Packing it in
July 6 will be the second anniversary of this blog.
It will also be the last day of this blog, at least for a good long while.
The reasons for pulling the plug are as complex as the reasons for starting were. Over the past two years, the role of this hobby in my life, and my relationship to the people who read these pages, have changed. With a few hundred people a day coming here now, there's an essential rhythm that should be kept up. And though the spirit is willing, the flesh is weak.
There are other aspects of life that need my attention right now. For example, I've converted to Judaism and changed my name to Esther. Oy! But seriously, there are only so many hours in the day, and some other very important things that I need to work on.
I think I've accomplished much of what I set out to do with this site. Granted, some blog-related dreams and ambitions haven't panned out, at least not at this writing. I don't see myself getting that nice-paying summertime talk radio gig I fantasized about out of this, nor are the literary agents calling to clamor for the hard-copy, book-length version. But I've met a lot of nice folks, I've learned a lot, and occasionally I've struck a chord with some of you.
Maybe I'll continue in some other format at some point. I'd like to do a book about something other than tax law someday. But the days are numbered for a daily-post, sidebar-of-links, multiple-topic weblog.
This is going to be a hard habit to break -- there's a power in it that's very seductive -- but I have to.
In the two weeks we've got left, let's have some fun. Go out in style, like Johnny Carson did. And if I think of anything more profound to say about the ending of this project, you know I'll post it.
UPDATE, 6/24, 9:12 a.m.: I've downgraded my retirement plan to a sabbatical, at least for now.
Comments (35)
Jack, let me be the first to comment that we will miss your perspective!
Posted by Jesse Cornett | June 22, 2004 7:20 AM
You will definitely be missed.
Posted by Craig | June 22, 2004 7:25 AM
I hear you, brother--it's tough to fill the news hole every day. We'll miss you, but I'll go ahead and regard this as a sabbatical. Easier that way.
Thanks--
Posted by Jeff | June 22, 2004 7:41 AM
Jack--I only started reading your blog a few months ago, but I really enjoyed it. It was usually the first link I clicked on in the morning. You will be missed!!!
Posted by Rod | June 22, 2004 8:03 AM
It's been a pleasure reading your blog. And thank you for taking the time to post.
I think you'll be back.
Posted by Justin | June 22, 2004 8:05 AM
As I'm working on the East Coast, I look upon your blog as a refreshing breath of NW air. I definitely value the link it provides to my chosen home state, but at the same time, I empathize with the time pressures.
Thanks for letting us share your observations!
Robert
Posted by Verde | June 22, 2004 8:18 AM
Jack, you've got a fine site here, and it'll be a hard to let it go (for you and the rest of us). It was almost always one of the first 3 sites I checked in the morning, and never disappointed with your insight and wit. Good luck with whatever's next for filling up your time (perhaps playtime and storytime with those girls of yours?).
Posted by Bryan | June 22, 2004 8:26 AM
Holy crap, Jack! I will miss your Portlander insights (and the classic anti-Laker sentiment).
Posted by The Un-Candidate | June 22, 2004 8:41 AM
... at least you're not giving up the blog in order to take a job with Oregon Electric Utility Co.
Thanks for all the hard work you've put into this beastie. You've never failed to entertain... it's like I never left law school!
Posted by ERISAweasel | June 22, 2004 8:54 AM
Jack, as your example got me started in my own more modest endeavor, what can I say but "I'll miss your blog"?
Posted by Isaac Laquedem | June 22, 2004 9:14 AM
You were by far the most entertaining and engaging professor I had in law school, and as someone with very little interest in or aptitude for tax law, I thank you for making it an immensely enjoyable class. After leaving Portland, your blog kept me up-to-date on Oregon goings-on in an amusing fashion, so I will certainly miss that.
Posted by Raging Red | June 22, 2004 9:15 AM
Your blog voice will be missed!
Posted by Neva | June 22, 2004 9:23 AM
Ditto...
