For those who don't know, The Observer is the student-run daily newspaper at Notre Dame. Suffice it to say, my time in The Observer newsroom in the basement of South Dining Hall defined my time at Notre Dame.

The Observer sent me to College Station, Texas, to cover the College Cup. I walked on the grass at Yankee Stadium as Notre Dame celebrated a gridiron victory. I attended a Snoop Dogg concert, as quite possibly the only sober attendee, on The Observer's behalf.

I covered tragedy, and in three days in particular I learned more than I did in any entire semester, even though I spent close to 60 hours in the newsroom and none in classrooms.

I covered a quarterback controversy, quickly realizing who starts behind center is not the all-consuming worry many make it out to be.

I covered the Big East Tournament in Madison Square Garden two years in a row, and grieve for the demise of it in its original form.

From paginator to Sports Editor to Editor-in-Chief, I learned the inner-workings of a newspaper at The Observer. From printing costs — to printing times and printing necessities — to advertising failures to website designs and crashes, I gained an appreciation for every aspect of a daily newspaper.

As a result of that understanding, I cannot voice many complaints that more than half my bylines can no longer be found on The Observer website. Website failures and glitches are to be expected at a daily newspaper with a staff closer to 50 than to 100.

Though I can honestly say I did at least one of everything at The Observer — including a comic, a graphic illustration and both an advertisement sale and an advertisement design — much of that variety is lost to the cobwebs of the Internet. My entire freshman year's bylines are out there somewhere, lost in the invisible chaos.

But many can be found, and the highlights of that many are sorted to the left for your perusal. When you are done, click around ndsmcobserver.com some more. Those who work there now do a far better job than I ever dreamed of doing.