First Tweet & Fall Arrives

10 October 2009 // Filed under Family + Leaving Los Internets + Nerdery

So one of the things I enjoy about the Internet is keeping in touch.  The Internet is very good at the whole “wide and shallow” communication thing.  Services like Facebook and Twitter are great for getting a superficial view of what is going on the in lives of your friends and acquaintances, and they’re also very good for keeping your network of friends informed regarding your life goings ons.

Of course the danger of this kind of communication is that it spreads us too thinly.  Instead of taking the time and trouble to build deep and meaningful relationships we spend time maintaining many shallow relationships and crafting a low-risk and blemish-free Internet persona.

My initial temptation when thinking about this project was to simply give up Facebook entirely.  I’ve never been a big Facebook user anyway (mostly for fear of how much time I could easily spent there), so why not just drop the habit once and for all?  And although I once signed up for a Twitter account out of curiosity I’ve never tweeted in my life.  My problems with Twitter are many:

1. The 140 character limit. This is everything I hate about Internet communication.  It’s a codification of the quick, immediate and shallow.
2. The Web 2.0 hipster image. I’m a refugee from the green-screen Internet era.  Rounded corners, pastel colors and big buttons bug me.
3. One more form of communication to keep track of. I already have to deal with email, blogs, forum posts, lists, SMS messages, Facebook and RSS feeds.  I don’t need one more thing.

But I don’t want to throw the baby out with the bath water.  Facebook has allowed me to renew some old connections in my life.  And it is nice to know what some of my more geographically distant friends are up to.  And whether I like it or not, people are starting to use these services as an efficient way to keep friends and family in the loop.  After all, why send fifteen emails when you can send a single message (tweet, status update, whatever) and let “everybody” know what you’re up to?

So I’m going to try the following communication recipe:

1. A post or two a week on this site.
2. Posts tied to Facebook via Wordbook
3. Facebook albums tied to this blog via Fotobook (and as a nice bonus I post pics to Facebook using iPhoto)
4. Blog post notifications on Twitter via Twitter Tools

This way activity on this blog should be pretty easy to follow whether you’re using Facebook, Twitter or just an RSS reader.  And I only have to post once and with no silly character limit.

Oh and speaking of tweaks (get ready for super-awesome segue here…) we just picked up a new hen.  That’s the good news.  But unfortunately we did this because we lost one chicken do to an impacted crop.  The new bird is also an easter-egger and she seems to be getting along fine.  Right now we’re working on the rather challenging problem of getting this year’s birds (Sparkle and Squirrel) integrated with the existing birds (Cleo & Shirley).  This has been a lot more of a challenge than I imaged, since the older hens persist in trying to kill the new additions.

If you take a look at the Facebook gallery link on this post you’ll my clever solution to this problem.  I basically created a shelter in the back of the coop with opens big enough for the small birds, but too small for the older hens.  The allows the small birds the run of the coop, but gives them a safe place to retreat when needed.  I have one hanger feeder with layer feed on the in the larger area for the older hens and another with grower freed in the shelter for the smaller hens.  Separating the food was necessary so that the small birds could get enough food and so the the big birds didn’t forego their layer feed (which has extra calcium needed for egg production) for the much tastier grower feed.  The water is posited right in the outside of the shelter so birds can easily drink from inside and outside of the shelter.

In other news, we’re continuing work on our new shed.  Hopefully this will be ready before the snow flies, but the last couple weeks of rain, rain and more rain have slowed down our progress a bit.  This weekend I’m hoping to get the doors, shelves and ramp finished.  If we can get that stuff done we’ll just need to add shingles and paint and we’ll be there.  I’ve included a few pics of the shed in progress in the gallery I just added to Facebook.

We also ended up with a bumper crop of really tasty carrots this year.  We grew them in a half whiskey barrel on the back deck.  It worked out really well and was a fairly decorative addition to the back yard.  This system will definitely stay in the garden plan for next year.

Anyway, that’s more than enough for now.  I have more interesting news, but I need to run and pick up Duncan.  He’s at Arctic Gymnastics for a friend’s birthday party, and things are just about to wrap up.

5 comments  ::  Share or discuss  ::  2009-10-10  ::  Geoffrey Wright

Irredeemable Wastes of Time

26 August 2009 // Filed under Leaving Los Internets + Recipes

So the way I spend time online falls into one of two broad categories.  First is the class of activities that are just irredeemable wastes of time.  But I also do some things online that are ostensibly productive.

Without a doubt, most of my online time is spent in the first category.  This is easy stuff to deal with, at least theoretically.  This is stuff that I need to just stop doing.  Example waste-of-time activities include:

1. Reading social news and social bookmarking sites such as Slashdot, Reddit, Digg and StumbledUpon.  These site are at best amusing and more often annoying or downright frustrating.
2. Reading slightly more serious news amalgamation sites like Google News.  Do I really need that much information in my life?  I already listen to NPR every morning for national news and ready the Anchorage Daily News and Anchorage Press for local stuff.  That’s enough, really.
3. Watching trailers.   I’m a sucker for trailers and I don’t know why — with my schedule I almost never have time to see a movie in the theatre.
4. Looking up some stupid random fact just because I’m momentarily curious.

