Hello again.

Hi there, internet! It’s me, Paul.

Once again life and other pursuits got the better of me, so this poor site lain dormant for the previous 28 months. Anyone who has tried to blog for more than a few years is probably familiar with the routine. You quit posting for a month, which turns into six… and so on. Then you realize that your design is going on six years old, and of course you want to do a redesign before your next post, only prolonging the reboot.

Now the reboot is live. I still need a proper logo/logotype and some tweaks. But this is damn good enough. To quote a popular misquote of Voltaire: perfect is the enemy of done.

So, what’s been going on with me since I last wrote?

In June of last year I left my full-time position working in instructional technology at a major university in order to work independently, particularly to focus more time on Radio Survivor. Then in August my wife Ellen and I, no longer moored to Chicago by jobs, transplanted to Portland, Oregon. Ellen went to college here and has wanted to return for many years. We have visited many times since, and have many friends and family here. This piqued my interest in relocating to this part of the Northwest.

When we made the plan to leave our jobs in Chicago and move, a significant aspect of that plan was financial. I’m very lucky that Ellen has enough work to support us both right now. I also can’t stress how important it was that we put away enough savings so that we also have a good cushion in case of unexpected duress.

This means I haven’t needed to jump immediately into a full-time job. It grants me the valuable opportunity to develop Radio Survivor further while strategizing my next career steps. Over the last six months I’ve enjoyed having much more control over my daily life in addition to getting to know Portland better.

I have taken on more freelance gigs. But I am lucky that these are assignments that are very interesting to me and that I want to do, rather than have to do. And each new assignment opens new doors and creates fresh connections if let them.

I’m quite pleased with the progress that I and my colleagues at Radio Survivor have made in this time. We implemented a much needed redesign, and started running four weekly features to cover the topics we are most known for: internet radio, podcasting, low-power FM and college radio.

Podcasting has been my beat. While I am a podcaster–and distributed a radio show as a podcast—following the medium since its birth, reporting on it every week has been a fantastic opportunity. It’s given me the excuse to talk with some of the podcasters, producers and entrepreneurs who are making a real impact here. This work has also opened new doors and fostered new relationships.

My intention is to document some of this journey here, in addition to sharing other tidbits about life and media that don’t fit elsewhere. Stay tuned, won’t you?