[NOTE: Before you begin reading this post, understand that I will be taking no action until mid-July. So there’s no need to say your "goodbyes" just yet!]

Wednesday afternoon, as I was walking through the parking garage after work, I had a shocking, momentous, revelatory, revolutionary thought. It’s the sort of thought you would never expect me to have all on my own, totally unbidden and unsuggested by anyone. Lost in thought during the walk to my car, I was pondering my future in the months ahead — as my clerkship ends and I start actually practicing law — and, like a bolt of lightning, the thought popped into my brain:

Maybe I should give up the blog.

Now, you might expect me to reject this notion out of hand. Just a silly thought flitting across my brain, not worthy of serious consideration. Give up the blog? That’s crazy. I’ve been blogging — "hyperactively," as the title bar says — for more than six years. I practically get the shakes when I go 24 hours without blogging. I’ve built quite a little community here, and I greatly enjoy the give-and-take, the feedback, the creative outlet, and frankly, the ego boost that this blog gives me. In short, I love my blog. And it’s not as if the blog is causing any major identifiable or tangible problems for me right now. In fact, things are going swimmingly, both in my life generally and on the blog specifically. I’ve been getting more serious, positive blogospheric attention in recent months than I have at any time since Katrina. With a hurricane season and a presidential election coming up, such attention only figures to increase. So why on earth would I want to give it all up — to quit cold turkey?

But the answer, or rather answers, to that question popped into my head just as quickly as the original thought did. There are the privacy concerns, which will only increase as Loyette gets older; there is the potential for conflicts and problems related to my career; there is the needless emotional energy expended dealing with trolls and such; and so forth. But above all, blogging is a very time-consuming activity. The blog is a beast that must be fed, and as long as this site exists, it’s awfully hard for me to resist the temptation to blog, blog, blog.

Now, as I said, my blog isn’t particularly causing me problems right now. During this first year of my post-school life, I think I’ve been able to strike a pretty reasonable balance between family, work, and the blog. But striking that balance promises to get much harder as I begin practicing law, as the hours will certainly be longer and more intense. Moreover, if I want to be a civic-minded person who is involved in his community (and I do), it’s going to become increasingly important for me to be involved in other activities during my free time. The same goes for establishing and maintaining a healthy social life as I begin my career in earnest. Also, just as increased work hours will squeeze my free time from one end, increased family obligations are likely to squeeze it from the other end as Loyette gets older, and even moreso if Becky and I eventually have more kids.

In other words, although the blog isn’t really presenting problems now, it’s very, very easy to see how it will begin to create problems in the near future. There is only so much time in the day, and every hour I spend blogging is an hour I’m not spending on being a good father, a good husband, a good lawyer, a good friend, or a good citizen of the real world (as opposed to the virtual one).

I could say that I’ll "cut back" or "take a hiatus," but resolutions like that just don’t tend to work well for me. I can’t half-ass a project like this. I’m just so used to having a blog, and posting to it regularly, that if it’s there to update, I’m inevitably going to update it. Besides, having painstakingly built up this audience, having made this platform what it is, I can’t stand the thought of slowly frittering it away by posting infrequently and/or failing to cover topics of interest to my readers. The reality is, I have neither the desire nor the discipline to let an active blog sit idle for long periods of time. Either I blog or I don’t blog.

What makes this tricky, and difficult, is that my blog has been, on balance, an overwhelmingly positive thing in my
life. I’ve made friends through the blog. I’ve gotten a job, in part, because of the blog. I’ve earned respect and admiration — from people in real life as well as online — because of the blog. I’ve received, because of the blog, a type of exposure I never could have dreamed of
otherwise: the New York Times, the Washington Post,
Tucker Carlson, Spike Lee, and on and on. And not just the Katrina
stuff; more recently, my thoughts on the 2008 election have been read
by many thousands of people, thanks to links from places as diverse as
the New Republic and Free Republic, The Economist and the National Review.
More broadly, the blog has simply given me an outlet to share,
well, lots of stuff that I’ve enjoyed sharing, from diatribes on sports
and politics to photos of my baby and my pets. And it’s kept me connected to friends and family who I might well have lost touch with otherwise, and has simultaneously connected me to all sorts of new people. All in all, the blog has been good
to me.

