Well thankfully I've returned from my stint over 200 clicks north of the arctic circle with all my fingers and toes! Mind you, we were lucky to catch some unseasonably warm weather - the coldest it got was a toasty -3 (celsius) instead of the average -20 at this time of year.
Anyhou, I've been working on a bit of a special rant philosophical post to end the year, so I'll get my well wishes out of the way now.
I hope you've had a great 2008. I had almost zero expectations when I started this blog back in January, and have been completely blown away at the level of readership and attention in the community that I have received. So to that end, thanks everyone for reading, thanks to the guys in the community I talk to / know (they're listed in the "linkage" section down the right there). Thanks to John Troyer at VMware for helping to get me on the map and for being so tolerant with the profanity ;-), and thanks to all the other people at VMware who have helped along the way... Lance, Carter, Steve, the account team that handles my company (you think I give VMware a hard time as a blogger... that's nothing compared to what I put them through as a customer). And a special shout out to all those who took the time to email me over the year - I really appreciate the time anyone takes to give me their angle or experiences with regards to a post, keep it coming.
In the new year I'll be moving to dedicated hosting, so hopefully I can start doing some more stuff like hosting a few whitepapers and small utilities / scripts. And get a bit more of a custom theme going (the green ain't going nowhere though ;-).
The coming year is going to be interesting for many people on many fronts, and I don't expect it will be an easy one. But as Albert Einstein said, "In the midst of difficulty lies opportunity". Here's wishing that you all make the most of those opportunities should they arise, and have a great 2009.