I've recently cropped up on a couple of Microsoft blog listings (Brier, Ed). I feel kind of ashamed because, well, I haven't been personally blogging very much over the last few months. So, some folks may be asking why and perhaps wondering what I've been doing as of late. Well, here goes if you are interested.

Like Steve and Robert I sort of 'burnt out' -- not over blogging per se but rather being 'connected'. Something like...

Wake up in the morning, check email and RSS feeds, shower, walk to the bus stop, reading email on the phone on the way, getting to work, doing the day job (which involves lots of being connected), getting back on the bus to ride home (reading email on the phone), dinner with the fam, bedtime routine with kids, back online, email + RSS feeds, checking out various discussion groups (Sandbox, GreenButton), more email, going to bed. Rinse. Repeat.

Then my bus route got WiFi. And it's pretty darn fast and reliable. And free. So instead of using the phone on the bus with more limited features I've got the MacBook out with everything at my fingertips.

In early June I noticed something: I could literally go all day with a computer on and connected. About the only time that wasn't true was the 3 minute walk from the house to the bus stop and back (but the phone easily filled the gap, and was still fully connected). I vaguely remembered too much of a good thing can be a bad thing.

I had become simply too connected.

So, taking a small page out of Jeff's book I disconnected. And this is what I did...

• Organized a 'Fun Zone' sponsored by Microsoft for teens and tweens attending the Little People of America National Convention in Seattle. We had Windows Media Center / Extender, Zune and Forza Motorsport 2. A total volunteer effort by Microsofties. Along with about 30 other volunteers Chris came one night and demonstrated Zune. Joel from the Forza team came and set up a freakin' AWESOME racing chair custom made for attendees at the event (seriously, go follow that link and check it out). We gave away four Zunes (including one to a young man who lost his iPod while traveling to the event) and four copies of Forza Motorsport 2, all courtesy of the graciousness of those teams. As one of my peers put it in a private email afterwords: "It was great being part of a Microsoft event where we weren’t selling anything, just providing entertainment for a very worthwhile cause." Yep, Microsoft employees utterly and totally rock and I'm proud to be associated with them. Much thanks to my management supporting my being out of the office for about a week to put this together.
• Took a vacation! Went back home to North Carolina to see family and friends. The first part of the trip was to Ocean Isle Beach with my extended family while the second part was in Charlotte seeing more family and friends. 2.5 weeks of (nearly) zero connectivity -- I suffered a bit of withdrawal, I will admit -- but it was nice to finally get to a feeling of total online ignorance.
• Re-read two Clancy novels ("Patriot Games" and "Clear and Present Danger") and bought (and read in two days) Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows the day it came out. It had been so very long since I picked up more than a coding reference book!
• Returned home and got back into the swing of things at work, but pacing myself -- getting done what could get done in an 8 hour work day rather than trying to answer each and every email and being connected 24/7. Instead of getting online during the 25 minute bus ride I'm reading books. Currently that's RESTful Web Services (recommended in Scotts blog --  I think -- can't find the link back to him unfortunately). This book really helps the lightbulb go on for us Program Manager types on the subject.
• Developed PowerPlaylist for Windows Media Center which adds a custom Start Menu strip to Windows Media Center with five tiles. Each tile represents an audio plus slideshow or visualization combination which will start when the tile is selected. It is highly customizable by the end user in a myried of ways: Strip name, tile title and image, audio, picture and visualization source are all configurable, including the number of tiles in the strip (1 to 5 at your discretion). It was really nice to just dig in and code for a while (with a side bonus of finding some areas for improvement we can make to the Windows Media Center platform and SDK). If you want to beta test, drop me an email to charlieo at microsoft dot come or leave a comment here.
• Quietly released the lastest version of the Windows Media Center SDK (5.2) -- read about it here and get it from here.
• My disconnected time was very much needed, and has helped me focus on the important things while getting back into the groove.

Couple of things noticed recently...

• Go get 'em Ed. I'm not sure why he subjects himself to this stuff, but I'm glad he tells it like it is. 
• From what I've read (which I will admit is not a ton) something either went horribly right or horribly wrong at Gnomedex. I've wanted to go to this conference the last two years but have had conflicts with the dates. I'm defintely going to calendar it for next year, assuming Chris does it again.
• Yay! Welcome aboard Scott -- we are so very lucky to have you here. Stop by the office when you are in town -- I've got some things to bounce off your brain when you have some time.