But I feel now like it’s reaching a point of diminishing
returns. I’ve accomplished just about everything I can hope to
accomplish as someone who keeps a multi-topic blog as a hobby. In fact,
in a real sense, I need to start accomplishing less, for the reasons I’ve stated already. In order to keep up
my current pace of bloggy accomplishments — of earned attention and recognition, of bloggy community-building, and of new and different exploits of creativity — I would necessarily have to
start impinging on my career, my family life, or both. But of course, I can’t do either of those things, which means the blog must necessarily suffer. So I feel as if maintaining the blog is almost like fighting a losing battle against the
evolution of my life. In a very basic way, it’s simply time to move on.

All of which is why, within 60 seconds of having that revolutionary thought — "maybe I should give up the blog" — it morphed from a passing fancy into a concrete plan. Yup. I will give up the blog.

Not yet, though! :) I’m looking at the middle of July as the time I’ll most likely hang up my blogging shoes. Details after the jump.

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The remarkable Democratic primary and caucus process of 2008 — the “campaign that wouldn’t end” — finally ends today, whether Hillary Clinton likes it or not, with primaries in Montana and South Dakota. After tonight, there’s nothing of any significance left on the calendar until the convention begins on August 25.

There’s been a lot of talk about what a long, drawn-out campaign it has been. (Remember when it seemed exotic to look past February 5?) I have a unique perspective on that, as the Iowa caucuses occurred the day after Becky and I came home from the hospital with our firstborn child. So we barely remember what our lives were like before this election began.

For Loyette, the situation is even more extreme. This campaign has literally been going on for her entire life. :) She was three days old when the first votes were cast; now she’s five months and three days. She’s more than doubled her weight, gotten five or six inches taller, and has changed from a tiny, dazed and confused newborn into a vibrant, happy, bouncing baby girl with a distinct personality and an ever-increasing set of skills. And all the while, the Democrats have been fighting over who’ll be their nominee. Remarkable.

Anyway… what are your predictions for today’s election? And when will Hillary drop out? Tonight? Tomorrow? Thursday? August 28? January 21? ;)

P.S. Remember how Mitt Romney dropped out, and endorsed McCain, at a speech in front of CPAC? Well, is it possible Hillary will drop out, and endorse Obama, at the AIPAC convention tomorrow? She and Obama are both scheduled to speak there tomorrow morning.

Becky, Loyette and I spent Memorial Day communing with nature, as we hiked the Porters Creek Trail, a roughly 7-mile walk through the woods in the Smoky Mountain National Park.

It was very fun, if somewhat exhausting. (The hike to the campsite at the end of the trail was relentlessly uphill; the walk back was, naturally, downhill, and therefore mercifully less tiring.) We carried Loyette in her Kangaroo Korner slings, Becky using the fleece one and me using the mesh one, as we always do. We passed her back and forth throughout the roughly six-hour hike, and whoever wasn’t wearing the baby would wear the backpack. So that worked out pretty well.

Loyette was amazingly tolerant of the long day. She got cranky exactly three times — twice just before taking a long nap in her sling (i.e., she was tired), and once just before lunch (i.e., she was hungry). She’s a great baby that way. :) Throughout the vast majority of the hike, she was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, and seemed very interested in all the new sights, sounds and smells. Of course, that meant not just the natural wonders of the forest, but also the more mundane “wonders” like the feel of cold condensation on the outside of our water bottle, and the way a plastic bag full of peanuts (a handy trail snack) changes shape when you grab the outside of the bag. To a baby, everything new is exciting and wondrous.

Anyway, the trail we hiked is renowned for its beautiful wildflowers in early spring. Since it’s late May, there aren’t as many wildflowers now, but there are some, and they’re pretty. Here are a few that I photographed:

See also this one and this one.

Oh, and the trail also has a somewhat scary bridge, quite reminiscent of the Bridge of Khazad-Dûm (although with a railing, admittedly):

It’s hard to tell from the photos, but there’s really quite a steep drop-off; the water is maybe 15 feet below you in the middle. And given the narrowness of the bridge, it’s legitimately somewhat nerve-wracking to walk across.

I really wanted to find a large stick, hold it up, and proclaim, “You cannot pass! I am the servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the Flame of Anor. Dark fire will not avail you, Flame of Udûn! Go back to the shadow! You shall not pass!!!”

But alas, there was another pair of hikers sitting on a rock nearby, well within earshot, so I had to contain my weirdness. :)

I did, however, do what my dad and I call the Indiana Jones pose — notwithstanding the fact that, to my knowledge, Indiana Jones never did any such pose.

