interesting....

i'm not at all sure what day i'm on. and to be honest, i'm not that worried about it.

i did this sort of on the spur of the moment, the whole "no internet" thing, and it is great. i know i said before i suspected i would not go back to my old addicted ways, but i'm pretty sure of it now. my 'books i need to read' shelf has grown to a point where i have a several months of reading, thanks to a local christian bookstore going out of business, and everything being on sale. add to that, i have several i want to buy. i have plenty to entertain me.

weekends have historically been when i spend hours online (how sad is that?). this weekend, i spent much of yesterday just goofing off around the house. it was raining, so i didn't get a lot done, but it was a nice relaxing day. today, when we finally got home from church, and got lunch eaten, i finally hung the hammock up in the back yard (insert great lyric from the choir here; i DO have a yard! [sorry carl]). amazing what you find time to do, when you're not tied to a computer all day.

the rest of the week, honestly, i've been too tired to think about it very much. i've been putting in long days at work, which are paying off nicely, with new meetings set, and customers accumulating. again... amazing what you can accomplish, when you're not on a message board or news site all day long. sadly, the guitar has gathered some dust of late... though i did break it out yesterday to help my beautiful bride work on her harmony parts for today's service.

which brings me to a slightly different note. i also cut out XM radio, with my beloved talk radio. i've been listening to great music in the car, and have felt quite inspired by some of it. hopefully i can start working on getting something recorded soon. maybe if i start now, i can FINALLY finish that christmas EP by christmas! i'll probably start listening to sermons in the car again soon, but for now, i'm loving some great songwriters. when you drive just over an hour each way, you can really get into an album. bruce cockburn and todd agnew have been most of the playlist this week (and yes, i know, that's probably the only time they will ever be mentioned in the same sentence, ever). for the first time in years, i was literally brought to tears by a turn of lyrical phrase, while driving 75 miles an hour down I75. a well written musical lyric is a thing of beauty.

well i'm off to work on supper i suppose.... stir fried steak, and fried rice tonight. i forgot how much i love to cook. there's something about bringing a tasty meal together, from a bunch of dead plants and animals (are you reading michael? ANIMALS).

lastly, for those of you praying for my sister, she delivered her fourth child early this morning, bringing the total to 4 (i bet mom never guessed she'd be a grandmother of 8, from her two kids!). i got to 4 first, but i had to cheat. next christmas should be fun, with two tiny boys running around unsteadily. kelly named the little guy gabriel lee, though i suspect with a more creative spelling... i just haven't been informed of what quirky phonetic spelling she used this time. (and yes, i know 'lee' is an old family name, so it's probably spelled normally.)

ok.... done for now. does anyone know where i can get some help for my obsession with parenthetical statements?

2 weeks....wow!

so i have gone two weeks without the internet. i did, as mentioned, break down and read my sister's blog, since no one took my hint, and e-mailed it to me.

all in all, it hasn't been bad at all. i've probably watched more TV than usual, but i've also had time to do all sorts of other things, including work more (was one of the goals of this to return me to my old workaholic ways? i hope not!).

it has caused me to evaluate what it is i spend my time doing, specifically, on the internet. some sites i regularly visit, i haven't even thought about. others, i would like to drop by, and see what's up. i think my internet habits will be a lot different, when i return...... in addition, i have realized just how much time i spend mindlessly clicking around 'the internets', as i find myself wondering "what the heck should i be doing right now?". i'm enjoying the time with family, time with books, time with a guitar, and just quiet time in general.

still reading mclaren this week. taking time to really read it, not just read over it, as i too often do. while i find things i don't agree with mclaren on, i think there is a lot of wisdom in this book. i can definitely see why some have blasted him as being a little too open, and a little to accepting, a little too shaky on some biblical principals, i can also see why so many love him. the vision he has for the church is one i share, and the place i think he'd like us to end up, is somewhere i've been trying to find, or get to, for a long time now.

i'll leave you with this..... mclaren metions that many churches ask us to agree to some sort of statement about our beliefs on the bible....ie it is innerant, literal, etc.... and he states that perhaps a better thing would be (and i will paraphrase here, since i don't have the book in front of me) "the bible is for the purpose of equipping people for good works". let's spend less time worrying about what we believe the bible IS, and more time worrying about what it says we should DO....ponder on that..... and go read the book. (i know... some of you want to read it even less, after seeing that, but i encourage you to check it out anyway.)

days 5, 6, &7 (the weekend)

wow...... an entire week. i have no idea when the last time was i went this long without my usual internet usage. i recall a time in 2004, when i didn't have internet access from home for several months, but even then, i managed to get to my usual haunts from work.

i will confess i used the internet in a limited fashion this weekend. i looked up the schedule for the weekend football, and i did some research to find some information on an old book i bought. yesterday afternoon was tough... the girls were off with my mom, and the rest of the house was asleep. this is a time i would usually spend mindlessly clicking around. so i had to find other things to do (like watch football, of course!).

as i enter this second week, i hope to get a lot more reading done. i'm reading the mclaren book mentioned in my previous post, and have several more on the shelf ready to read. i'm finding it easier and easier, on a day-to-day basis, to not worry about seeing what's going on in the online world. perhaps that's because i am becoming more and more connected to the non-online world. and that seems to be a good thing!

i have several other deeper thoughts, which i am making note of, and will likely write about in some other fasion, probably one of my other blogs, once this 30 days is done.

