Patrick Beeson

It's curious how life runs in circles.

Back in 1998, I was graduating high school in Bristol, TN and looking forward to fleeing the South for the snowy winters of Durango, CO. I swore I'd leave East Tennessee and never look back.

Funny thing is, I've been living in Knoxville, TN since Feb. 22. And I'm loving every minute.

It helps to work for a fantastic company like Scripps. I accepted a project manager position with the Interactive Newspaper Group in early February and started last week.

I'm switching gears slightly from my previous job as Web standards developer. But I'll still continue my pursuit of innovative ways of delivering content to users of newspaper Web sites, just on a larger scale.

Someone has to save newspapers, right?

It's also wonderful to work for a company that values humor in employees (seriously, it's on their card). Also, having a choice to use a Mac doesn't hurt one bit!

But despite my newfound happiness here in the TN, I wish the best for my colleagues at The Roanoke Times/roanoke.com. I simply would not be where I am today were it not for the innovative approach of their former publisher, former editor, managing editor and online staff (especially that Seth Gitner).

I highly recommend that any journalist with online steez looking to push the envelope of storytelling beyond print, to send the Times some e-mail love. Or they can send their apps to any of Scripps' many newspaper properties -- who wouldn't want to work with the Randoms?

For now, I'm enjoying the round-trip ticket life has provided. Tennessee sounds good to me! (But I'm still going to cheer for 'Bama. Roll Tide! And go ASU Mountaineers!)