It took fourteen years, an extension beyond the original 10-year plan (wasn’t that required?), with more than a few transfers to differing loan holders, but FINALLY I have paid off my student loans!

With this big one down, I’m now that much closer to becoming debt free for the first time in my adult life. If all goes well, I’ll achieve that milestone before I turn 40. Then I can really start to save and enjoy life even more, all of which is comforting. Just knowing I have a plan is comforting in itself.

For now, though, I’m going to enjoy and celebrate another victory over the money monster.

- Yours in debt-free-ness motion, Eric Small

Just two more full days at Citysearch. Time flies.

Yours in countdowns-ville, Eric Small

So the news is true. Another stage in my life has come to an end and the next begins.

As of Monday, I have two weeks left in my tenure with Citysearch. It has been 3-1/2 years – a lifetime in Internet time – and 4 title changes, all very exciting in their moment. I’ve seen 4 re-designs and innumerable product improvements, both from the technical side and the business side. And made more friends and developed more professional relationships than is probably fair for one person. But everything comes to an end eventually, and my time at Citysearch is due.

For the record, I am very proud of my accomplishments at Citysearch. I’m proud too of my more firey moments. My professional demeanor has changed and grown. And I can truly say my passion for my work is firmly intact. I leave not because I see a dearth of opportunity. Citysearch, with good execution, a step up in collaboration, and some focus on its other problems, can achieve. Local, as an industry, will be explosive in its growth in the months and years to come.

I simply grew weary. I picked my battles. I won some. And I lost some.

I produced. Got much done. And wished for much more.

And I innovated. And celebrated those achievements. And planned out many more.

But in the end, Local, as a problem, became a repetitive one – at least for me. That which was “new”, was no longer for me. I had seen all the major variations of the Profile Page. I had completed a social network integration. I had described the ideal user experience and simplest registration system. And so it was time to move on.

In comes GOOD. It’s a start-up. And it’s new! New people, a new place, and new challenges. Certainly I will apply all that I know and have learned, probably in some novel and unexpected ways. And that frankly thrills me.

For those wondering, I will be taking on the role of VP of Product Engineering.

With that, GOOD is a return to my roots. As leader of their technical efforts, I will again truly be able to apply my technical skills in tandem with my business skills. I, of course, won’t be able to help but to guide and advise on Product and Social Media issues. And with my background, I think I’ll do pretty darn good at it all. Call me “Ready!”

Lastly, I get to BUILD! I’ll be joining a really great group of people, doing a great thing, while building a great company, and within that, a great technical team. The challenges will be many, and the coolest is that I not only get to nurture a team, but in effect, create one from scratch. I know all of you reading will support me when I need to reach out for advice too. That’s what you do, and I’m honored by that.

So…that’s the story. As I close one chapter and start the next, I expect many of you will continue to be characters in my continuing story, and I in yours. Stay tuned!

Yours in transition, Eric Small

Do you like re-reading books you’ve read before? I do. Sometimes it’s just nice to lay back and re-experience a good story you’ve read a number of times before. I just finished these two favorites from my pretty large Star Trek collection. The first is about the Enterprise being whisked across the universe through an invisible “gate” … then having issues when they can’t get back. There’s war and philosophy – exactly like good science fiction should have.

The second is a follow-up to the first, but this time, the Enterprise is investigating the gates to once again save the Federation. And once again, they get stuck far, far, FAR from home. And there’s once more a mysterious enemy that threatens the mission.

Together these two kept me busy for about a week. And I’m sure I’ll read them again in times to come. They bring me back to my youth, whilst also taking me away to the future. You can’t beat that!

– Geeked out in Sci-Fi, Eric Small

The photos have been loaded! The night was fantastic and our “seats” were spectacular. Rusty and I were happy campers for sure! Little did I realize that I had bought us floor tickets in the VIP area. There were no seats but it was just a standing area near one of the “3 ring” platforms. The photo shown here illustrates just how close we got to The Queen — she’s running out at the end of the show about 6 feet away from us — and I’m amazed how this picture turned out.

