Taking a tech break*

In further thinking about my phone situation and in experiencing a couple days with only a car/house phone, I think I'm going to keep it this way for a month.

I'm going back home for a week in mid-August so I'll likely pick up the 3GS the day before, but I don't think I'll be replacing my phone any earlier. I like being leashless. I like having to fully give my attention to whomever I'm with and I've been thinking how uncool it is when others are only half with me and half having a relationship with approximately 16 other people on their phone at the same time. I'd like to continue my path to more genuine interactions, continue my release of technology dependency, and hopefully encourage others to do so. To honor this, I might cut out other tech-walks such as reading blogs and checking facebook (which I haven't been doing much of lately). I might keep blogging occasionally as it's my record keeper at the moment, but I expect to go largely back to paper journaling before the end of the year (reserving blogging for site links and picture uploads). I'm just tired of all this, I'm tired of how people are becoming closeted narcissists through constant updates and "look at me" notes, I'm tired of electronic social interactions as a standard, I don't like what it's teaching current and future generations, and I miss real people time.*

Yes, I might have to limit the interactions I have as I won't know what my theater friend from junior year is doing Saturday night and I certainly won't know which Hogwarts house one is sorted into, but I'm totally cool with that.

Never fear, I deeply value technology and all it has done and will continue to do for the world. I will enjoy my new phone as a really cool tool that helps me in all sorts of knowledge-seeking situations and communication with those whom I just can't physically see as often as I'd like. I also have a great job in which appropriate technology use and encouragement of that kind of use of technology is vital. Come August I'll ease back into that role without problems.

Meanwhile, I think I'll quite enjoy my break.

*This post is dedicated to Anders who is really good at genuine people-time. He is the only person (other than my mom, who abhors technology) who has never interrupted our time with a machine and I want to follow his lead. Cheers!
**Long story shortened: A cousin of the wife of a friend took her daughter to the U of A for her freshman orientation. At the orientation, organizers separated parents from students. Hosts told parents that the four biggest issues facing current college students is that students a) have never had to share a room or much of anything else, b) do not know how to use technology appropriately for research, only social interactions, c) do not know how to make decisions on their own, and d) are not successful problem solvers. The hosts told parents they had sent the students to a computer lab to register for classes on their own to get students used to caring for their own needs and that other activities are planned for the parents to give students time to sort themselves out. Shortly after, the daughter of the cousin sent mom a text requesting immediate help because she couldn't figure out what to do to register and mom went to help her! Upon entering the lab, hoards of other students started begging the mother for help registering prompting the daughter to posessively shriek "She's my mother and she's going to help me first!" Ridiculous. This explains so well much of the challenges we have with our students in the classroom, and technology only covers one quadrant.

Goodness!

So we are almost at 24-hours of Mariah and it's been a day of ridiculous hilarity. As mentioned in my previous post, our idiot neighbors managed to burn down the kitchen of the rental house (requiring 3 fire trucks full of firemen, 5 squad cars containing 7 police officers possibly due to the large quantity of drug paraphernalia and pot in the house and the plants growing in the backyard, but the guy has his medical marijuana license, or so he says) creating what will probably be the most dramatic moment our neighborhood sees in years. Additionally, we've rescued lost dogs, Steph made my phone a house/car phone only (which I'm cool with, as I was about to get one of the newest iPhones anyway), witnessed the dramatic catch of a shop-lifter, climbed over huge log jams, swam in waterfalls and almost punchedBree in the whoosit. It's been stupidly fun, and it's only day one.

This week is jam-packed, including such things as the midnight Harry Potter (in dress, of course) premiere, the zoo, the beach, Seattle, more hikes, dining out, other Tucsonans, and if the prior activities are any indication, much more than we could possibly plan for-yay sisters!

F&$king pothead neighbors

...almost burnt down the house nextdoor tonight. So stupid, but maybe
now they will be evicted. Serendipitous?

Soggy tennis is hilarious!

On another note, Harry Potter tickets acquired!

Wyoming

A representative handful from last week's good time

Letterboxing is rad

Just getting into this fun.

Leave a Legacy

I first saw this video in Chicago at a time when I was truly wondering why I was doing what I was doing and if it was really my best gift to the world. The video affected more than one of us in the room (definitely what this corporate-driven crowd needed), however contrived some might label the message.

In case you are like Erin circa 2005 or the contemporary version that likes to be reminded of how far you've come, you might want to check it out.

Happy Marriage My Friends

...I know it will be (and is now at this very moment) great!