September was one of the quietest months on my blog in over three years. There are a number of reasons for this including a growing feeling of disconnect between my online learning and the urgency of the rest of my life. I've become a bit like the country person trying to cross the busy street in the city for the first time, waiting for the comfortable break in the traffic that never comes while all of the experienced pedestrians just cross with ease at their first opportunity. And every hesitation means that someone else jumps into the gap, just as John Pearce recently described after his extended blogging hiatus.

I know that maintaining an active online presence is not an extra for me, but my family and some minor health issues have sapped the urge to regularly post here, or to participate in twitter, or to check anything of interest in greater detail. There is so much good stuff to read, view, interact with and so many talented educators doing their thing that it is easier sometimes to back out and become the lurker, instead of the active participant. Add in the fact that I have to re-apply for my position at my school in the next couple of weeks and it seems that local issues need to be prioritised so that my life can have some semblance of balance.

My wife and I took the kids on a three day holiday down to the South-East of our state here earlier in the week, going to a number of places and doing all manner of kid friendly activities. Although I (still feel) felt exhausted from the driving, the dodgy motel rooms and the refereeing of back seat sibling disputes, the mental break from my all consuming profession was quite welcome.

I could have been at ACEC08 - as it seems anybody who is somebody in the Aussie edtech field was there - but seeing I'm feeling more and more like a nobody these days, the days with the kids and Joanne seem very well spent. But I am hoping that I can breathe some life into my blog, otherwise the "Open Educator" tagline might be misleading.

Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/joeshlabotnik/488140467/