So. I was gone for a bit. Yeah, the plan was to do a "best of" series of posts from the old blog in my absence: after all, this was something I could easily set up beforehand, and besides, we'd have some Internet access while gone, so I could always post from the road!

As you can see, that didn't happen.

As is typical around here, the days leading up to vacation were busy. Why do work crises always pop up the day or two before one leaves? And packing---oh, how I loathe the packing. Especially now that the airlines seem to be charging for any and all luggage, except car seats and strollers (thank doG!), and the pressure is thus on to pack as little as possible, while still packing enough to amuse a toddler on the plane. So blogging, understandably, was low on the priority list. And while we were away, I only had enough time to check the email. Which I don't normally do, but there were a few things going on back at the ranch that required a bit of my attention. But I did a good job of keeping the email checking to a minimum. Because the point of this trip was to Get Away From It All and Not Think About Work.

I wish I could say that the trip was relaxing, but according to Mr. Jane, I was not really relaxed at all, except for a few brief moments here and there. But it was fun and even if I didn't fully relax, I did appreciate being away. So that's something.

I've been very quiet around here lately, and a lot of that has to do with (a) burnout and (b) feeling like I don't have much to say lately. I've felt kind of lame about everything lately: my teaching, my research, my experiences as a computer scientist. But while I was away, I realized that I do have a lot to say and that I have no reason to feel lame about anything going on in my life---in fact, there are a lot of cool things going on right now in my research and teaching, and in my real life outside of school too. So I'm going to make a conscious effort to post every day this week, partly so as not to be the Lamest ScienceBlogger anymore and partly to get and keep my creative momentum and enthusiasm going.

But before you read any more of my lame posts, do go and check out this month's fabulous Scientiae carnival, at arguably the best-named blog ever, Faraday's Cage is where you put Schroedinger's Cat.