As ProfGrrrrl would say: High. Eight. Us.

Hey folks.

As many of you know, lately I've been having some serious time-management issues. And I feel like a schmuck about it, since I'm only teaching 3 classes instead of the 4 that I know many of you are teaching. (I could list the other professional responsibilites I have, but then I'd sound like an even bigger jerk and the world's smallest violin would start playing for me.) But last semester's leave (on the heels of teaching-free summer, as well) got me out of the teaching habit pretty quickly, and I'm only now just getting into the swing of things 1/3 of the way into the semester. But other things are still suffering, including but not limited to: running, communication with my family (other than quips traded with the sibs on this here blog), e-mail correspondence with friends, the cleanliness of my house, my leisure reading (what's that?!), my diet (as in the "well-balanced" kind, not as in the "losing weight" kind), and other personal life-related things like that, not to mention keeping up with my corner of the profession (I can't remember the last time I read an article or a book review that wasn't directly related to what I've been working on). And I've also neglected the relationships -- social and personal -- that I have with my colleagues and friends here in Rust Belt City. I've actually been either pretty damn distant or downright crabby with a number of colleagues lately because of the stress and anxiety I've felt, and I've got to do something about that for professional and personal reasons. Dr. Crabby is not the person I want to be.

I think my biggest problem is too much on my plate and not enough time away from the desk and the computer. So I think I have to take a break from blogging for awhile, which includes reading blogs as well as writing this one, I'm afraid. (Certainly writing this one has not taken all that much time lately, given that I haven't done a weighty post in about a month, but when I do write something more substantial it takes me forever to write a damn post!) I really enjoy the little world created by blogging -- especially among the academic blogs -- and I've gotten so much out of the conversations and memes and cross-pollination that happens here in Academiblogistan. I hope to come back to it and renew those connections and conversations, but for now I need to see to the care and feeding of my little world here in the Rust Belt and the things I was hired to do at Rust Belt U.

This isn't farewell forever, and for all I know I may be back in a month or less. Or maybe I won't be back until summer. I don't really know at this point. In the meantime, if you want to drop me a line, the e-mail is now drvirago [at] sbcglobal [dot] net (replace the appropriate symbols and punctuation, of course). Ancrene Wiseass and I were talking about a medieval blogger meet-up at the Big Conference, and I hope I'll still be invited even if I haven't blogged between now and then! Or if any of the other regulars here know (or think they know!) where I am and happen to be in the area and want to meet up, let me know. And those of you who subscribe on Bloglines, keep me subscribed so you'll know when I start up again.

I feel a little like I'm letting people down since I just started to build a regular audience (including whoever does the "Around the Web" thing at InsiderHigherEd), but then I also figure y'all have lives to lead and too many blogs to read as it is! :) So consider this a Valentine's Day present: one less verbose blog to read!

And now I should sign off with something pithy and original, but I'm all tapped out, so I'll be unoriginal instead. As they used to say on the radio, when they still played records: See you on the flip side!

Dr. V