Imagethief has been pretty scarce recently.

How scarce? So scarce that when he sits around the house, he sits around the house. (It's an inside joke. Don't worry about it.)

Regular readers will note that I've been a little threadbare on the posts the last couple of months, with twenty in October, twenty in November and a whopping, um, nine this month. Factor out the CNET blogs, which I am contractually obligated to produce, and the picture gets even bleaker. Compared with the record breaking August of '05 (79 posts) it certainly ain't much to break open the champagne for. In fact there hasn't been a drought like this since the lean months of early '05 when a plucky, young blog called Imagethief was just finding its voice.

It's not that I've wanted to abandon you, my loyal increasingly scarce readers. It's simply that the demands of the job recently haven't left much time for extracurricular activities. And it isn't just the blog that has suffered from this bout of nights and weekends (80 hours last week), it's also the gym, friends, sleep, personal grooming and, most importantly, the long suffering Mrs. Imagethief. (And she'll be suffering more if the personal grooming thing doesn't pick up.)

Nevertheless, a major hurdle was cleared this morning and I am optimistic --in the best noncommittal, 六方会-style* diplomatic fashion-- that coming days will allow more opportunities for me produce the insight, analysis and general yukster wank that you've grown accustomed to finding on this site.

On the other hand I am also going to the US of A for two weeks of vacation this Saturday, so that bright future might not arrive until January 7th or so. I am notoriously bad at posting on holiday for the good reason that I am on freakin' holiday.

Thanks for sticking with me. And for those who have abandoned this site, I hope you find tap-dancing cockroaches in little Santa hats in your stockings this year.

*Granted, the North Koreans aren't so diplomatic, but every drama needs its comedy relief, even if the comedy relief is armed with nukes and enough artillery to turn Seoul into the world's largest litterbox.