Yes, I’m still here, for those people who have kindly asked if I’d vanished and/or how my "new life" was going. In short, it’s true what they say about starting your own business - you can become busier than before. Another maxim is also true - it’s not until you step out that people start approaching you with questions about how we might work together.

So, I’ve been getting stuck into mountains of reporting for a couple of feature articles. I’ve also started work on one consulting job, but I’m not really at liberty to talk too much about that yet. Oh, and then there’s the small detail of the fact that we sold our house in Sydney last week, and found another one to buy on the weekend. Anyone wanting advice on how to negotiate with real estate agents lemme know - I’ve become a quick study thanks to two brothers in law who are in the game.

As for college, I’ve been on a two week mid-semester break and I’m about to get stuck into a small mountain of essays and related assignments. There’s plenty more stuff I could write about college, but I’ll save that for the moment, and perhaps my nascent "faith blog" idea. Actually, if I was to go down that path what would you want to know??

At some point last night as our party effortlessly transitioned between two pubs and a Chinese restaurant I’ll not forget stopping to scan the room and take a mental photograph of the 20 or so happy faces (beer and finger food, what else do you need?) which were my AFR colleagues. The thought flashed through my mind that there’s something remarkable about the Fin where you work with seasoned journos who’ve been around for some 20 years, constantly refining the craft that is newspaper journalism. It’s a culture that’s inclusive of young, aspiring journos who are keen to learn from the best in the business.

Around ten years ago when I started out as a technology journalist, this role that I’m leaving behind today was my secret ambition. It was an outrageous idea, in my post-University mind, that perhaps one day I could work at the AFR writing about technology. As you know, my next outrageous idea is that perhaps one day in the future (think more than 5 years) I could possibly become a pastor, or apply what I’m learning at Tabor College in some other meaningful way.

So when people ask how does it feel to leave the AFR, it usually takes a little while to answer the question. The first part of the answer is that I’m leaving my role as IT Editor, but not journalism. I’ve been offered tonnes of freelance work here, so in a sense I’m not really leaving, just changing. What I’m trying to process is how it came to pass that I can simultaneously pursue two passions at once, and it all just works. In short, it’s all good.

As I just mentioned in my Twitter stream, Mike and Scott from Atlassian, an Australian wiki developer we have written about in the pages of the AFR, are pictured in a Business Week yarn on young entrepreneurs.

Aussie startups take note: The profile piece on BW’s slideshow makes no reference to the fact they are Australian. And that’s a good thing, because geography doesn’t matter. Forget about traveling to Silicon Valley and trading on Brand Australia.