Downshifting

I just counted: this is my 1,540th blog post (counting my youthful efforts at Preposterous Universe.) About two posts every three days, for a bit over six years. Time for a break! So I'm going on hiatus for a while. While my normal mode of operation is to bounce happily between a dozen different activities, there's a time for consolidation, and I'd like to concentrate on research for a while. It's been madcap travel ever since the book came out, which is finally done with, and I look forward to getting back into the groove of solving equations and writing papers. My hiatus plans aren't very firm: not sure whether it will be a month or a year. It won't be permanent, that's for sure. And I doubt it will even be very doctrinaire; if the mood strikes me, I won't be reluctant to fire up the old laptop and post something on my beloved Cosmic Variance. In the meantime, the rest of the crew (not to mention you commenters) will keep the fires burning here at the blog. Maybe I'll even leave a comment or two if one of those jokers says something totally outrageous. Probably most people won't even notice I'm gone. (Otherwise I wouldn't have to announce it, would I?)