Monday, May 02, 2011

Why the Lent Unplug?


An anonymous person commented: “Hope you had a happy Easter. Ok now, time to start blogging again...we're waiting Mr. P :)”

OK, I’m back and perhaps I should explain why I unplugged for Lent.

About 2 years ago, my wife and I both gave up television believing it to be a large time waster. However recently we noticed that our time online had grown, and that we were also downloading a lot of movies. In short, the Internet had replaced the old bad habit of TV. We saw Lent as a good time to change that behavior pattern.

I still used the Internet for work related items (research, dictionary.com, etc.) but I didn’t surf, participate with social sites like Facebook, or download any movies. (We did allow ourselves one movie night per week.)

Was there a benefit to this? The short answer would be yes. Our time became more productive and my main concern that we wouldn’t be caught up on news events proved groundless. During Lent, our news came from our hard-copy-subscriptions to the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg Businessweek, talk radio (both Limbaugh and NPR); and on Sundays I reverted to my old habit of buying the Sunday New York Times.

For recreation, I also read more books than I usually do, including “The Idiot” by Dostoyevsky which I had been meaning to get around to.

The photos on this post are from another source of battery charging during Lent. Just before Easter we took a brief vacation and visited my brother-in-law Robert in Malibu California. He has a beautiful house by the ocean. He was a gracious host, and we’re very glad for the visit. We even got to take in a Dodgers game.

"John, how did you turn on those fountain thingies in Robert's pool? And more importantly, how do you turn them off?"

My wife insisted I post the picture above. She said I laugh & giggle all the time, but that I'm rarely photographed doing it.

Heart in the Sand

The End

2 comments:

Becky Tonner said...

John I don't understand what the problem with TV & the internet is...I find that I still do other things and I limit my time as I need to but those thing as are a great source of information and entertainment ...I guess different strokes

Anonymous said...

Good to have you back. Nice post. You're absolutely right about the need to "un-plug". I love that you listen to Limbaugh and NPR...I think that's what most informed people do- they have their opinions but are willing to get their information from more than one source. That said, Limbaugh is a solid authority on politics...just my opinion.

On another note, your brother's place looks amazing...if that house to the bottom left of the pool is any indication.

Again, welcome back!