Where do you start when it has been so long?  Seriously.

It has been well over a year since I regularly posted to this blog, but I’ve wanted to — really.  It just has not happened.  There are many reasons for this, but ultimately the responsibility falls upon me and I failed.  I simply dropped the ball.  For so long, so many people relied on this site for news… well, really specific news about my life, the life of Colleen and of our daughter, but yes, it was news.

But then I disappeared.  Not literally, but figuratively. For the sake of this blog, it didn’t exist.  My focus was elsewhere.  It wasn’t as if I was not writing daily – I was – over 1,000 posts worth.  I also did podcasts – nearly one hundred over a year’s span (this is actually what I miss most of all).  I also produced and edited videos – a lot of them… more than I care to count.  Most importantly it enabled me to build a number of wonderful friendships that I will surely keep for years to come.  I loved my work.  But it was unrelated to my personal life.  Sure, it contained a lot of my personal opinions, but it wasn’t about me – it was bigger than me.  It was about something that I poured more than half my hours on this earth into in one way or another.

But like life, sentiments change.  My health, which for so many years was my focus, suffered.  My wife wasn’t always supportive of my passion, but I appreciate that she hung in there.  I slept less and ate more.  In a way I became disenchanted.  Then I read a post on the prominent tech blog, Techcrunch, and while the details differed I couldn’t help but feel some similarities.  The details are irrelevant, the words and actions now a memory.  No grudges are held.  No regrets about opportunities missed.  No disappointment in any inability to act or react.  I did what I could, and I had a ton of fun in the process.  I spent many midnights producing podcasts and editing videos — too many 60 hours weekend for my own good.  I covered covered an Olympic Trials and was present to witness history in person as Michael Phelps won each of his historic eight gold medals in Beijing.  I watched as an industry changed — I hope in some part to things that I did along with the many others who helped along the way — it certainly wasn’t all my doing and I cannot take all of the credit.  But, like I said, it was a blast.

I still pay attention in some ways.  I watch Melvin with interest… his passion, insight and humor are infectious.  We’ve certainly come a long way since the green jacket and quite possibly the greatest video of Michael Phelps in the history of the internet, haven’t we?

[My apologies.  I had to remove this video due to the fact that it played pre-roll advertisements without my approval]

I see the impact that others have had on the sport.  Their ability to almost single handedly increase interest one hundred fold, and their ability to bring the sport into our homes over these tubes we called the interwebs in a way not done before.  I praise them for their accomplishments and wish them continued success.  I also see a heightened awareness, a new life to a sport many may have viewed as forgotten a few short years ago.  Times are a changing and I hope that others do not remove oblivious to that changing landscape because the possibilities are endless.

But, like the title of this post, I will be starting over.  The economy sucks, people are losing their jobs left and right, financial news isn’t necessary a cheery part of the day, and the collective psyche is like I was a few months ago — disenchanted.  But there is hope.  There are new opportunities — waking up and getting on a bike every morning at 5:15am provides one with a lot of time to think.  That time has not gone to waste.  Do I wish things could have progressed differently?  Certainly.  But the fact remains that I do not feel regret about the way they occurred.  Life moves on, I have made friends for life, and oh yeah…

There is a new Goldblatt on the way.