Some visual changes happened off the bat — headline hierarchy, dominant art, layering, cutoff rules, story jumps. Within a few weeks, we retooled our story selection to focus solely on Pinellas County stories (and it’s a big county). We committed resources to staff more stories, a process we’re still working through. And then there’s the alt forms — our Page 2 every week is anchored by an ASF package.

The redesign was punctuated with the new logotype, which includes a native osprey, or “sea hawk.” The nameplate was the last thing introduced. To use Tim Frank’s word, we’ve “diddled” with the nameplate, even adding ribbons in the bird’s beak a couple of times now for election editions. I’m sure we’ll have more fun with the nameplate as time goes on. (We have fun elsewhere. For Halloween, we put a 5-column cut-it-out-and-color-it jack-o-lantern mask on the front page with the Halloween centerpiece!)

I moved back to Florida because I wanted a family of my own. I was actually willing to throw away my journalism career, thinking maybe there were greener pastures (who was I kidding? I’m an ink-stained wretch). I was burned out. But here I am, after nine months on the sidelines, working without a net, getting used to not having daily deadlines, figuring out how to outflank the venerable St. Pete Times and outperform the area’s other weeklies, and working to grow the circulation back to where it once was. On top of all that, the Web site (pinellas-news.com) will be the next thing. I’m eager for the challenges ahead.

These days, I’m playing small clubs in St. Pete and Clearwater, not stadium shows or large auditoriums, like I was in Pittsburgh, Sarasota or Detroit. I’m tanned, rested and ready, and hopefully in the coming weeks and months, we’ll raise the bar at least a couple of inches. At least.

(Hey, Bronzer — dontcha just love living in Far Southern Ohio? GO TRIBE!)