Posted by Bill Barstad | June 22, 2004 9:36 AM
This was the first blog site I visited, I'd only heard of them previously. Now I read dozens.
I'm going to miss your humor and insight.
Can I hope that the posts from various city officials at 1221 SW 4th continue to pop up from time to time?
Posted by PanchoPdx | June 22, 2004 9:58 AM
I've really enjoyed your blog, Jack, and although I can understand the need to spend some time away from the computer, I hope you'll still make the occasional appearance in our blogosphere!
Posted by sarah gilbert | June 22, 2004 10:35 AM
Holy cow!
Jack, you have been a real inspiration to WWP and many, many others. Having worshipped at the Bog Blog for most of these past two years, I can safely state that you are The Man, the Go To Guy, the Dean of the Local Blogs. To say that you will be missed doesn't quite say it all.
Your reasons for leaving, though, are perfectly understood. "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven."
Best wishes, Jack.
Posted by Worldwide Pablo | June 22, 2004 11:14 AM
Even though we don't agree on who the next Commish #1 should be, I ALWAYS look forward to reading your blog.
I wish you much happiness and do hope at some point you'll bring it back.
Cheers!
Posted by Scott Jensen | June 22, 2004 11:24 AM
Maybe we need to push yer newspaper support, Phil Stanford, to pimp the idea of you on the radio in his next column. ;)
Anyway, I'll just echo Jeff's comment, and will view this as a sabbatical until and unless it's indisputably proved to be otherwise.
Posted by The One True b!X | June 22, 2004 11:44 AM
You've done a great service to the community. Take care.
Posted by Scott-in-Japan | June 22, 2004 12:24 PM
I've been reading for about nine months now, and let me just echo everyone else above living in exile in saying that reading your weblog kept me connected to home, after going to school in the Midwest and particularly after my parents moved to Arizona. Without your insight and news updates, I don't think I'll feel as... tied to Oregon as I did.
To that end, I'll miss everything you could have said. I've enjoyed every minute of those nine months.
Best of luck with all that new-found time, and thanks so much!
Posted by Wes Meltzer | June 22, 2004 1:00 PM
With Professor Bogdanski out of the way, nothing can stop the Tram from bringing a new era of hot Canadian babe hedonism to Liar Hill, punishing the Liars for their lies. Woooo Hooooo!!!
Posted by trammytramtram | June 22, 2004 1:39 PM
You will be sorely missed. Before I thought about starting my blog, I bounced around seeing what other Oregonians were doing. I've been reading your site ever since. At least maintain an online presense, so we know where you are.
Posted by Jake | June 22, 2004 3:58 PM
I have only been reading your blog for a month or two, but I will miss it. You, B!X, and Phil Stanford are my favorite local writers. Please reconsider your decision.
Posted by Tex | June 22, 2004 4:17 PM
Dear Blogfather and Most Excellent Cousin,
I was most saddened to read this. However, knowing you as I do, I have no doubt that you thought this through (You were always a priorities "List Guy"). So, my guess is that the blog did not come close enough to the top of the list to permit you continue.
You inspired me to hop in the Blog Pool. Your writing always served as an excellent example of how things ought to be written. Even though from time to time I would disagree with what you had to say, you always said it well and with class.
As you know, we come from a family of talkers and story-tellers, who would spend countless hours sitting around a table, each "taking a turn," obeying some unwritten rule of conversation protocol. I suppose the only rule (and it applied to us "children" who sat around the table) was that, in order to hold your own, you had better be interesting or funny.
You always held your own then and you still do.
I hope you reconsider, but if not, you can always drop my place and share your thoughts with the blogosphere.
Thanks for everything.
Cousin Jim
Posted by Parkway Rest Stop | June 22, 2004 5:47 PM
Sad to see you adjourning from the content-providing world for awhile. I've enjoyed your blogging, and selfishly hope you keep the site active for the occasional spare-time effort.
Posted by Gordie | June 22, 2004 9:34 PM
Say it ain't so Jack. But I do like the name Esther.
