I’ve decided that it’s time to push the pause button on Eight Piece Box. I’m not taking anything down, and I hope to keep blogging here very occasionally, but the podcast and the WMMT broadcast are going into indefinite hiatus.

I started a long emo post about all the reasons why, but it’s really pretty simple: I don’t have the time, energy, or (increasingly) inclination to make this show everything I want it to be. I’m very proud of the episodes I’ve done, but it takes a surprising amount of time and effort on my part even to do our simple panel shows, much less a travel show like the Nashville episode. When I started seeing that approaching monthly deadline as a dreadful chore rather than a chance to do something awesome, I knew it was time.

I don’t expect this is the last you’ll hear of me either in food media or on WMMT. I would like to contribute to other publications and projects as time allows, so if you need a panelist or a guest article or something, you know, call me. And I’m sure I’ll stumble into something awesome before too long.

I want to thank everybody who has had a hand in making EPB what it was over the last six months or so. To Tamara: thanks for making everything I do better. Les and Jenny: thanks for being excellent panelists and constant supporters. To my friends at WMMT: thanks for being the best damn radio station in the universe. To Sarabeth: thanks for that Col. Sanders picture that still cracks me up. To my friends in food media, especially the #BussClub: thanks for letting me bask in your glory, or at least drink your liquor. And to everybody who has been on the show, helped me find people to be on the show, or let me walk around their event with a recorder: thanks for taking me seriously.

And, of course, thanks to everybody who listened. I’ll still be on Twitter and Instagram in all the usual places, so it’s not like I’m going far. I’ll see you around.