Eleven glorious days without technology.  Can you picture it?  Could you function?  Would you look forward to it?  I’m looking forward to it.

We are leaving the country to a lush and exotic land where there is sand and water and jungle and plenty of outdoors.  I’m packing swim suits, snorkel gear, bug repellent, sun screen, sleeping bag, sandals,  a few clothes and a notebook and pen.  I will not be packing any chargers for electronic devices.  Last time I traveled I packed 5 chargers; laptop, phone, camera, kindle, and garmin.  I am taking my kindle this trip but it’s only an e-reader and will be plenty charged for the 11 days.  I’m also taking a digital camera, but it’s battery operated.

I will not miss the 10 million passwords I use at work.  I will not miss impatiently waiting for the slow Darby internet at work.  I certainly will not miss all of the cute shit non-personal sayings that facebook has become.  I will not miss the tv, radio or car.  We will be traveling by sea kayak and river kayak once we arrive.  I will not miss my smart phone.  The weather will be what it will be whether I look it up on my phone or not. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy my technology, but I don’t like being a slave to it.

Interesting that we have to take a wilderness vacation to get away from all of the technology.

If the power goes out at work, I go home.  If the printer breaks at work, I go home.  If the internet goes down at work nothing can be accomplished in my job.  We are so tied to it.  Dependent on it.  I sit in meetings where everyone has their cell phone sitting in front of them.  Don’t want to miss that earth shattering call.  Worse,  they rudely answer it; whether it is a text or a call.  Check out this entertaining short film about a student who has fallen in love with his phone; The Intervention.

I’ll let you know how it goes.  Actually, if you never hear from me again, you’ll know it was complete bliss.

I’m truly enjoying the March Book selection, “Norwegian by Night” .  If you have not started it yet, I do recommend it. If you read “The Art of Racing in the Rain” you’ll remember how well that author told the story from a dog’s point of view.  In “Norwegian by Night” the author does an incredible job telling the story from the point of view of an elderly man with hints of dementia.  You get inside this character’s head and understand how it is to have 80 years of memories floating around and that you could possibly mix them up.  Read the book; you’ll love it.  It’s not a chick book either.  There is war, police detectives and killing too.

I also just finished “The Magnesium Miracle” in my desperate pursuit of self diagnosing my debilitating headaches.  I highly recommend this book which suggest that we have over rated the mineral calcium and seriously underrated magnesium.  It is a cure for many issues, not just headaches.

I’m also reading “Mindfulness in Plain English” and am enjoying it as well.

I can’t sign off without a few words about daylight savings time.   Why wreck a perfectly good standard time? Just when it was starting to get light enough in the morning for a sunrise run; it’s wrecked with daylight savings time.  Whose saving the daylight? 

No post for the next couple of weeks.  You’ll have to re-read some of your favorites; especially if you’re needing a good book to read.