Posted by jack danger | June 23, 2004 1:07 PM
You have a consistently interesting blog. That's pretty rare. I'll miss it.
Posted by Gordo | June 23, 2004 1:29 PM
Oh no, what will all the clerks at the Multnomah courthouse read now? You are a very funny man! Your blog will be missed.
Posted by xio | June 23, 2004 1:52 PM
Bummer. Now where will we snark?
Posted by brett | June 23, 2004 2:39 PM
But -- but --
Boooooooooo.
I do understand about fatigue, and understand the choice, but I will be another one hoping that you will make another appearance in another forum before too long. Until then, I will just keep using, "But what about Ted, and the memo in his inbox?" as my universal non sequitur. (Much as I use "Go find a rock . . . no, not that rock" almost every time I explain anything about administrative law, thanks to Janet Neuman.) (I only wish I remembered as much law as I do professorial wit.)
Cheers -- you will be missed.
Posted by Linda | June 24, 2004 5:43 AM
Bye Jack!
Posted by Stacy | June 24, 2004 8:32 AM
Say it isn't so?
Actually, it's quite understandable, but nonetheless, I will miss reading what you have to say should your sabbatical turn into something more permanent. Regardless, I hope you do get some rest.
Posted by yasmín | June 24, 2004 10:17 AM
Jack-
I bet you think I read your sight daily because of the political stuff....well maybe that is just a small reason.
Frankly, I get enough of that stuff in my day job.
The real reason I got hooked on your site is because of the vivid pieces you wrote that created stark images in my mind of similar experiences I had as a child. Probably your experiences resonated with me so strongly because we are the same age. Kind of like when I first saw the movie "Stand by Me". That movie, like many of your personal pieces, evoked deep memories of my childhood "hangin with guys" in the "old" Irvington neighborhood.
Here are my three all time Jack Bog Favs;
Your November 22, 2002 story "We interrupt this program"(https://bojack.org/mt-arc/2002_11.html) of John Kennedy's assassination brought back sad and powerful memories. I too was in the 6th grade, although a coast away at Irvington, when Mr. Low, the Principle, came into the lunch room, ashen and clearly shaken, to tell us that President Kennedy had been assassinated. Nothing I have read, seen or heard in the intervening 39 years to when you wrote your piece hit me like that.
Your November 15, 2002 piece (https://bojack.org/mt-arc/2002_11.html)"Take out the papers and the trash!" describing your early introduction to 50's Rock and Roll and American Bandstand hit another chord with me. You liked watching the 45 go round and round to Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard....I liked looking though the steps that led to the sawdust furnace in the basement that had a huge belt driven wheel that turned the fan blowing the heat through the ducts in the house. As that big wheel on top of the furnace turned I would listen to Perry Como on the record player singing "And it goes Round, Round, Round".
However, my favorite I have no comparison to. I just liked it a lot.
On August 5, 2003 in the piece "Here's one you can hit Jackie"
(https://bojack.org/mt-arc/2003_08.html), you wrote of your Uncle Bill's passing. It hit a deep chord in me, as I am sure it did with most of your readers. It was, from my perspective, far and away your best piece.
So, I guess I am saying I can get the political stuff elsewhere...but where am I going to find a guy my age, who likes my kind of music, who doesn’t mind mixing it up until 2 A.M. on subjects such as gay marriage, and who I have grown to really like a lot.
Having said that, I get the amount of time you spend on this....Maybe you can post an occasional life experience in the genre of the three I have listed above...I think you like writing them....and I bet a whole lot of us love reading them.
So long for now........Randy
Posted by Randy | June 24, 2004 7:52 PM
Bye
Posted by Kismet | June 24, 2004 9:03 PM
Jack, you are creating a vacuum that can't be filled.
You connected to lots of people. You always had something to say and could tell a good story, too.
I am going to miss your writing very much.
Posted by Sam Churchill | June 25, 2004 10:18 AM