Dear friends,

We are going to go on a break.  Most of us are exhausted, this has been an amazing, but exhausting year.  I personally am going on fumes.  Furthermore, we are about to enter the period of western Christmas, the civil New Year and the Orthodox Nativity.  Finally, the next year is likely to be extremely interesting, in the sense of the Chinese (?) curse “may you live in interesting times”.  So we all need to reload the batteries and get ready for the next round.

So I have decided to declare a “Saker blog minimal service” from December 23rd through January 9th

I have a special request to you all: PLEASE DO NOT SEND ME EMAILS UNLESS THIS IS REALLY URGENT AND IMPORTANT.  On average, I have to reply from 50 to 100 emails every day the Lord makes, and that is absolutely exhausting.  So please, unless that is both important and urgent, do not email me.  Also, I usually do my best to answer all the emails I get.  During the upcoming break, I will only answer urgent and important emails.

I wish all the members of our community a happy Christmas, peaceful New Year and joy-filled Nativity of our Lord!

A special “THANK YOU” to Herb, who did an absolutely PHENOMENAL job over the past couple of months to make our servers faster and safer and who did it all by himself.  Herb ALSO was in charge of the moderation team.  So I think we owe him all an immense debt of gratitude.  I know I do.

Thanks also to the moderators.  This is a most difficult job for which you hardly ever get any praise, but only a steady stream of complaints and criticisms (it is almost as bad as parenting).  I know how hard it was for me to do all the moderation myself and I know how much you all have helped me since you have taken over.  Guys – in my book you are unsung heroes :-)

Of course, should something critical happen, we will do our best to react to it here.  God willing though, we might have a couple of comparatively quieter weeks.

A big hug to all, cheers and thanks!

The Saker