One of the first blogs I ever read was by a fellow named Lane McFadden. It was the summer of '02, and I was just catching on to the potential coolness of having one's own place to lay it all out. McFadden had just graduated from law school -- NYU, as I recall -- and he was studying for the New York bar exam.

Soon I had a blog of my own, and McFadden headed off to Alaska to clerk for a federal judge. Fairbanks, I think it was, which is way up there. I managed to check in on him only every few weeks, but there he was, blogging away, during what appeared from his superb entries to be a life-enriching year.

Now he's back in the Lower 48, just moved into a pad in Washington, D.C. and getting ready to start work there. And with the latest move comes the sad announcement that he won't be blogging any more:

And with a new town, and a new apartment, and a new job, comes a new 'blog. Or so I thought. But after this summer, I realized I'd be happier not having a 'blog at all. Not that I won't continue pestering other people with comments on their 'blogs. But my own is now officially being retired.