i confess in advance.... my sister writes one of the funniest blogs on the entire internet, and mom tells me her latest post is a must read. so i may have to go over there. or perhaps i can get someone to just cut and paste it, and e-mail it to me. i know that seems silly, but i want to stay as true to the spirit of what i'm doing, as i can. speaking of my sister, she'll be having the aforementioned baby any time now, so feel free to keep her in your prayers.

till next time....

days 3 & 4

i skipped a day. whatever shall we do? well let me catch up. the last couple of days have been so busy, i haven't even thought about the internet, and haven't even checked my personal e-mail from the house. wednesday, i had some stops to make on the way home, and yesterday was just insanely busy all day.

a couple of things i have noticed:
1. things which usually seem so important to me to do online, really don't matter. i have 3 friend requests from facebook, and i can't imagine that those people are going to be terribly offended if they have to wait a couple of weeks for me to confirm. other things i have needed to discuss with people that i usually would do via message board or IM, i have actually called the people to talk about. it's nice to hear a real human voice, and have a normal conversation.
2. there are some things on the internet that can be very beneficial. i snagged a nice laser printer for $75 (with shipping) the other day. i don't feel bad about this, since i needed it, and it only took me about 5 minutes. i also want to trade some guitar gear, and i think i'm going to make a listing on craigslist for it. this will also only take a few minutes, and will be a great use of my time.

a few other random thoughts this morning......
1. i wonder how The Who feels about one of their iconic songs being performed by someone who "sure plays a mean xylophone"? (if you didn't watch the BCS championship last night, you might miss this one).
2. brian mclaren, in his book 'a generous orthodoxy' makes the following statement:
"For too many people, the name Jesus has become a symbol of exclusion, as if Jesus' statement 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me' actually means 'I am in the way of people seeking truth and life. I won't let anyone get to God unless he comes through me'." ...... i think this is something we should look at seriously, because i think he's right, and i think people get this idea, not from the Bible, but from people christians, and their presentation of what and who Jesus is. (i know some of you don't like mclaren, but i hope you'll still take a close look at what he's saying there, because i think there ARE a lot of people who feel this way, and it's not a good thing!)

ok. it's time for me to get to work... i got here early enough today that i could pound this out real quick. don't hold your breath for an update tomorrow. saturdays have seemed to be awfully busy lately.

oh yes. i want to wish a happy birthday to my little sister. only one more year of being in your 20's, kelly. you know, some people do their entire lives without having 4 kids, and you'll pull it off before your 30th birthday! (and i beat you to 4, but i had to cheat to do it.)

day 2

i realized today, that maybe i'm not as addicted as i thought. i rarely even thought about what i might be missing, although i did, out of habit, hit the favorites tab for one of my favorite message boards once or twice. no reading though! i did also break my no IM rule, as i wanted to make sure my sister knew about my uncle, who slipped on the ice in boston yesterday, and broke his neck (he was having surgery into the wee hours of the morning, those of you who pray, feel free to lift him up. they seem optimistic, but i'm sure the road to recovery will be a long one.).

had a nice evening at home, talking with my wife, and working out a few things that we've been trying to figure out. i think some good decisions were reached, and some of that is probably because i wasn't peering over the top of my laptop at her as we talked (i am a master multi-tasker, but i find that it is distracting to others.....)

work was, again, a very productive day. i think i may think about cutting out personal internet use at work all together, even after 30 days. no wonder so many companies are so tight on it. it can be a huge drag on productivity.

in any case, i'm at work typing this, and it's time to get my day started. don't worry; i've been assured the internet will survive without my input in it's usual volume.

day 1

well, i have survived an entire day. it's funny how ingrained things become. i found myself about to hit the favorite button several times, in between calls yesterday. however, in spite of that, a whole day without most of the internet.

nothing terribly exciting came from it.... i did have one of the most productive days i've had so far, at work... when you aren't goofing off on the internet, there's really not a lot else to do besides, well...... work. no wonder so many companies block the social sites (and at a few places i have worked, the news sites, too!).

last night i managed to get some microsoft testing done, and played guitar for a while. i stayed so busy with other stuff, i barely even missed sitting in front of the laptop all evening. we'll see how that works when i have a more boring evening. for now, i see i have a stack of e-mails to read, since i never even powered up the computer last night, and i have to head to work soon.

you all take care, and don't let facebook collapse in my absence.

and so we begin

i am a self-admitted internet junkie. message boards, news sites, blogs, facebook (yes, i have been sucked in by that blackhole). so beginning monday, january 5, 2009, i will go 30 days without the internet. i will find other things to do in the hours i spend in front of this laptop. i decided, because i am odd, that i will keep a journal of this, here.

now, surely you are wondering, if i am not going to be on the internet, how will i post here? well, before bed each night, (or in the morning, if i forget) i will make some post about the day, and what i did, instead of wasting time online.

my groundrules for myself:
1. i will still be checking e-mail. this is how i communicate with many of my friends and family. my cell phone bill can't handle me cutting out email.
2. i have to use the internet in some forms in my work. this will continue. what i am aiming to do, is cut the socialization aspects, which suck so much of my personal time (and sometimes, my work time, too)
3. i am in the midst of some online guitar lessons, and i will continue to go to those sites, unless i decide to download them all, which i may do, just for this.
4. i will not be using instant messenger. i will be signed out of it, in fact, except for the one i use to talk with my wife, as this is often how we communicate while i am at work.

i welcome you to follow along, and join me if you wish. i will leave comments open, but will not respond to most, unless they seem to really need it, as that would sort of defeat the whole purpose of this exercise. and jim muglia, if you begin endlessly ranting, polluting the comment section, i will delete your comments. this is not the place for it.

and so, monday, we shall begin....