Mike Arrington, postchild and first cheerleader for all things Web2.0, announced a couple days ago to little fanfare that he’s taking a break.  I guess going 24/7 for a little more than a year takes it toll, as well as feeling like a punching bag for all the detractors you’ve attracted.

My guess is that the day-to-day operations have moved on to Mr. Kirkpatrick et al while he vacations with the folks.  One does wonder, however, how Mr. Arrington plans to spend his time after his retreat.  After all, he has mentioned in the past of having aspirations for the crunch network far beyond its current incarnation.  Will he move to a more managerial role in growing the number and quality of his assets?  Merge with other properties to create a mammoth Web2.0 beast? (GigaCrunch?) Or after  his time of introspection, will he move on to something else entirely (and wouldn’t that be the canary in the mineshaft!).

Time will tell though — and in that time it’ll be interesting to see if the voice of TechCrunch changes at all in this time as well.