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Friends and family,Mimi and I enjoyed an extraordinary year of firsts: First grandchild, first time Iveleft the newspaper business since I was in high school, first book contract, first magazine cover, first classes taught at universities, first banquet in my honor.The highlight of our year was thebirthof Julia Burke Buttry

, Mike and Susiesdaughter. We moved to Washington inFebruary (more on the move shortly) andJulia was born here March 11, with herproud grandparents out in the waiting room.Julia arrived a week early, andGrannyhadbeen scheduled to fly to Jacksonville, Fla.,that morning for a weekend of cooking andfun with her relatives. Granny refused toleave until Julia made her debut, resulting insome interesting juggling of flight reservations. We had all eight familymembers together whenJoe and Kim visitedfrom Las Vegas in May. Granny and Grampsenjoyed babysitting and doting on Julia forthe first three months of her life. She and herparents moved to the Twin Cities in June,just a couple weeks after herbaptism. Mikesnew job is with Capella University, where heis vice president for communication. Mimivisited their new home in Edina inSeptember and we will visit together forChristmas. Granny and Gramps might be bringing something for Julias stocking.I decided in January to take aleap out of the newspaper business

, joiningTBD, aweb, mobile and TV news operation covering Washington local news. I loved theidea as soon as I heard about it and very much wanted to work with Jim Brady, whowas going to be leading the operation forAllbritton Communications, owner of Politico and several TV stations, includingtwo in Washington. The day TBD planswere announced in October 2009, I sent Jima direct message on Twitter, saying I wanted a piece of the action. Jim and I met afew weeks later at a conference in Columbia, Mo., and by January, we had a deal forme to form and lead thecommunity engagement team. OurAug. 9 launchdrew considerable media attention (which was good, since I wasin charge of mediarelations). After several years of frustration trying to push innovation in thenewspaper business, I have thoroughly enjoyed the energy, creativity andpossibilities of a digital startup. I had some wonderful times in the newspaper

2business, and I would not trade those experiences for anything. But it was time tomove on and I did so enthusiastically. I have been delighted with my colleagues andstaff. As I told them themorning we launched

, 39 years after I started my journalismcareer, Ive never had more fun in the news business than Ive had the past fewmonths. That was true through Nov. 5, when Jim left over what TBDs owner, Robert Allbritton, described as philosophical differences. Its way too early to say what thiswill mean for my future, but its been a great experience and I have no regrets about joining TBD.Mimisblog post about my departure from the newspaper biz(and her departure asa newspaper reader) got national attention from lots of quarters, including theColumbia Journalism Review

, the popularRomenesko media blogandRoger Ebert . This was a big year for Mimis writing. A news story that involved our family inJanuary resulted in a book contract for Mimi byDecember. Our niece Mandy Poulter and herhusband Matt completed adoption of a Haitiandaughter, Maya, not long before the earthquakehit Haiti. She was legally their daughter and theywere just waiting for her U.S. passport to bringher home to Pella, Iowa. After the quake, theycould not get news about whether she was OK orwhether the orphanage had been damaged. Someprodding from Mimi spurred Mike to contact ABCNews about their situation andRobin Robertsfound the orphanageand told Mandy by Skypethat Maya was safe. Tom and his colleagues inSen. Tom Harkins office expedited thepaperwork through the State Department.Mandy and Matt flew to Haitiand were able tobring home Maya (and four other orphans beingadopted by friends in Pella) just a week after the quake. Wevisited Maya and herfamilybefore we left Iowa, andagain in the fall

, after the Poulters moved to Texas,and they are all doing great. Mimi developed a proposal for a book about Mandy,Matt and their family, focusing on the adoption of Maya and rescuing her from Haiti,but also telling the broader story about the familys commitment to adoption. Mandyis the oldest of three biological children and 11 adopted children in the family of mybrother Don and his wife, Pam. Maya is Mandy and Matts fourth adopted child andMandys two married siblings have also adopted. In fact, shortly after Maya camehome, Mandys sister, Missy Rock, and her husband, Andrew, went to India to bringtheir daughter Athulya home. We are pleased that they live near Mike, Susie andJulia in Edina, Minn. Mimis publisher isReadTheSpirit

, a small religious publishinghouse that has published a couple of my brother Dans books. She plans to finish hermanuscript in early 2011. Were not sure how long editing and publication will take,but you might be hearing about the availability of her book before our next holiday

3letter. Im expecting stops on Good Morning America and Oprah on her book tour.Oddly, the greatest recognition of my newspaper career camejust as I was leaving the business. Editor & Publishermagazine, the oldest publication covering the newspaperindustry, named me itsEditor of the Year. It was a strangephone call in late January, when Mark Fitzgerald, editor of E&P, called to give me the news. Did you know Im not aneditor any more? I asked. He knew. The magazine wasrecognizing my work as editor of The Gazette as well as myadvocacy for innovation while I was editor and since becomingthe companys innovation coach. OK, I said, but maybe youought to know that I just received an offer to leave the company and the newspaperbusiness and Im going to say yes as soon as we work out a few details. He said that was OK, too, soI was on the cover of E&P(not the Rolling Stone, but I did send acopy to my mother). Oddly, that was the first in a wave of recognition this year. Quillmagazine named me one of 20 Journalists to Follow on Twitter and the PoynterInstitute named me one of 35 journalists influential in social media. The most special honor of the year came in October, when the Schieffer School of Journalismat TCUinducted meinto itsHall of Excellence. Mimi and Mike joined me in Fort Worth for the dinner. Im glad TCU gave me a few weeks warning, because I wasspeechless when John Lumpkin, director of the Schieffer School, delivered the news,and they do like the honorees to say a few words (OK, more than a few in my case; Irecovered from my speechlessness).Teaching was another theme of this year for me. I started teaching a class at theUniversity of Iowa in January, teaming with Jim Cremer of the computer sciencedepartment to teach acourse on developing an iPhone app. Unfortunately, I had tobail on that class after five weeks to join TBD. The Iowa folks were most understanding and asked me to speak to several classes and a faculty lunch in Aprilas a visiting professional, when Mimi and Ireturned to complete our move from CedarRapids. I gave team-teaching another try in thefall, partnering with Ken Dodelin to teach acourse inentrepreneurial journalismfor theMaster of Professional Studies in Journalismprogram at Georgetown University. This time Icompleted the course. I had a great time andhad a great group of students.Weve visited with family in lots of places thisyear  Iowa, Missouri, Florida, Ohio, Nevada(photo of Joe, Kim and their Yorkies Leeeroyand Harry at home in Las Vegas at the right),Minnesotaand right here inWashingtonand