Gone fishing...

Creative commons photo by Flickr user anujraj

It is e-mails like this (re-published with permission) from a recent #MozNewsLab participant that make it so hard to take time away from the work that I enjoy so much it hardly feels like work most days:

Hi Phillip,

I just wanted to say thank you for organizing the class! It was an incredible experience -- personally, educationally, and for meeting like-minded folks.

I kind of expected the educational piece based on the roster, and it definitely did not disappoint -- especially talks like Aza's an John Ressig's, which turned out to be amazing and completely not what I imagined them to be.

The group itself was super impressive. The depth of talent was just jaw-dropping (for me, particularly on the visual design and video end). Meeting up with Kabir in New York was also awesome!

The bit that I least expected, but that turned out to be the most visceral and powerful was the personal. I've done media and blogging when I was younger, but I didn't realize to what extent I've become a business and numbers guy since! Putting myself out there on the Internet, whether in writing or on video, was incredibly weird, if not painful. "Who am I to mouth off on news and journalism in public?" And, yet, at the end, no one laughed, no one thought I was a blowhard for speaking out of turn. If anything, people kind of appreciated it.

So, thank you for everything, especially for pushing me to sneak out of my shell! Please don't hesitate to stop on by if you're ever in New York!

All the very best wishes.

That said, I am happy to be taking some time away from e-mail, the computer, and so on.

Happy Summer!