My favorites parts were the opening with Perez Hilton and the deep, dark, leathery scene about mid-show where Brit is hoisted up by two arm-entwined, mostly naked guys, all three blindfolded. Fantastic!

Click the photo above to see the full album, or click here.

Here’s some of the really good ones though…

Yours in Britney Bliss, Eric Small

If you’re a fan of Lost, you know very well the significance of these numbers.

Well, sort of.

The great thing about this show is how good a job the producers do at interweaving the threads of the storyline. Arcs you thought were long gone pop up now and then, or sometimes simply in a flash before they’re gone again. And somehow they manage to keep a complex story and very complex timeline from unraveling into a chaotic mess. Sometimes its by focusing on one character; sometimes by focusing on an event or object. But they always manage to keep the story cohesive while throwing you for a loop.

I do love this show.

-Eric Small

So I haven’t seen a ton of concerts in my life. This Friday will be my 4th major diva and I’m actually getting really excited. Previous divas included Madonna (#1), Olivia Newton-John (#2, but really #1 in my heart), Cher (#3) at the Hollywood Bowl. And now Britney, the reining Queen of Pop, gets to be my #4. The show is this Friday, April 17th at the Staples Center! Woooooooooo!

Along for the ride is my roommate and good buddy, Rusty - a true Britney fanatic. I’ll share pictures of the Britney Wall of Fame another time.

Another concert-going gay bitch, Eric Small

The ongoing series of photo archive commentary

Among the many proud jobs I’ve had the pleasure of working on, was the original (read, first) cubs.com web site. Back in 1996, when the corporate Web was just being birthed still, I was at the Tribune Media Services company within the grander Tribune Company. I had a cubical in the historical Tribune building on Michigan Avenue in Chicago, facing out over Navy Pier on Lake Michigan. It was beautiful, truly. As one of the first hires working on web sites, I was picked to work on the new Cubs.com site. It didn’t hurt that I had successfully created an automated sports scores publishing mechanism, which we ultimately integrated on the live copy of the Wrigley Field scoreboard you see above. I worked with my friend Valerie Nozick as the primary on the content side, me being on the technical side. And we did it in the matter of a couple months.

It was a proud time and set me firmly on a course of success in the Internet industry. And like it or not, I have been a Cubs fan ever since (shhhhh) ;-)

See more of the screen captures here: Cubs.com photo album

- A Proud Internet web site papa, Eric Small

It’s been a quiet several days filled mostly with the mundane parts of life. It’s hard to believe that it’s been almost a full week since I last blogged out a note. On reflection, there are only a few standout memories – changing the oil and washing the car on Sunday, staying home from work today, the slowness of the workday on Monday, and another very pleasant evening with Brad on Sunday.

It is amazing how quickly the moments pass and how very few of them seem to stick.

I wistfully wish I could say I live every moment to its fullest, but that would be a blatant lie. Most moments I simply let pass. Many moments I accept as normal. And quite a few I forge through without any thoughts at all.

But I do not lament my ways. Indeed, because most are mundane, those that are special are all that more special. I believe completely in the tiniest twinkle that is my life in the grandness and near eternity of this universe, but my time is my time, and I will live it my way. Because I am happy. Content. And appreciative.

Yours in deep thought, Eric Small

Another mini-note. On that trip to Catalina earlier this week, we took the ferry from San Pedro surrounded by miles and miles of incoming (and I suppose outgoing) cargo containers coming (and going). It in itself was impressive.

Take a look at this (borrowed) picture and imagine dozens of these stacked to the top on cargo ships the size of some small towns. And that was just in the immediate area.

Source: http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/03IbaxFagF85j/610x.jpg

If you ever get to see the port, do! It’s free market capitalism at its most grand.

Reflecting in awe, Eric Small