Short on Time

I'd like to personally say THANKS for all the information and tips you have shared. I haven't taken advantage of the community lab, but I think it's an amazing resource you have provided to the community. I appreciate all the time and effort you have given us. You have saved me many hours of troubleshooting, and many, many hours of design research.

I would love it if you would continue, even if it's less frequent!

I'm hoping you keep it alive. Although some topics are over my head skills wise, I do enjoy reading it none the less. I think guest posts could be a good idea. I would recommend just posting them as is with a note that you have not edited the content, nor checked for accuracy. Perhaps set up a subsection for guest posts that would keep them separate from yours maintaining your good name. That way, you could just post a notice that Joe Blow has posted in the guest blog on your front page, cutting down on the work load.

Let's keep the knowledge flowing.

whatever you do, please leave the site up.

While I'm doing very little networking in my current role, that may change in the future and then I will very much need your generous site

You didn't ask for advice, and I'm not giving any. But I'll say that I've gone months between posts sometimes, when life has been too nuts and the last thing I wanted to do is write. It's okay. Feed reading is completely passive -- if the blog is still up but there isn't new content most of your readers won't know the difference. They won't unsubscribe, they'll just passively wait, reading other stuff in the meantime.

And, months from now, when you run into something that you want to write about, your blog will still be there for you, along with all your readers.

:)

obviously you desserve your weekend time for your personal life and relax from binaries storms :)

I think you could pack all this knowledge on a book, and i´m sure all of us will see it as a MUST HAVE

Enjoy your time as we enjoyed your blog (on relax time too)

Regards

Stretch, first things come first. You have provided a source of knowledge and resources that are very valuable to the networking community which myself I've benefited from it. No matter what, keep up the site and dont worry about your absence from time to time, what you have provided in packletlife.net weighs much more.

Regards..

Dude you are a legend. You don't owe anyone anything. We all (most?) know what it's like to get really busy so we understand.

Let the community know if there is anything we can do (i.e. help maintain, post articles, etc) because I'm sure the community would be here to help you out if possible. I'd be all for it if there is something I can help out with.

That said, your posts have always been really great. If you think you'd have the time to post one or two every now and again, I think the community would love you for it. If not, hey it'd still be great to leave up the site with archives, the lab, and perhaps let some others take over on blogging.

But of course it's up to you and we'll understand.

"Bit is short for binary digit" I actually had to look that up because I'd forgotten that, just so I could register to leave you a thank you comment...

I came to your column late but it has already become a reference library of sorts. I agree with what's already been said: please leave the site up if you can. But if it comes down to the eithosphere or a personal life, well, go have a personal life!

Thanks for all you insightful curiosity.

I'd vote for you to stop blogging altogether. Let people remember and miss you as a blogging 'legend' that frequently blogged interesting, unique content frequently and for years....rather than remembering you as someone whose blog slowly died due to infrequently blogging and who later vanished into cyberspace. I also come here to read YOUR articles because of your view point and your writing style...not someone else's...so I'd also disagree with having guest articles.

Just my opinion, of course.

Take care

What I'd like to say has already been said. This site (stagnant or otherwise) is an immeasurable benefit to the IT community, and surely you are aware how much the community appreciates what you have done.

Thank You Mr. Stretch.
Thank You.

Wait, you're using the same reasons the rest of us use not to blog, not having time, having a full time job, having a family on the weekends ...

I've really enjoyed your website, your posts. I've missed your posts, and have been watching the RSS feed diligently.

I would appreciate it if you could keep posting, or keep the site up - but totally understand if you don't want to.

Thank you for what you've done - you've helped me.

I use your site a lot for research. I understand that it takes a lot of time to maintain and update the content. Personnaly i like to see that the site remains active. Enjoy your free time because thats also important.

With kind regards.

There is a Solution!
just gather some people around that you met through the blog that could come up with some ideas for new posts and assign a person that you trust to look over the ideas. If they are good, put the posts on the blog. You can be also play as a last level supervisor and the blog can still be up to date without much trouble. Love reading the blog. Thanks a lot!
with kind regards,

Marius from eastern Europe.

I'm with Bob Plankers... Blog will be here, and if something occasionally pops up on your mind... we'll be here!

Best regards, Marko

Stretch, we would all hate to see you leave but please keep the site up even if it is static it is a great resource. I do understand where you are coming from having did the rack rental thing and semi community lab back in 02. Plus maintaining a blog and site all the while billing can be too much. I am in a current boat as well. Continuing education, my lab(upgrades/upkeep) which I only let my consulting clients use now, updating my wayyyy too old website and billing.

If there is a way to have a sub moderator keep things going on your behalf that would be great or just keep it up and we will all wait for the occasional gem of a post from you. Your site could also be viewed as a portfolio of your work as well. So, on your new job when you learn something new and wish to share(time permitting) you already have your forum in place.

Your site is fun, informative and the gang of posters is great. So I hope you stick around...

"Don Corleone: Tell me, do you spend time with your family? Johnny Fontane: Sure I do. Don Corleone: Good. Because a man who doesn't spend time with his family can never be a real man.."

as Lou told, write whenever you can...we all understand... Thanks for the community lab...tc..

