The meeting will now come to order. Our agenda for the day is as follows.
1) Provide assurance that I am still here, and this link is not defunct.
2) Make pledge to get back to posting regularly, tho timeline is not yet established.*
3) Share great news about language writing in major media outlets.
So our first item has been accomplished. If you're reading this, you know it's been written. Let's move on to the next.
Hereby pledged. Timeline still pending.
Finally:
The New York Times has announced that Ben Zimmer is now the regular "On Language" columnist. He will carry on, and add to, the legacy of the late William Safire. This is very exciting. The column has a large readership, and wields great influence over the tenor of common observations about language. Mr Zimmer will certainly be a fair, insightful, incisive, and accurate commentator. The space is in good hands.
*I only ask--beg, plead--that Neal Whitman not remove me from the "frequently updated" blog list. Because occasional gaps are allowed, right?