Carolina in my mind

^
In a few weeks, I'll be an ex-Chicagoan.

My wife has accepted a job in Charlotte. And since she's my Sugar Mama, I'll be joining her in the land of BBQ, NASCAR and Tyrus Thomas.

We've had 16 fun years in Chicago, where we raised a great family and made too many friends to count. And now, we're very excited to start a new life adventure.

After covering Tuesday's Cubs-Brewers game for AP - read what I wrote HERE - I have six more Cubs games and two more White Sox games left before I go.

Then ... well ... I have absolutely no idea what I'll be doing. It probably won't involve newspaper journalism because of the paucity of jobs in that field. Then again, maybe it will. Who knows? That's one of the cool things about the entire endeavor: Anything can happen, and the slate is beautifully blank.

I do know that I hope to do some work with non-profit organizations I admire - be it professionally, as a volunteer or some combination of both. That's right: As if I haven't messed up my own kids enough, maybe I can shape the lives of some others out there.

As for The Baldest Truth, I think I'll still do some blogging after I land in North Carolina ... but I sure won't be writing much about Cra-Z or Ozzie or The Zooker. There's a whole world out there that has nothing to do with sports, and I plan to both inhabit it and revel in it.

Of course, I'll still be around for most of August, so expect to read about some of my favorite Chicago moments, sports and otherwise, in the coming weeks.