Of course quitting this is harder (for me) than it seems like it should be.  I’m a dataholic.  I always have been.  Before the Internet I spent countless hours glued to Funk & Wagnalls Encyclopedia, and I lusted after a real Encyclopedia Britannica for my entire childhood.  I loved books of facts and any collections of data.  I’m fatally attracted to “wide and shallow” knowledge.  And the Internet lets me take wide and shallow understanding to heights I never could have imagined as a kid.

I know this is just a form of procrastination and an ADD outlet.  And as of three days ago I’ve stopped using the Internet as that kind of outlet.  I have to admit that it’s been surprisingly difficult — I need some way to fidget.  I’ve started taking walks when it gets bad, and that seems to help.  I’ve also picked up and old habit again and started carrying a paperback with me so I can stop and read when I need a bit of fidget time.  I’ve read 215 pages in the past two days and that’s been kind of satisfying.

The ostensibly productive activities are a bit more challenging.  Corresponding with friends via email can’t be bad, can it?  Is there a problem with communicating with clients, shopping, social networking, researching recipes, or using “Doctor Internet” to answer an important question?  I think these are all potentially reasonable things to do.  But I know I use them as a form of fidgeting as well, and I know that they take time away from more deeply satisfying activities in life.

So for the time being I’ve invented a rule to constrain time spent on these “legitimate” pursuits.  I am giving myself only one single online session a day.  There’s not time limit, and the only rule is the stuff I’m doing should seem meaningful.  I know I need to apply more thought and system to this issue, but I figure that this makes a reasonable start.  Over time I’ll work out some strategies for maximizing meaningful return on time invested online.

Oh, and speaking of return on time invested, the kids and I made homemade blueberry ice cream tonight using the blueberries we picked on the Winter Creek Trail.  (It was Girl’s Night and Cathy was out eating Thai with friends.)  I actually made the ice cream from a custard base this time.  It was a pain in the ass and I had to make the custard twice to get it right.  But dear lord it was good ice cream. The final product was so purple that Addy remarked that it looked like it was made out of beets.

It probably took us an hour an a half to make the ice cream, eat it and then clean up after ourselves.  But it was definitely worth the effort!  In case you want to try, here’s the recipe I used:

Ingredients

• 2 cups of fresh-picked blueberries
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 2 3/4 cups half and half
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Process

1. Put the blueberries into a saucepan with half the sugar, over a medium heat for about 15 minutes and stir often so the berries don’t burn.
2. But the berry goo into a blender and blend until smooth.
3. Put aside in a bowl and let it chill for a little bit
4. Put an egg into a small saucepan and add 1 cup of the half and half.
5. Place the pan over a medium heat and whisk continuously as the custard cooks.  This is the hard part — you need to pull the custard off just before it starts to boil.  If you let it get to a boil (even a very mild one) the custard will curdle.  Also, even you remove the pan from the heat you need to keep stirring for a bit otherwise the custard will harden on the bottom of the pan.
6. Test the custard frequently after about four minutes; if it coats the spoon then the custard is ready.
7. Transfer the custard to a bowl and stir in the vanilla, the remaining half and half and the remaining sugar.  Chill the resulting mixture for a little while.
8. Pour the custard mixture and berry goo into the ice cream maker’s freezer canister.
9. Freeze according the ice cream maker’s directions.

That’s it.  Oh — and you probably don’t need to use as many berries as I did.  That just happens to be what I had left after we made crisp the night before.

2 comments  ::  Share or discuss  ::  2009-08-26  ::  Geoffrey Wright

Farewell, Interwebs!

25 August 2009 // Filed under Leaving Los Internets

I’ve been a steady / obsessive Internet user since 1991. Back then it was all email, Usenet and Gopher. And really, that was just an outgrowth of my even earlier BBS interests. For a years I’ve been in love with the Information Revolution.

But I’m in one of my occasional “take-stock” periods of life and it occurs to me that for a very long time I’ve spent too much of my life in front of a computer screen.  Although there’s a great deal of positive in online life, there is also a lot that’s lost when many hours of everyday are dedicated to “living online”.  This isn’t a new revelation, really.  But I’ve finally decided to do something about it.

And why (beyond the fact that I’m not one to pass up a good opportunity for irony) would I blog about this process?  Two reasons:

1. Doing this publicly creates a bit of accounability and motivation to see this project through.
2. Maybe somebody else out there has the same issue and might find some small amount of motivation in reading about my attempt.

I’ll post more regarding the contours of this project in coming days.  But it’s late already and I know my Internet addiction costs me sleep on a daily basis.  And I really don’t want this project to contribute to my daily sleep deprivation.  So I think I’ll sign off now and head to bed.

 ::  Share or discuss  ::  2009-08-25  ::  Geoffrey Wright

More to Come

23 August 2009 // Filed under Uncategorized

Well, as usual I’m up too late and I’m on my computer. But since this is the beginning of a grand little experiment I wanted to post something before I went to bed. More explanation tomorrow.

 ::  Share or discuss  ::  2009-08-23  ::  Geoffrey Wright