No NaBloPoMo for Me

I have participated in NaBloPoMo twice. It was always worth it, although I believe the resulting posts were not always all they could have been.

This year? I just can't do it. I have too much on my proverbial plate. However, I did think I would try to do something a little different. You see, I am trying something new. I am self-binding. And while that does conjure up an image for me that is less than pleasant, it is actually an attempt to create some space in my life... space that The Internet is taking up. The author of the article, Stop Your Search Engines, defines self-binding as...

"intentionally creating an obstacle to behavior I was helpless to control, much the way Ulysses lashed himself to his ship's mast to avoid succumbing to the Sirens' song..."

The Way We Live Now - Going Offline in Search of Freedom - NYTimes.com

(3 November 2009)

I've announced this on Twitter and Facebook so many of you will already know about this. However, here at Life, the Universe and Everything, I thought I might take some of my Internet-allowed time to share a little bit of my experience as I go along.

Regular readers (Hi there, all 5 of you!) will know that I am really, truly, FINALLY trying to write my masters' project. Life had thrown a few obstacles in my path. I have thrown a few obstacles in my path. But the countdown is on. I need to start knocking out chapters... like NOW, baby. But I am addicted to my social networking time. I had discussed this with my sister-in-law and when she read the article, she forwarded it to me. I don't have the right computer (a Mac) to install the program that it mentions, called Freedom, which lets you tell the computer when NOT to let you use the Internet. However, I do have a removable wireless card for my laptop, which is a long, embarrassing story of a woman who was so anxious to order her new computer that she accidentally deselected the internal wireless card during the ordering process.

The good news, though, is that allows me to hand over my wireless card to my husband at 10 a.m. and retrieve it from him at 8 p.m. These are somewhat random hours... it gives me time to do a little hanging out on Twitter with some of the bestest people ever in the morning and also attempts to make me available to my family for the afternoon and evening--without a laptop in between us.

Yesterday was Day One of my Ulysses-inspired experiment and things actually went very well. I did a little bit of writing on my project but the most beneficial aspect of it all was that I interacted with my family in a more meaningful way. It is really quite embarrassing to admit this but I am really glued to the computer for hours and hours a day. Homework was completed with less frustration and no raised voices... bedtime happened with less bother.... I felt better about myself to be honest. I did experience some anxiety about an hour or two before 8 p.m. but I think that was more due to worries about the writing process for my project than withdrawal from Web 2.0.

Over the next month, I am planning on giving updates... on my writing progress... on the dynamic at home... anything related to this bid at reclaiming space in my life. I'll see you around the 'verse... before 10 a.m. and after 8 p.m., Monday through Friday!

Look who I met!

I finally got to meet a blogger buddy! I've always been a little envious when I've read about the different bloggers I read meeting up in groups of two and more. I've never even been to a BlogHer conference. Today, though, after several weeks and a few Facebook exchanges, Riley over at All Rileyed Up and I met for lunch... That would be Ruby of Ruby's Diner in the picture with us. She didn't have much to say... or maybe Riley and I were monopolizing the conversation.

As much as I've always wanted to meet some of my blogger friends, I will confess to having some anxiety worthy of a teenage girl before a first date at the thought sometimes. "What if they like the blogger me better than the real me?" "Will we have anything to talk about?" "Am I cool enough?" Those anxieties were pretty much in check before Riley and I met up. I think because we just live about a half hour apart from each other. I don't know. Maybe I just knew that it would work out all right.

And it did.

We talked about life (current circumstances, kids, spouses), the universe (from education to parenting philosophies), and everything (how long have you been blogging, etc.) I can say that I really enjoyed talking with her and getting to know her in person. Sadly, she is moving out of the area soon, but I have hopes that on some of her trips back to the area to visit family, we might get together again.

Who's next? Now that I've got one meet and greet under my belt, I am ready for more!

Wanted: Blog Recommendations

This is my last Monday of summer vacation. Next Monday I will be obligated to my new Diagnostic and Prescriptive Teaching of Reading class. I will also be taking an online class on the Foundations of Postsecondary Reading and Learning. I spent almost $400 on 7 books for both classes. Yikes! I'm glad I am getting a scholarship this semester. It will cover the cost of the books and a little more.

Between now and then, my goal is to FINALLY finish my case study for the class in which I took an Incomplete. I've had all summer to do it and I've managed to avoid doing it all summer. My school papers, books, etc., from last semester are a mess and it will take a couple of hours of sorting and filing before I can even dig out the old case study notes.

The house is not the worst it has been this year but there is laundry to do, dishes to do (by hand, the dishwasher is busted), bathrooms to clean, etc.

So...........

With all that to do and the semester coming up, I thought I'd do some more avoidance by asking for some blog recommendations. What is one blog you read and love that you think I would love to read?

P.S. I've avoided posting this because it has our last name on it, but what the heck. Here's someone I know and love...

Open Mic TV- Paul Bogan

The Artichoke of Great Neglect

Well, I am trying to post on a more regular basis but am at a loss for words today. I think I've lost my blogging mojo and I need to blog more to get it back... but I am at a loss for words... (Is this Groundhogs Day enough for you?)

Anyway... I did try to write a clever post about my morning in Jury Assembly Room 3 at the Orange County Courthouse but it just didn't work. (I can say that Jury Assembly Room 3 sports some comfy chairs, free wireless, shows movies during the lunch break, and is conveniently located right next to the cafeteria. Also, the judge who welcomed us must work on the side as a Baptist preacher. He was quite the speaker and advocate for our jurisprudence system.)

So... I must blog. I... must... blog... (and use as many ellipses as possible!) Hence, I give you pictures of my greatest gardening accomplishment--which came through my greatest gardening neglect. Never watered, never fertilized, never tended beyond its first potting. I present to you...

the Artichoke of Great Neglect. (I'm sure my offer for a gardening show on The Learning Channel is in the mail!)