Infinite Monkeys

Signing Off...For Now

This is my last post for Infinite Monkeys. A week ago, I left my job of nearly six years at the Claremont Institute, where I had the honor and pleasure of working on what is fast becoming the most important conservative journal in America. Tomorrow, I start a new job writing editorials for a large and growing newspaper in the Inland Empire. I'm looking forward to it. But among the trade-offs of leaving the think-tank world for a big-time newspaper gig is a little something called a "newsroom outside employment policy." The gist of it is that even though I don't get paid a penny for splaying my banal thoughts on this little-read weblog for all of the Internet to see, it's still considered freelance work and could be viewed as a conflict of interest. So unless I can persuade my new bosses that this self-indulgent little exercise is anything but a competitive threat, I'm afraid my monkey days are over.

Thanks to my old friend David, who invited me to join his crew in a fit of late-night drunken exuberance in the Spring of '03. We were so innocent back then. I hope I haven't let you down. Thanks, too, to my new friends Brad, Robb, and James. You've added great joy to my life. Really. And you've taught me a thing or two. As for Monkeystein... well, let's just say I'm sure he'll get what he deserves. And then some.

Finally, to the readers—the half-dozen or so of you who check in once or twice a month—I would like to extend a heartfelt apology: Sorry I didn't take the time to write more. Sorry I didn't follow through with the summer of rum. (In a sense, though, I followed through a little too enthusiastically.)

But I'm especially sorry that my departure will almost certainly mean a precipitous drop in the quality of this weblog. I hope you can forgive me.