Anyway, I’ll upload some more pictures of the hike to Flickr shortly, and link to them here when they’re online.

P.S. I think this photo is cool:

UPDATE: As promised, here’s the Flickr gallery. It’s two pages long. Enjoy!

I guess this is the South's answer to Baby Einstein. :)

I neglected to mention it at the time, but this past Tuesday was the one-year anniversary of my graduation from law school, and Wednesday marked one year to the day since we moved to Knoxville. Wow!

It’s hard to believe it’s been that long. Time flies, I guess, particularly when we’re talking about a year that began with Loyette being the size of a kidney bean and ended with her approaching five months old, growing and learning and changing every day — so much so that it sneaks up on you, and you’re amazed when you ponder memories or look at pictures from even a couple of weeks ago, let alone a couple of months. At this point it’s hard to remember what my life was like in February, never mind December… and as for May? Fugghetaboutit.

Anyway, I guess this milestone means I’ve now officially concluded my first year in the “real world.” And wow, what a year it’s been. I know I don’t talk about my own life in this space as much as I used to; I guess the combination of having a baby and starting my career have caused me to show a wee bit more discretion in terms of what I blog about. But suffice it to say that, on all fronts, things are going very well, and I’m really, really happy. And the anniversary of my graduation seems like a good moment to stop, take stock, and give thanks for all my blessings — most especially the one who is currently sleeping soundly in the other room. :)

Okay, so it's a cardboard cutout. :) It's in front of the Sevier County Democratic Party headquarters in Sevierville, which Becky, Loyette and I are visiting for the Bloomin' Barbecue and Bluegrass Festival.

Can someone tell me what this symbol is? I see it constantly on cars here in Knoxville, but I have no idea what it means, and you can’t Google a symbol. :)

UPDATE: Commenters have informed me that it’s the South Carolina state flag. Well, you wouldn’t expect an effete Yankee elitist Obama supporter to know that, now would you? ;)

[NOTE: This post was originally published at 8:28 AM on May 13, but I’ve bumped it backward in time now that I know the answer, to keep Cletus near the top of the homepage for a while longer. -ed.]

Just landed in Nashville. It looks like the exit polls were right, for once: a close contest in IN, an Obama landslide in NC. Nice! … Incidentally, my contrary predictive post below appeared about an hour after I sent it. Odd.

Huffington Post says it's Hillary by 5 in IN, Obama by 12 in NC. I predict the actual numbers will be roughly opposite that. She'll win by double digits, he won't, and she'll benefit from another fake "comeback."

“Video cameras that use video cassettes.” Hmm. That's the first time I've seen that particular formulation (at an airport, stadium, etc.) as an attempt to clarify the increasingly blurry distinction between still and video cameras. Only problem: “video cameras that use video cassettes” are well on their way to becoming obsolete!

We went to the Aquarium of the Smokies in Gaitlinburg this afternoon. It was suprisingly awesome, and Loyette was totally fascinated by the fishies, including this jellyfish.

Loyette, Becky, Casey (visiting for the weekend from Rochester) and I went on the March for Babies this morning on UT’s campus. It was fun!

That’s Becky pushing Loyette’s stroller above, and Casey next to her. Here’s a photo of Loyette and me, relaxing after the walk:

My t-shirt, if you’re wondering, says, “Fatherhood: the toughest job you’ll ever love.”

Anyway, thanks again to everybody who sponsored us! We ended up exceeding our goal, with $620 in donations!

If you didn’t sponsor us, but would still like to donate to the March of Dimes, why not sponsor the Neudorffs? They’ll be marching next weekend in Rochester.

After the jump, some more photos of today’s march here in Knoxville.

UPDATE: Welcome, No Silence Here readers! If you didn’t know, “Loyette” is our baby’s blog nickname, not her actual name. :)

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Well, at least it's equal opportunity scandal-mongering. And hey, maybe ABC can have another debate and ask the candidates about these crucial issues. :)

A big thank you to everyone who has donated to our March of Dimes “March for Babies” fund! As you can see at right, we’ve reached our goal of $500. A blog reader’s donation of $65 this evening put us over the top. Woohoo! All that money will go toward research to help sick babies. Good work, everybody!

The march is tomorrow. I’ll try to get a cute picture or two for the blog. :)