Happy New Year!

In the wedding industry, it is considered appropriate for gifts to be sent to the newlywed couple up to one year after the wedding (although, I believe I speak for all newlyweds when I say that we will gladly accept gifts any time - within the first year or not!). I am going to borrow from that tradition somewhat now as I wish you a Happy New Year! I trust the first month of 2006 has been a good and encouraging one for you: you have managed to stay on track with at least half of your resolutions, and you have not gained any more weight (I'm pretty sure it is definitely too late to be blaming any weight gain on Christmas goodies!).

I have been quite absent from the blogosphere - it has been over a month since I've posted, and in this age of instant coffee and fast food I might as well have died. For the most part I quite enjoyed the little hiatus - partly because I was so wrapped up in other stuff (visiting with family, Christmas, work travel, year-end finances, etc.) that I didn't really feel like I had any time left over to invest in posting here. However, over the course of the past week or so I've been feeling like I needed to get back here and start posting again - not so much for you but for me. In the past year I have used this as an opportunity to ask questions and explore different issues and topics that are close to my heart. Because my wife and I have decided against having both internet access and cable TV in our house, I find that if I am not posting regularly I am pretty disconnected from what's going on in the world (thanks to a fellow blogger I didn't miss the election in my own country!).

So I returned to my blog today. As of yet I have not looked at my hits (I'm afraid to!), but I did read through my comments and was encouraged to find that there is still some activity going on here - people are still challenged and learning together with me as we journey through life together. I am excited about what this year has to offer - both from an individual perspective and a professional perspective; and I'm looking forward to learning and growing with you as we tackle the challenges that 2006 will throw at us. Thank-you for being a part of this continuing conversation - stick around, leave your thoughts, and let's grow together. We'll talk soon!