December 31, 2006

The Next Adventure

Loyal readers,

Some time ago I set the wheels in motion to do something I've always wanted to do, though it was a long shot. It has happened and soon I'll be doing it.

Sadly, I'll be largely off the grid for a few months, and perhaps longer.

I may be able to reveal more details soon.

Back in September, when I decided to attempt writing full-time, I hoped for a "continued presence for the next three months at a minimum." Since then, I've also managed to do a great deal of writing elsewhere: for PajamasMedia, TCSDaily, The New York Post, The Washington Examiner, and The Weekly Standard online.

Thanks to all who have been reading this site in the two years that it's been operational. It's hard to know whether blogs like mine are exercises in vanity or ephemera, but hopefully within all the noise there has been a signal or two that has had some lasting and larger value.

Perhaps I'll return sometime soon . . .

Until then . . . thanks for reading.

And, PS: Should be one more piece coming out soon at TCSDaily. Look for it there. Also, I've recorded one more podcast, but technical glitches have prevented its publishing. Hopefully these will be resolved soon as well.

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December 25, 2006

Adeste Fideles

Merry Christmas to one and all!

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December 22, 2006

Light Posting

Posting has been light and will continue to be so for the next few days. I'm entering a period of professional transition.

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November 16, 2006

Podcasting update

Nearly 1,700 listeners have downloaded my podcast with Fred Ikle. I thought it was pretty interesting. If anyone has recommendations for future guests, comments, or other feedback, by all means, let it rip in the comments section, or send an email to the address in the sidebar.

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November 14, 2006

Quick followups

Well, I've made my way home from DC now. I covered a tremendous event while there and hope to have a story out about it shortly.

Thanks to the many who emailed regarding my article, "Why Intellectuals Love Defeat." I suppose it is worth noting that I don't harbor any particular ill will toward intellectuals. In fact, I've been accused of being one myself.

Those who found that piece interesting may be want to visit this post at Shrinkwrapped.

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November 13, 2006

Off to DC

There's much to write about today, but I'm hopping in the car to head to DC for an event there . . . More later . . .

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October 29, 2006

Marine Corps Marathon

Well, this weekend found me in DC for my first marathon, The Marine Corps Marathon. All went pretty well until about 19.5 miles in, when my knees began to cramp a good bit. I had to periodically stretch them from then on, out of fear of getting a charlie horse that would derail the whole thing. So, I had a significant drop in speed in the last 5 miles, and especially the last 3. But all, told, I'm pretty happy with how I did. Back to regular stuff tomorrow. You can see my results here.

After lots of warnings from forecasters about gusting winds, the weather turned out perfectly, by the way.

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October 26, 2006

Request for assistance from Air Force readers

If any Air Force readers can answer this question, I'd really appreciate it: Is it, or has it ever been, a standard training procedure to land long-range bombers on US interstate highways? I'm nearly positive I heard a story about this on NPR a long time ago, but can find nothing about it after several google searches. Your assistance would be most appreciated.

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September 25, 2006

Blogroll Updates

A few additions to the blogroll:

Arts and Letters Daily is a great little compendium of all sorts of one-off news and in-depth pieces from a humanities perspective, but usually very relevant to life.

The Christian Science Monitor usually has excellent coverage of a variety of issues.

The Australian is a good news source from down under.

USCavOnpoint offers articles about military strategy and counterterrorism.

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September 24, 2006

Change Afoot

Some announcements:

I no longer work in my previous industry, which was real estate development.

Instead, I've decided to fashion a new career for myself. A big part of it, though there are other parts, is writing. The details are:

-In addition to my regular column at TCSDaily, I'm making efforts to contribute to other outlets as well (and if you're an editor reading this and would like to discuss a piece, please email me at my address in the sidebar).

-I'll be ramping up the activity here on the blog. This may take the form of some new formats, rather than the long form I've always enjoyed. We'll see.

-I'll begin writing a book soon. The topic will be how to win the war. I've outlined several chapters and am very excited about getting it down on paper, er, screen. Some of that work will appear here or in other outlets from time to time.

-I'll continue doing some original reporting if and when opportunities present themselves.

-I'd like to experiment with podcasting and hope to have the equipment to do so in place soon.

-The Adventures of Chester Book Club is close to becoming a reality (see below). More on that as it develops. If you're interested, comment to this post, or shoot me an email.

Thanks to all you loyal readers out there. I've taken long breaks from this blog from time to time and may have to again in the future. For now, though, I hope to have a continued presence for the next three months at a minimum.

UPDATE: Another new change: there is now an Adventures of Chester Bookstore. I've picked the 6 books that appear on the front page and added a brief blurb about them. They are either perennial favorites or some of the best I've read this year. Now you can browse Amazon without ever leaving Adventures!

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September 23, 2006

A brief note on comments

Bill Roggio has been kind enough to upgrade me to Movable Type 3.3.

Many of you regular commenters may have noticed a glitch: You enter your comment and press the post button, but then you can't see it when the page reloads. This glitch is the result of some tinkering I did months ago to try to throw off those idiot spammers. With the new upgrade, I believe the glitch has resolved itself.

Posting has been on hold for a bit but will resume very shortly.

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September 1, 2006

Notable posts

A new page lists a few notable posts from my two years of blogging here. It's linked in the sidebar, or you can find it here.

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August 31, 2006

Test post

I'm having problems with comments once again. I cranked up the spamblocker after some spam got through on a previous post and now it seems that the blog is asking for approval for every comment . . .

Working on it . . .

UPDATE: Comments seem to be working nicely now. If you loyal readers experience otherwise, please shoot me an email at the address in the sidebar.

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July 30, 2006

Blogroll Revision

I've just updated my blogroll. Most regular newspapers have been dropped because people know where to find those already.

Here are some new additions:

The Speculist: Great blog about the future.

Dynamist Blog Virginia Postrel's excellent site. She's the author of The Future and Its Enemies and The Substance of Style, both of which are oustanding.

Westhawk is a great blog about strategy and warfare. Go check it out. The author is also a Marine officer now in the private sector.

OPFOR is another great milblog and has all sorts of interesting stuff.

Asia Times Online is an interesting source of opinion that is almost always different from that read in US media outlets.

Kingdom of Chaos is a great blog by El Jefe Maximo, a frequent commenter here and one of the few of my readers who've I've actually met in the flesh!

PrairiePundit is another frequent commenter and his blog has some great stuff too. And I've met him too!

Instapundit.com hardly needs any introduction.

RAND is one of the oldest thinktanks in the world. There's all kinds of interesting publications to be found there.

And finally, Pajamas Media is one of the few companies actually trying to make a business model out of the blogosphere. There are news and links galore there, and the site has more than proved its worth since the Israeli-Hezbollah War started.

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July 18, 2006

A quick note: Open Source Analysis Policy

The Adventures of Chester's Open Source Analysis Policy is in full effect. Also, all of the points in the policy hereby apply to the State of Israel. I'd just like to make that clear for future reference. You may read the policy in full in the sidebar. Thanks very much.

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