of the Lord. Police found his horses thin and malnourished and arrested him for animal neglect. A doctor later determined the horses were healthy, and the man went on his way.

No doubt, there are many things I want to accomplish in the next six months and beyond. I’d like to more regularly follow particular issues, such as unemployment. I’d like to get better at source development, and improve my storytelling and writing skills. I continue to learn things about photography and editing from my colleagues.

And, best yet, I’m enjoying my first full-time job in this career I first decided upon in middle school. Just like the words on this website’s homepage say, “There’s a reason I’m in this business. I want to know the big story. To be first. To dig for news no one else has, and explain it to a diverse audience.”