Arrington. Photo via CrunchBase

TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington has moved to Seattle, writing in a blog post this morning titled "Hi, Seattle" that it was simply time to "mix things up in my life." The 40-year-old blogger notes that Seattle -- despite some of his recent criticisms of the startup community here -- remains a "hotbed of entrepreneurism."

"There are scores and scores of startups here that are doing innovative and disruptive things, and I want to get right in the middle of things. Be an insider instead of just an occasional visitor," he writes.

Arrington on several occasions has chided Seattle entrepreneurs, especially Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman. In 2008, he responded to a Kelman's blog post about the benefits of Seattle by writing: "Making lifestyle choices is fine, but don’t delude yourself into thinking those choices are anything but a tradeoff. If staring at lakes and skiing after work are important to you, don’t pretend to be surprised when your startup doesn’t cut it."

And then, just last month, Arrington jumped on the skiiing theme again in a video interview with Kelman.

"It must be fun to be in Seattle where you can go skiing," said Arrington, who has family in Washington state. "But aren't you more of the exception rather than the rule of a successful Seattle startup in terms of like: How can you work only half time and still have something be a winner?"

Some Seattle readers on TechFlash didn't like remarks suggesting that they didn't work quite as hard as their counterparts in Silicon Valley.

"He runs the TMZ of Silicon Valley, AKA TechCrunch. It's nothing but a gossip blog that focuses primarily on Facebook, Twitter, and FourSquare," wrote one reader. "You would do well to not care what comes out of his mouth."

I've known Michael Arrington for a number of years, and I certainly respect what he's built at TechCrunch. He's an Internet provocateur in the truest sense, and having more people like him in Seattle I think will be a good thing for the community.

His presence does represent new competition for TechFlash, though Arrington has been writing about Seattle startups for many months now and he notes today that he'll be traveling so much that readers will hardly know the difference. (Perhaps his move to Seattle was driven by a desire to find out how entrepreneurs build interesting companies by only working half time).

Anyway, we welcome Michael to Seattle where the entrepreneurs barely work and the ski slopes are always full of powder.

UPDATE: We chatted with Arrington this morning to hear why he's moving to the Seattle area. Here's the story for those who can stomach what one reader points out as "bloggers blogging about other bloggers."

"Michael Arrington on startups skiing and getting Seattle's goat"