I wanted to make a post, but didn't want to post it in the wrong place, and it's really not Guild Wars news, per se, and yet... well, this is generally my "home forum," and so I'm popping this in here with hopes it won't be too out of place. (I'd use the normal "introduction thread" except there's more than an intro here, so... )
I will be leaving for Europe this Friday morning, August 11st. I am flying to The Netherlands, taking a one-week Rhine Cruise and visiting a bit of Switzerland and Germany before heading to Leipzig for the Guild Wars presentation at GC on August 23 - 27. Yes, this is all the stuff that dreams are made of, and I'm so excited I haven't slept in days.
Anyway, my schedule is such that I will be offline for the first week -- for some reason the river cruise ships don't offer the 'Net on board!
-- but I will regain Internet connection August 19 and will be online daily until my return on August 29. Yes, it goes without saying that I will miss you all madly, and will be thinking of each of you daily during my absence. 
(You may think I'm kidding, but in truth, well, you know. 
)And on the subject of offline and travel and so forth, I would like to introduce you to a Community Relations Team member who will now be posting in the fansite forums from time to time. His name is Andrew Patrick and he works with me here at ArenaNet. Andrew started with the Alpha Test about 3.5 years ago, and he has been a part of the CRT at ArenaNet for more than 2 years. While I'm away, if the Dev Team wants to catch you up to date on something, they'll ask Andrew to post. Now keep in mind that he will be really busy while I'm away, which means he probably won't be able to spend hours each day in the forums like some people I know.
However, he will be reading the forums several times a day and will keep an eye on interesting threads to show the rest of the team, will track your suggestions and your thoughts on matters of significance, and will post occasionally.I will be around the forums until early Friday morning, will see you again online around the 19th, and will be back fulltime on August 29/30. Oh, and I hope that I see a lot of you at GC, too!
