Charting my course for new adventure

When I began work at The Saratogian in early December 2007, the default password to log into the first level of our system and access my computer's desktop ended with a 1. Between then and now, I've periodically been prompted to change that password; always I used the same word and just changed to the next consecutive number. Currently I'm on 17.

There, it seems, it will stay. After Tuesday, Aug. 31, I leave The Saratogian. As I write, that's less than 48 hours away.

Counting down the days. I took this
picture a week ago, when I first
meant to write this farewell post.
I still have two more days to cross off.

I have accepted an offer for a position at Ithaca College that I start mid-September. My wife and I are in the process of moving out there.

As with any life-altering transition, it's bittersweet. There are some truly wonderful things happening both at Saratogian.com and our print edition, and across all of Journal Register Company (the corporate owner of both us and our sister papers The Record in Troy and the weekly Community News of southern Saratoga County). These great things began when CEO John Paton took the reins earlier this year, and it's been non-stop since then.

However, my wife and I had already decided in January that we wanted to make the move, for a number of personal reasons. Now that the opportunity has presented itself, we're ready for new adventures. I hope that my departure from the office opens up a door for some new blood to join the adventure taking shape at The Saratogian and JRC -- in a nutshell: the transformation of the media industry. I've had the opportunity to participate in the early stages of that transformation first hand. Now I'm looking forward to being an enthusiastic observer.

I'd like to shine the spotlight one more time on some of my favorite moments or accomplishments here. In no particular order:

1) A million page views! Six months in a row! We topped the 1 million mark for the first time in March, and have done so every month since then (including August). Granted it's not the most telling metric, but we're still damn proud. Our unique visitors have grown tremendously, too, especially this year. This is the result of the entire staff here at 20 Lake Ave., and they should all be proud of themselves.

Three decades young. I turned 30 earlier this month, so
it feels auspicious to start a new phase in my life.
My wife threw me a surprise party, and yes, my mom got
these M&Ms made. They're delicious.

2) Awards. I'm very proud of our award-winning staff. Most recently we won several prominent categories in the 2009-2010 New York Associated Press Association awards for excellence (see my previous post here), and another big congrats especially to Mareesa Nicosia and Stan Hudy. I'm also proud of then-reporter Andrew J. Bernstein, who helped bring several awards to the Saratoga City Desk blog. Click here to read about one of them.

3) The staff. I can honestly say I've learned something from everyone here in the office, and I'll take those lessons with me in life and my career. I've had the honor of working with a dedicated group of people who know it's better to laugh than cry (or at least to laugh when they cry) and who make even the most challenging days bearable for each other. I will miss my colleagues greatly.

4) The Ben Franklin Project. Speaking of laughing while you cry, not to mention the transformation of the media industry. Find out more about this amazing feat here. 

5) Pink Sheet Insider. Our dedicated racing show that has aired a new episode every day of the 2010 meet at Saratoga Race Course. This has been the result of the hard work and passion of sportswriters Nicole Russo and Sam Hollingsworth. These two had the drive and tenacity to make this video happen six days a week (on the dark days they rested, and the reins were given over to PSI's exclusive sponor, Roohan Realty), all during our busiest time of year. I had the opportunity to film and edit the very first episode and knew we had something with a lot of potential. There's one week of racing left, and thus one more week of Pink Sheet Insider. I hope you'll watch and share your thoughts with them on Twitter @ThePinkSheet.

6) My first (and only) threatening phone call. Well, technically it was a voice mail left shortly before I got into work one morning about a month and a half ago. A blogger expressed umbrage over some comments posted at http://www.saratogian.com/ directed at them, and demanded they be removed (and rightfully so). If not? Well, said blogger might just write about The Saratogian, a co-worker of mine or, heavens no!, me. Fortunately, someone else had already removed the comments, so I wasn't in the position of having to give in to the demands. However, the message was great for a laugh then, and the recording has proven equally amusing since and no doubt will in the future. Thanks for the giggles, blogger!

Of course, I've had my share of stress and aggravation on the job, but who hasn't? I will say that I hope the dialogue in the comments section moves away from mindless insults and into the realm of real conversation. I think it's improved quite a bit, but unfortunately it's because we've had to clamp down on the parameters to participate. I know that my standard of what is allowable has certainly tightened.

A big thank you to Managing Editor Barbara Lombardo for taking a chance with me, and for all the people at JRC corporate who have been so much help throughout my time here, especially Jon Cooper, Leslie Wenzel, Dawn Stoecker and Mark Lewis. I've learned so much and expanded my skill set significantly, all thanks to opportunities I might not have otherwise had. 

Finally, a big thank you to all our readers. I hope you'll communicate with the staff of The Saratogian and work with them to help uncover and report the news (hard and soft) of Saratoga Springs and Saratoga County. Engage with them and play a hand in creating a product you all care about.

If you're interested in following me in my new adventures, I plan to continue this blog. While I won't touch on http://www.saratogian.com/ specifically anymore, I will continue to share my thoughts on the digital evolution of media and human culture. You can also check out another blog project I've had in the works, and which I hope to now devote more time and energy to: Hypothesis of Faith.

You can follow me on Twitter, too: @Steve_Shoe (www.twitter.com/steve_shoe). Most of my tweets aren't entirely assanine.