Goodbye, CrunchGear.

Hello John Biggs -

I would like to be the CrunchGear intern. At 28 years of age I’d probably be the oldest, creepiest intern that CrunchGear has ever hired. That being said, I don’t look a day past 26. I should also tell you that I’m taller than most people so I would be good at seeing over smaller, scrawnier geeks at trade shows. Although since I’m so old, I’d probably get tired at around noon.

Those words began the e-mail I sent on May 31st, 2007, in response to a post titled Desperately Seeking CrunchGear Intern. I ended the e-mail by saying, “Thanks for your time and I’ll be floored if I hear back from you…”

And I was floored. I was truly floored.

Up until that point, gadget blogs were a read-only affair for me. I was on the outside looking in, thinking how insanely wonderful it’d be to write about gadgets for a living. My dream job–absolutely, 100% my dream job. Little did I know it’d turn into a nightmare.

Just kidding. It has been, continues to be, and will always be a dream job for me. I can honestly tell you that there hasn’t been a single day I’ve woken up and wished I didn’t have to go to work. I hope that’s come through in my 4,036 posts here.

In that spirit, I want to make it clear that I’m not leaving for any reason other than having perpetual, ever-present, non-STD-related ants in my pants. I made it almost three years at CrunchGear, which is longer than I’ve made it anywhere else. I truly loved my time here.

Those of you who have been reading CrunchGear for a while may recall that one of my favorite games in the whole wide world is SimCity 3000. I look at my work here as a city I’ve been building for a while. It’s big, it’s sprawling, and I’ve used up every tile of space. It’s beautiful and I love it, but it’s time to start working on a new city. My CrunchGear city isn’t perfect by any means, but I’ll hopefully use what I’ve learned here to build another great city.

I’ll be joining fellow CrunchGear alumnus Peter Ha over at Techland, where I’ve been doing weekly video reviews for a while. He made me an offer I couldn’t refuse, the timing seemed right, and I can promise you that what I’ll be doing over there won’t be all that different from what I’ve been doing here. There will be more videos, more weird “what is this doing on a gadget blog?” types of posts, and more bright blue instead of bright orange.

I can’t thank the readers here or my fellow writers enough. Words couldn’t possibly express how grateful I am to be doing what I’m doing but, as a writer, I should probably try.

To the readers: I love you guys. You’ve made me a much better writer. You’ve taught me the importance of thorough research, the importance of trying to keep straight-up news posts non-biased, and the importance of keeping my videos short and entertaining. I’m sure there are a few of you who may be happy to see me go but I hope there are more of you who have felt like you’ve gotten your money’s worth from me. Readers are absolutely the lifeblood of any good site and I tried to keep that idea at the forefront of my mind during my time here.

To the writers: You guys are hands down the best crew I’ve ever worked with. It takes a special kind of crazy to work here—long hours, frozen budgets, stolen coverage, miles upon miles of trade shows, exploding live blogs, worn out keyboards, and wondering if what you do for a living really makes an actual difference in the grand scheme of things. I can tell you that what you do does, indeed, matter because I still remember what it was like to be a reader. And a big, big, big thanks to John for turning me from a reader into a writer.

I’m going to miss this place terribly, but I’m excited for what’s next. Thanks for the memories, everyone. I’ll leave you, if you don’t mind, with some of my firsts and favorites:

Firsts!