Given that there isn't a major world plot happening right now, I would definitely say that there are other ways of going about showing a character to have an impact on the world. These ways can of course include everything from journals and RP logs to any manner of quest involvement to CDQs designed to build toward something bigger. I would also definitely say being active in the community (which you are, Chuck) is a factor.
And let's face it. We do this stuff for the love of the characters and the world they inhabit, and subsequently for the stories that our characters both make and take part in. So any chance we get to play at those stories, I definitely vote that we take them.
For my part, at the end of February, I catch a break from coaching for about four months, so I plan to schedule and run some quests, and I'd just as soon build those quests around one of your character's ambitions as anything else.