With mixed emotions, I must tell you today that I've accepted a generous buyout offer from Publisher Stacey Cowles and The Spokesman-Review and will be retiring soon. (If my buyout application is accepted. My last day as a blogger/columnist would be next Wednesday). The buyout didn't quite meet my retirement time table. But it was close enough. I would have been a fool to pass it up. I'm not a fool. And, at 67, I need a break from the daily grind that I face here, with my blog and column-writing duties. Mrs. O has had to play second fiddle to my job for too long. I'm looking forward to our life together moving forward. I'm also looking forward to finally having time to do something other than meeting deadlines. OTOH, of course, I will miss you guys and the fantastic piece of cyber space we carved out here for 14 years. I don't know what the SR has in mind for this space, if anything. But I do know that we did something special here. We still have some time to discuss that.

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