Unplugged : Has the Smartphone Ruined Our Lives???

Hey again,

I was sitting on the porch smoking a cigarette a little while ago when my phone went off... It was my turn on Words with Friends.  I keep a few games going and I hadn't played since last night.  So as I finished clearing out my games I happened to look over in the ashtray.  Much to my amazement, there were 3 cigarette butts sitting there instead of the 1 that I came outside to smoke.  I checked the clock, I had been sitting here for an hour playing this stupid game.  Has this ever happened to you guys before?

How much time do we spend each day checking Facebook, playing words games, tweeting, and just killing time in general on these damned smartphones?  How about every week?  Why do we waste so much time when we aren't guaranteed tomorrow?  Do our iPhones and Evos and Galaxy S whatever's really enhance our life that much?  Do we move on to our next task a better, more enlightened person because we just saw that Susie posted a picture of her cat sleeping, and then spent the next five minutes reading all the comments below it?

Maybe we should all take a step back and figure out just what the hell we are doing.  We always say that there aren't enough hours in the day, but maybe there are... maybe we just aren't using them right.

My Life : Unplugged (Kind of...)

Hello everyone,
I was sitting around twiddling my thumbs today after starting a load of laundry and thought I would log in and see what's been going on around here.  Imagine my surprise when I find that I have now had over 2,000 unique visitors.  How awesome is that?

For those of you who don't know, I've had a lot of time to myself lately as I left my 9-5 in search of greener pastures.  This also happened to coincide with the end of the semester at school.  This have given me plenty of time to de-stress and regroup.  I'm proud to announce that my partner and I are house hunting.  The days of handing over money to a stranger to let us keep our shit in their house is fast approaching and I couldn't be more excited.

I've really enjoyed my time away from squeaky office chairs and fluorescent lights, perhaps a little too much.  I can't help but wonder what it would be like this all the time.  What if money wasn't a concern?  Or better yet, what would it be like living off the grid?  Maybe not entirely, for those who know me know that I'm no Amishman  (< if that isn't a word it should be)... But if rather than spending our time gossiping around the water cooler, we tended to our gardens?

Call me crazy, but everyday this week, rather than listening to hum of the air conditioner, I've opened
up all the windows and let the outside come in.  Sure it's hot as hell (I'm in Florida after all) but there is also something quite calming about the blow of breeze through my sheer draperies.  The heat causes me to spend a lot more time on the front porch and it's funny to notice things that life made me too busy to notice before.  For instance, the neighbor and his wife walk their dog around the block everyday at five o'clock...

Maybe I'm on to something here?

Day One : My New Life

Greetings all,
After my blog post last night I had a pretty lengthy conversation with a great friend of mine, and it definitely got me thinking.  In response to all of my questions from last night, I'm looking at it all the wrong way.  I need to start smaller, I need to start from the beginning. I need to start with me.

Impacting the world positively starts with impacting others.  How can I impact others positively, if I myself, am not positive?  Helping myself first is really the only way I'll ever get a chance to help others.  What better time to start than now?

So this morning, I got up, showered, hit the road, played my music a little louder, I sang when I knew the words, I sang when I didn't know the words, who cares who was watching as I hit EVERY stop light on the way to work?  Maybe they laughed, maybe they smiled, maybe they will giggle to themselves next time they hear that song playing on the radio... who knows.  All I know is that it felt good.

Today at work, I said "Good morning" to everyone I passed.  I smiled more.  I made more conversation than I generally do.  I worked a little faster, and I got a lot more done.  When I left work, I went and signed up at the gym.  Why not get into shape and participate in all the marathons and things that I always see in the name of a good cause?  So, my current personal goal, make time to consistantly go to the gym and by the end of the year, I want to have participated in a minimum of FIVE events...

Do you think I can do it?

Attempting to Cope

Hi everyone,


Craig Small
1982 - 2013

Long time no post.  Lame, I know, but life gets in the way.  Anyhow, I've had so much on my mind lately and I feel the need to vent.  What better place than a public forum that is rarely visited?  Now, where do I begin?

I guess what is weighing the heaviest on me right now, and probably for some time, is the recent passing of an amazing guy who is very dear to me.  His name is Craig and he left us last Tuesday morning.  This is the first time I've been confronted with loss, and man is it confusing.  I think the thing that I find to be the hardest to wrap my mind around is what an impact this is having on my day to day life.

See, Craig and I weren't best friends.  We didn't ever hang out in the same group of friends.  In 2010, I met him on Facebook.  I was living in Alabama at the time, him in Florida.  We texted back and forth for a few weeks before I ended up moving back to Florida myself.  We hung out a total of TWO times.  After that, we continued to text but little by little the messages slowed until we really weren't talking at all.  No falling out or anything of the sort, just distance.  So I guess the question is, how can the passing of someone who I knew so little about be such a tremendous weight on me?

Nothing makes sense anymore.  He was such a good guy who did so much for so many people.  Why would someone like that be taken so soon.  I'm not even a quarter of what that man was, and yet I get to stay?  What have I done that makes me so deserving?  Who have I helped?  What have I done for others?  Nothing.  By comparison, I live a pretty selfish lifestyle.  But what can I do to change it?

I spend my days at a job that helps nobody.  I'm going to school for nursing, but that isn't going to help anyone for a long time.  Then there's homework, laundry, dishes...  Where does one find the time to help people?  Where can I find the time to make a difference?  How did Craig do it?  And now it's too late to ask him.