The end of an era

This might not come as a big surprise to you if you're a regular reader, but a controlled state of chaos exists here at CiN Weekly. For example:

• Our office refrigerator is cleaned by a pack of angry marmots.

• A kitten named "Mr. President" is our official mascot.

• Fitness balls are much better suited for a game called "Stand and Take It."

• Thomas Kinkade, known among collectors of finer mall store art as "The Painter of Light," has his own cheer.

• The threat of bird flu is not to be feared, but mocked. Incessantly.

So where am I going with all of this? These office oddities can be traced back to one person, page designer and irreverence editor Mike Royer. And now he's moving to Los Angeles.

Yes, it's true.

When a colleague leaves, it's easy to pull out the old, "the place won't be the same without you" cliche. But in Mike's case, it's the truth.

Chances are if you see something brilliantly quirky or laugh-out-loud funny on the pages of CiN Weekly, Mike was behind it. Readers have told me his response to the "Staff Question of the Week" is the first thing they turn to when they pick up a new issue. (Other readers say they read my column first, but I know they are being polite. They likely read Mike's answer, then accidentally stumble across my column while they're looking up Dear Doug on the index.)

True story about Mike - he once reserved a seat for my beard at a Reds game. And somehow, it was funny.

So now it's time to say thank you, Mike. Thanks for joining our merry band and making our staff seem a little more like a family – a dysfunctional family, but a family nonetheless.

Thanks for your contributions to CiN Weekly, from the early days in product development and through the nearly three years we've been on the street.

And finally, thanks for teaching us all a great lesson - that we can take our jobs seriously without taking ourselves so seriously.

We miss you already.