Vineeth :-)

J, I know exactly how you feel. It's difficult to put so much time into a site and balance it with a healthy work and home life. I have to say that your material is second to none and that I have the utmost respect for you.

I started a forum post on my site for you...

http://www.networking-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=26788

Let us know what you decide.

Steve

Even if you post once a year, it will be a great site :)

Greetings form Poland and thanks for all great work so far!

Stretch,

Have loved your blog over the last few years. The cheat sheets have been a wonderful addition to my cubicle walls and the generosity of running a community lab out of your location is amazing. Definately hope you don't shelve the blog, but if you were to bring all of this information into a book, absolutely I'd be in line to buy it.

All the best,

SG

Congratulations for your new job!

I too work full time and I mistreat my blog a lot badly than yours!

Don't worry, just keep it up and post only when you feel you need to share something. Very interesting arguments indeed.

Hi Mr Stretch,

Thanks providing a wonderful blog to keep up with various diffirent technoglies.

I looked all over for cheats sheets and i got to say this website has the best.

Thanks once agian for being kind enough to share with us and put in alot of effort into this website.

Cheers,
Saad

Hi Stretch,
the best networking blog on the web bar none!!! I was delighted when I found your site, a bit sad now that you're on less but such is life.

Well done on getting the job by the way.

Hope we hear from you soon but we understand too :-)

Slán,

Paul

You need to find your peace. I've ridden on the busy bus often enough to know that getting off the bus to walk for a bit can be a life changer and family saver. You can always get back on. Personally, I hope that you keep the site going, you may need it some day. Take some time off from blogging and the answer will come to you.

BTW, I keep the following story pinned to my wall near my dresser. It found a place with me as I'm an old time radio hack. It's a daily reminder for me that I saved from a e-mail chain years ago.

Marbles and Saturdays

The older I get, the more I enjoy Saturday mornings. Perhaps it's the quiet solitude that comes with being the first to rise, or maybe it's the unbounded joy of not having to be at work. Either way, the first few hours of a Saturday morning are most enjoyable.

A few weeks ago, I was shuffling toward the garage with a steaming cup of coffee in one hand and the morning paper in the other. What began as a typical Saturday morning turned into one of those lessons that life seems to hand you from time to time. Let me tell you about it:

I turned the dial up into the phone portion of the band on my ham radio in order to listen to a Saturday morning swap net. Along the way, I came across an older sounding chap, with a tremendous signal and a golden voice. You know the kind; he sounded like he should be in the broadcasting business. He was telling whom-ever he was talking with something about "a
thousand marbles." I was intrigued and stopped to listen to what he had to say.

"Well, Tom, it sure sounds like you're busy with your job. I'm sure they pay you well but it's a shame you have to be away from home and your family so much. Hard to believe a young fellow should have to work sixty or seventy hours a week to make ends meet. It's too bad you missed your daughter's dance recital," he continued. "Let me tell you something that has helped me keep my own priorities." And that's when he began to explain his theory of a "thousand marbles."

"You see, I sat down one day and did a little arithmetic. The average person lives about seventy-five years. I know, some live more and some live less, but on average, folks live about seventy-five years.

"Now then, I multiplied 75 times 52 and I came up with 3900, which is the number of Saturdays that the average person has in their entire lifetime. Now, stick with me, Tom, I'm getting to the important part.

It took me until I was fifty-five years old to think about all this in any detail", he went on, "and by that time I had lived through over twenty-eight hundred Saturdays." "I got to thinking that if I lived to be seventy-five, I only had about a thousand of them left to enjoy. So I went to a toy store and bought every single marble they had. I ended up having to visit three toy stores to round up 1000 marbles. I took them home and put them inside a large, clear plastic container right here in the shack next to my gear."

"Every Saturday since then, I have taken one marble out and thrown it away. I found that by watching the marbles diminish, I focused more on the really important things in life. There is nothing like watching your time here on this earth run out to help get your priorities straight."

"Now let me tell you one last thing before I sign-off with you and take my lovely wife out for breakfast. This morning, I took the very last marble out of the container. I figure that if I make it until next Saturday then I have been given a little extra time. And the one thing we can all use is a little more time."

"It was nice to meet you Tom, I hope you spend more time with your family, and I hope to meet you again here on the band. This is a 75 Year old Man, K9NZQ, clear and going QRT, good morning!"

You could have heard a pin drop on the band when this fellow signed off. I guess he gave us all a lot to think about. I had planned to work on the antenna that morning, and then I was going to meet up with a few hams to work on the next club newsletter..

Instead, I went upstairs and woke my wife up with a kiss. "C'mon honey,I'm taking you and the kids to breakfast." " What brought this on?" she asked with a smile. "Oh, nothing special, it's just been a long time since we spent a Saturday together with the kids. And hey, can we stop at a toy store while we're out? I need to buy some marbles... "

I love packetlife.net! I have PL set up on my RSS feed and am excited whenever a new article comes through. Like so many others I have benefited from your blogs and would be happy to see the site continue even if there were just 6 posts a year!

Whatever your decision, good luck & thanks.