shawnbakken.net

[As handwritten on Feb 27th]

(Of course, writing that title makes it false since “this” is now happening.)

It feels like [February] 17th and 18th all over again. I almost never have evening plans—I’m boring like that—and somehow, I got triple-booked on Thursday and quadruple-booked on Friday. Seriously, WTF doesn’t begin to describe it.

In this case, I’m still trying to avoid using computers, but somehow, I ended up having to use one for doing paperwork. (Homework can wait for another day, but this stuff needs to get mailed out tomorrow.) I’ve been able to limit my usage to MS Word, music, e-mail and the blog’s dashboard, but today still feels like I cheated. I (almost) never have to use a computer on a given day… this sucks.

Since I’m not helping my friends move today, I’ve had more time (and greater temptation) to plop down in front of the TV to watch sports… thankfully, the Oscars are on tonight, so I’m feeling an instinctive urge to avoid the television no matter what channel is on.

I have been doing some more reading since yesterday, in part because I woke up at 5:30AM and couldn’t get back to sleep. Still, I polished off one bookmarked book, so I’m down to probably two dozen.

Reading is actually another reason why I want to use my laptop. I’ve got my textbook for class next to the bed, but it’s slow going. The prof made PowerPoint slideshows to outline Chapters 1 and 2—looking at those might help with quicker reading comprehension, but “Hey, Foot, I’d like to introduce you to Mr. Gun and his sidekick, Bullet!”

That’s about all I can think of at the moment. I may finish this experiment with a recording describing my final thoughts, but if I do, it’ll probably be an audio recording. That way, I won’t have to worry about lighting, shaving, wearing pants… I’ll probably be wearing pants. Remember, this is a laptop and I have no desire to devise a new experiment that resembles “Shawn nuts roasting on an open fire.”

[As handwritten on Feb. 26th]

First off, I have to come clean and admit that I’ve done more than check my e-mail on my laptop. I’ve taken a look at the blog’s stats a couple times, see how many people have visited, delete spam, etc. I’m also using it to listen to music as I write this, but I had given myself permission to use my mp3 player during this weekend when I wasn’t allowed to surf the web or watch TV. There’s just one problem.

There’s no music on my mp3 player.

I’ve been using it to listen to an audio book and never got around to switching/deleting those files and replacing them with music, so… I’m cheating a little.

Honestly, I’ve been surprised at the siren’s song which is my computer. I went to bed early last night since I was tired, didn’t sleep well and eventually woke up around 3AM. Normally, I’d probably open the laptop and surf the Internet for a couple hours until I got tired again. This time (after a minor internal struggle), I read a book for a while, then rolled around in bed until I finally fell asleep.

When I woke up this morning, my first impulse was to check my e-mail. After hitting the snooze bar a couple times, of course. That was a little disturbing, to be honest. If it happens again tomorrow morning, I may want to consider signing up for EA: E-mailers Anonymous.

I’ve been fortunate in one sense because I have some friends who are moving into a new house this weekend, so I’ve been helping them pack and carry stuff, thereby keeping me away from computers. (Thankfully, I devised the experiment so I can use my phone. If I hadn’t, I would have been fucked—it’s important to know which house I should go to at which time if I’m going to help.)

There’s also a downside to helping them move (isn’t there always something?): I’m writing this by hand now and typing it out later, which means that sore hands and arms from lifting and carrying = hand cramps while writing.

So it’s true that I’ve been doing some more reading and other stuff that doesn’t involve having a computer in my lap. However, I miss the immediate access to information. I’ve had some conversations the last few days and I’m left to wonder when “Uncle Sam” was created as a kind of icon to represent the U.S.

I was also talking with someone about X-Men: First Class coming out this year and how we’re both disappointed that Kevin Bacon is in the film. She’s more upset about his presence; I don’t like the fact that he’s playing Sebastian Shaw. He’s supposed to have a more physically imposing presence than Kevin Bacon can muster, but I can’t just jump on Marvel’s website or Wikipedia to show pictures of them next to each other. (When I type this out as a blog entry, I’ll include some pics so you guys can understand what I’m talking about.)

I guess that’s all for now. I’m looking forward to typing this (and other stuff) since it’s faster and more efficient, but I doubt that having to wait will lead to any twitching or sweating. The lack of Internet porn, though… go ahead, make a joke about the hand cramps. Then I can make a joke about having two hands. Now which one of us is gonna have trouble sleeping tonight? (It’ll probably still be me—not using the computer makes me want to go to bed earlier and it’s totally messing with my sleep schedule.)

This is something I was inspired to do months ago, but never got around to it for various reasons (the most frequent one being I didn’t really want to). Blame it on the friend who sent me a link to this webpage.

My reliance on technology isn’t as extreme as some people’s, but that doesn’t mean it’s okay to spend hours at a time staring at my laptop. I’ve found myself doing that more and more frequently these days, so it’s time to step back and take a breather.

I was tempted to add a video to this blog entry according to the unplugging challenge, but this way, I don’t need to worry about getting it right in a single take. (Seriously, this would be a problem for me—if I started babbling or stammering, I’d want to do it over again.) Instead, I’m making a list, checking it twice, finding out which kinds of tech are naughty or nice…

The big sacrifice will be no computers. (I don’t have Internet access or free texting on my phone, so that won’t be an issue. If I don’t answer the phone and don’t return your call, this experiment is probably why. Or maybe I just don’t want to talk to you.) I might check my e-mail once or twice, but beyond that…

Twitter? Poof.
Facebook? Nope.
YouTube? Nada.
Internet porn? Wait… I’m giving up Internet porn?! Shit.

I’ll probably stick with this over the weekend and see if I get twitchy and break into a sweat at random times, but I picked that amount of time primarily because my class at Augsburg is working in the computer lab now and I’d rather not lose points for the sake of an experiment.

So I better use my technology well for the next couple hours because once I turn my laptop off, it’ll be off for a while. I’m sure it won’t get too lonely—hopefully, I won’t, either.