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CHANGES

By TB Capen

The smartest call you can make in business is knowing when it’s time to leave.

After some thirty years in tech journalism, it’s time I put the cap on the old digital inkwell. To wit, this is my last issue as editor of the AskWoody newsletter.

It’s been a fun and interesting ride. Back in 2010, Brian Livingston convinced me and Riley the cattle dog to move 1,000 miles up the West Coast and become the editor of Windows Secrets. I retired from the newsletter seven years later during the Penton years.

In late 2018, Woody let me know that he was acquiring Windows Secrets and asked whether I’d be interested in recreating the newsletter — essentially from scratch. At the time I was living in a 12-by-20-foot cabin with my wife and two dogs. Despite being in the middle of a major construction project (our new house), I set up my ThinkPad and went to work.

In my case, retirement is, as they say, relative. My wife and I are now living full-time on our small Winter Creek farm in the Olympic Peninsula. We’re managing 62 acres of commercial forest: big-leaf maples, alders, and fairly young Douglas fir trees. As my wife likes to say, our forest in its awkward phase.

Our neighbors include several bears, a pack of coyotes that need singing lessons, the shy cougar that passes by in the night, and a myriad of other residents.

I also have numerous other projects waiting in the wings, such as finally finishing our rebuilt farmhouse and various other structures, sorting through 50 years’ worth of photographs, and rehabilitating several long-neglected personal websites. We also want to spend more time with our two new grandsons.

I leave the publishing seat in capable hands. Starting with the first issue of the new year, January 11, AskWoody contributor-turned-editor Will Fastie will be cranking out the newsletter. Will has been in the industry longer than I have. He and Da Prima Boss Susan Bradley are laying out plans for making AskWoody even better. Stay tuned.

Thanks your support! And a special “thank you” to our highly esteemed copy editor, Roberta Scholz, and to my numerous contributors.

Best wishes, and stay safe.

TB Capen is the soon-to-be ex–editor in chief of the AskWoody Plus Newsletter.

Best of the Lounge

If you missed the memo on the homepage, you might be wondering why the site was up and down throughout this past Wednesday.

Moving the website to a new hosting service proved not as smooth as hoped. Da Boss Susan Bradley kept up a running post on efforts to fine-tune the servers — and give the forums a bit more zip.

If you’re not already a Lounge member, use the quick registration form to sign up for free.

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