My take-away was slightly different: I think his goals changed along the way. These days, he is very interested in furthering Fog Creek. But when I started read

My take-away was slightly different: I think his goals changed along the way. These days, he is very interested in furthering Fog Creek. But when I started reading his essays (before even "Joel on Software", when he was using Dave Winer's software to manage his blog), I think his goals were less clear and a lot of the essays were just ideas that he needed to express. As with many similar bloggers, I think his early years were incredible, but the good ideas gradually became scarcer -- compare his last five years of essays with his first five years. I suspect that is because in his early years he could mine the many ideas he'd had prior to blogging. So it may not be a bad thing from him to let that lie fallow for a while. He can always un-retire if so moved. Anyhow, I wish him well and hope he finds joy in following his current interests.