Getting back at it

Hey, folks. As you may have noticed (and I certainly hope you have), it's been quite a while since my last post up here. I've been busy with work and family obligations, and I've also been battling a variety of annoying little illnesses that have sapped my usual energy (come on, winter, cut the crap). But most of all, I just felt like I really needed a break from blogging.

In recent months, I haven't felt as though my posts have been of the caliber that I expect from myself, and too often I was throwing something up here just to say that I had produced something, out of a sense of duty. As a result, I kept pounding away at a lot of the same story lines, and the good, in-depth, original content that I take pride in creating (stuff like this and this and this and this) was becoming ever more scarce. This blog deserves better than that, and so I took a bit of a hiatus to recharge my batteries and reconsider the future direction of the Crimson Cavalier.

To answer the first obvious question: no, the Crimson Cavalier is not dead. Not hardly. But I will be posting less frequently than I used to—instead of 1-2 posts daily, expect more like 3-5 posts weekly, with a few quick-hitters (with minimal added analysis) sprinkled in along the way. As a trade-off, though, at least once a week, I intend to write a longer-form post about a topic that I think is interesting and important. Yes, some of these topics—like 3-D printing, say, or public debt dynamics—will be familiar, but I'll try not to beat any of them into the ground unless the news flow commands that I do so. Ultimately, expect more quality than quantity, with the same point of view that you've come to expect from me.

Somewhat ironically, this blog hiatus coincided with a very big moment for the blog, as I started coming across some of my own original content on other people's blogs. Last year, you may remember me welcoming March Madness with a mock-up of Simpsons characters to represent the various Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) teams (an amendment by me of an idea that I'd seen elsewhere). I was pretty proud of my Photoshop work at the time, and now it seems like the Simpsonization of collegiate athletics has become a bit of an internet meme.

I first found my work posted, quite by accident, by a friend of mine on Facebook. I laughed and thought it was an isolated incident, but then, later that week, I found this blog post on SB Nation, with my ACC work buried amidst the other conferences. It was a very strange moment for me, as my heart swelled with something approximating pride. In my own humble opinion, I think my fitting of the characters to the schools is better than most efforts on there, but I digress—I have to say that the SEC one is a particularly awesome piece of work.

Either way, hooray for the Crimson Cavalier! I'm semi-internet-famous now. Now, with my batteries re-charged, I hope I can get back to doing what I do best. I hope you'll all still be here to witness it.