I read in a quote book once that perpetual devotion to one thing can only be sustained by the perpetual neglect of another. As much as I love publishing this weblog there has been a lot of changes around the Blanc household lately that have necessitated I neglect sbnet for a bit in order to keep my mental sanity and my marriage in good standings.

For one, the Jeep has been taking a ton of my free time. The time I used to be devoting to researching and writing I’ve been devoting to wrenching and off-roading. And I’ll say right now, learning how to adjust a back axle’s stance on the leaf springs feels a lot more manly than learning about UI verbiage. Though I certainly enjoy both realities, it has been a nice change of pace to be outdoors working with my hands — especially with the weather starting to warm up.

Second time stealer has been my job. Not only has there been a massive influx of design jobs keeping me busy pushing pixels, but I recently got a massive promotion. I’ve been asked to take over the entire marketing department as the new Marketing Director. I am super excited about the new job. Although it means I’ll be spending less of my time actually designing, and more of my time with budgets, it also means I’ll be able to serve some fantastic designers and developers that are already working for the department and hopefully draw their creativity and passion out even more.

Per a close friend’s recommendation I picked up Jim Collins’ book Good to Great. It’s about 11 companies that were mediocre for 15 years in a row and then had a shift and went to fantastic for 15 years in a row. I’m still in the middle of it, but Jim Collins identifies some fantastic principles that will help anyone who has any involvement and/or leadership with a business, church, etc… — even a multi-authored weblog.

To sum up, things are moving around and the reality of life is kicking in. For this next season of my life I won’t be publishing on here as often as I used to be, but I will be publishing. And thanks to all of you who have sent in emails to say ‘hi’. I very much appreciate them!

—Shawn