The Only Constant Is Change

It's time to get serious for a second. Over the last year this blog has honestly changed my life. It's opened up opportunities that I'd never imagined I'd have. It's also been a learning experience, through my efforts here I've been able to see some of what goes on behind the scenes of the political process.

Because of all this it's with some regret that I'm announcing the end of Left of Ohio. I'll still post here for a little while (days, maybe weeks), but it will no longer be the priority for me that it has been in the past.

But...

It's not all bad news. In fact it's not really bad news at all (unless of course you hate me, then it's extremely bad news). The reason I'm phasing out Left of Ohio is because I'm moving on to something new.

After the last election it seemed clear that Ohio was turning into a blue state, therefore I was no longer to the political left of  the rest of the state and the name had to go (plus I've always hated the name "Left of Ohio").

I've also started to feel limited by the Blogger platform and the challenges presented by not having my own hosting. If I wanted to upload a file other than a picture or video I was always forced to look for an outside service. If I wanted a new feature I had to wait for Blogger to develop it instead of just being able to install a plugin. Eventually looking for all these creative solutions started to take up so much time that I just threw posts and drafts out rather than find ways to make them work.

Back in June I finally decided it was time for a change. At that point I set up a local (only available on my computer) version of WordPress and started playing around with it. I was impressed by how easy it was to use and the wide array of features it offered (both by itself and through plugins) and worked out a plan to switch over to a new blog by early 2008. Since then I've been slowly building a site offline.

As my frustration with Blogger built up and news seemed to slow down recently the plan was accelerated. I also realized it might not be a good idea to try and make such a switch during an election year might not be the best idea in the world.

To make a long story short; the new website, Ohio Valley Politics, is live and waiting.

Some Important Notes:

• The email address david@leftofohio.com will still work and be checked regularly for at least a year (probably more). My new primary email address is david@ohiovalleypolitics.com.
• I own the LeftofOhio.com for a few years yet, so links will still work. I also may renew the domain if traffic still persists.
• As of this point OVP will be my primary blog, if something goes horribly wrong I'll fallback here.
• For a little while I'll cross post here until everything is completely setup.
• The new RSS feed is http://www.ohiovalleypolitics.com/feed/.