10 years ago today, on April 27, 2004, I launched this site under the pokeefe.com domain name. On July 7, 2007 (07/07/07, I always loved good dates), I moved it to patrickokeefe.com and converted it from Nucleus CMS to WordPress (thanks again Chrispian).

Somewhere along the way, I became too “busy” to write here. Busy just means that I chosen not to make it a priority. Everyone is “busy” – we just do what we most want to do. You can probably take it back to the end of 2010, though I did write several posts of length here in 2011. But it was quiet for much of that year… and 2012… and 2013… and 2014, thus far.

It Just Happened

It wasn’t a conscious thing. It just happened. When I say “it’s time to get back to writing,” that makes it sound like I haven’t been writing. That’s not true. I have been. Just not here. Mostly about online community management over at ManagingCommunities.com. When I have been sharing my thoughts on something that doesn’t fit over there, I’ve been using Facebook, Twitter and Google+.

While that is one strategy (and the way that many have gone), I have slowly began to miss writing here. When Jared made a conscious effort to do so again, that just made me think about it more. I’ve always advocated for the power of having your own space – the content that I have posted here is easier for me to search and look back on. It is also mine to download and manipulate as I choose. In addition, when I am on those platforms, I feel constrained – especially in length.

Enter the New Design

Yet, even as I felt the urge to return to this space, I didn’t really care for the design or the feel of the site. As silly as that sounds. I wanted a fresh, clean space to write and think. This new design was really necessary. When I realized that I’d soon be celebrating 10 years here, I decided that this would be the perfect date. I’m excited to be back.

I will write about whatever catches my eye, ranging from business to entertainment to whatever else – in both short and long form.

Thank You

The Internet Archive has a capture of this page from 2 days after I launched pokeefe.com. When I look at that sidebar, I see friends I still have to this day: Brandon, Chrispian, Jared, Jeremy, Ray and Stephan. It’s 10 years later and I’m grateful to still have all of you in my life. Thank you for supporting me and for pushing me to be better every day.