Things are about to change.

After more than 14 years with my current employer — I don’t think I’ve ever named it here, but that’s the Beaver County Times — I’m about to start a new gig. On June 30, I’ll move to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette as part of their digital team.

The new job? I can’t wait to get started. I long ago found an enthusiasm for the digital side of my business, and being able to take on similar challenges at a paper like the P-G is the kind of thing that makes me wake up happy every day. And if that kind of tinkering isn’t enough, I hope to be able to continue some beer-related video work there as well. It’s a great opportunity; it’ll give Mrs. Crappy and me the chance to make some positive changes and it will keep me challenged and happy professionally.

Having said that, I’m in no real hurry to leave The Times, even though my final day is approaching rapidly. To put it simply: I would be in a much less solid position professionally were it not for the chances I’ve had there. And I’ve had chances at The Times that I wouldn’t have had anywhere else. I started tinkering with the web sites here when I worked on Sunday nights and no one else wanted to mess with those chores. I gingerly — at first, anyway — stepped into doing Newsbreak just because the regular hosts were on vacation. I wrote quirky centerpiece stories because they were occasionally funny. And over the years, this became a lot less like work and a lot more like fun.

And when you can have fun at work, you’ve pretty much got it made, right? I’m grateful I can say that’s been the case for me for nearly all of the last 14 years.

16 Comments

  1. Great, great news! Many well wishes & good thoughts! I knew with that freakishly large head you’d go places xoxo

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  2. Way to go Mike! I know the entire family clan(s) are with you. Congradulations!

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  3. Spent most of my life in the newspaper game…digital is the way to go…there are only a few of us old timers that need to get it thrown on the driveway. My last stint was selling interactive media for the Clarion-Ledger (Jackson, MS)…worked W.Palm Beach, Huntsville, AL, Memphis TN, Niagara Falls, NY (how did that get in there?) and then MS. A wonderful Life!

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