A quick apology to long-term readers...
Having to explore my weblog to try and scrabble together evidence of visits to the US over the last six years has really brought home to me exactly how quiet this site has been over the last six months to a year, and how I really need to do something about that. I don't know that I can really go into the reasons for it in enormous detail - there's a chunk of work-related stresses associated with doing Trans-Atlantic work massively distant from your employer, and another chunk of stresses relating to important life-decisions and the idea of moving halfway across the world. All I can really say at the moment is that I'm terribly sorry to any long-term reader who misses the good old days when I used to write interesting things about the industry. I miss them too and am doing my best to get myself into a position where I can start doing them again. This is not exactly where I expected myself to be...
Comments
Please stay on-topic, informative and polite. I reserve the right to remove comments for whatever vague capricious reasons seem reasonable at the time.
RL does get in the way, still subscribing to the feed, your posted links are still interesting
→ Posted by: Nick at March 6, 2007 1:55 PM
Don't worry Tom, most visitors here, I'm sure, know how hard regular blogging actually is. And - as me being first here proves - the beauty of RSS is that we can stay subscribed forever, and when the pace picks up again, we'll be right back.
That said, your daily delicious is pretty good too...
→ Posted by: James at March 6, 2007 1:57 PM
You can't force yourself to write about interesting things, it'll just come out as crap (as my blog demonstrates very well). If you're not interested and excited about the topic then we'll all know. But I do hope you get back into that space soon, for your sake as well as ours! Try not to think about it too much though :)
→ Posted by: Thom Shannon at March 6, 2007 2:53 PM
To be honest, i do miss those good old days, but then again, you don't owe us anything! I'll keep on following you ;-) !
→ Posted by: erwin blom at March 6, 2007 5:45 PM
It's probably fairer to say that I just don't have time to put the things in my head onto the page, rather than that I'm not passionate about it. There are a whole range of things I'd love to be talking about at the moment but larger and more troubling things keep getting in the way, and the only way I can get relief from them is by distracting myself with TV and games. So the old trick of using the internets creatively to alleviate work stress is not working so well.
→ Posted by: Tom Coates at March 6, 2007 6:22 PM
I still enjoy your daily delicious links, although I've always appreciated your blog posts. Speaking as an Englishman who went to live in Australia for 7 years and then came back to live in Germany (whilst still teaching online to Australia) I can appreciate your situation.
→ Posted by: apolaine at March 6, 2007 6:38 PM
still ♥ plasticbag! ;)
→ Posted by: Stefan at March 6, 2007 7:06 PM
This post made me think how long I've been reading this site; probably about 5 years, which is a pretty long time in internet terms. And I don't think I'll be going anywhere soon...
→ Posted by: quis at March 6, 2007 8:00 PM
Hey Tom. I've been reading plasticbag for a long time now but only recently got myself a login so I can post comments. I just wanted to say thanks. Since I left uni I've always talked about setting up my own business. Now, just a few years later, I finally have. And all along the way, your writing has been a trusted resource.
→ Posted by: Simon Jermy at March 6, 2007 8:23 PM
There's still evidence of good ol' Tom in your linklog selections. :) Just don't get a very active puppy, or it won't let you blog ever again. Well at least, hopefully, until it grows up and becomes a little more independent as far as keeping itself occupied goes...
→ Posted by: Tom at March 6, 2007 10:37 PM
As a newcomer to this blog, at least it gives me time to catch up on the stuff I'd missed hitherto.
→ Posted by: alastair at March 6, 2007 11:00 PM
Never mind, Tom. It's interesting to note how one can aggregate another person online, though. What with your del.icio.us links and your occasional twittering, it's like you were never gone!
I do miss the insightful blogging, however.
→ Posted by: Greg at March 7, 2007 3:11 AM
What James said ... ditto ;-)
→ Posted by: R Freeman at March 12, 2007 1:24 AM
Take your time, we'll be here when you are good and ready.
→ Posted by: TiMike at March 12, 2007 9:48 PM