Readers rule! Interactivity rocks! Your vote counts! These basic truths SMITH mag holds to be self-evident to the personal media explosion changing the world today. All that in mind, some days it’s funny to be me, Larry Smith (person), rather than editor of SMITH mag.

Yesterday, you see, you the people spoke to and about me in two very different votes.

Win some: My piece for Popular Science on Juan Manuel Lozano, a self-taught Mexican rocketbelt builder, made the front page of Digg.com, a tech-y/news site where readers vote for their favorite stories. Thousands of people read the piece and deemed it Digg-worthy just five hours after Pop Sci posted the story. I’m biased, but this true tale of one man’s obsession to fly is wild— and part-and-parcel to the power of personal passion that we want to be a beating heart of SMITH magazine.

Lose some: The snarky and irresistible NY-centric media/fashion/gossip site Gawker (if you don’t live in NYC, the appropriate soundtrack to Gawker is that of the world’s smallest violin playing) held a poll about which editor at Men’s Journal (an old stomping ground of mine) my former boss Michael Caruso tried to fire for six months, but the big boss Jann Wenner wouldn’t allow him (and therefore, according to Caruso’s current wrongful termination suit against Wenner, meant MC couldn’t make MJ better). Although I am flattered that as articles editor of Men’s Journal I seemingly had the power to destroy the thing—and the competitor in me wanted to win!—my friend and former colleague Leslie Lewis squashed me like the bug I am. To Leslie, I say: congrats, and good luck. To my constituency, I thank you for voting and your continued support during what is obviously a very emotional time for my family and me. When I emerge from seclusion, beware: I may be sporting a beard.