Hello Out There!

So I am becoming a more sophisticated blogger. Not totally there yet, but learning a few tricks. I started a Google Analytics account which is totally interesting. Now I can see how many people are reading my blog, where they are coming from, and how they found me.

So I know that for the past three days, not ONE person has read my blog.

Are you all taking National TV Turnoff Week this seriously?

Or should my feelings be hurt?

It's funny. The irony of blogging about TV Turnoff Week was lost on me when I posted that entry. Think about it. Here I am rambling on about cutting back TV/computer time while using my computer.

When I think of my computer lifestyle of last year compared to this year, I am nostalgic. I would go days without even turning my computer on. Maybe I would decide to check email every few days or maybe not. Maybe I would need to patiently research something on my dial up Internet connection. Usually I was very organised in my work support for our business. I would do all the financials in one evening, and then just work on a project once or twice in a week for the business or something personal. The computer was a very simple tool, and I could limit it for those tasks that were vital.

My life was a little smaller, but a whole lot simpler.

Now I frequently restrain myself from checking my Etsy and Dandelion Chain accounts. Has anything happened or changed in the Christa Marek Newton Universe in the last two minutes? I've learned about online Bill Pay (Wow!) and can check my bank balances in an instant. I read blogs of people I have never met, but who allow new thoughts and visuals and inspiration. I am acquiring bookkeeping work in an online capacity.

My life is a whole lot more complex, but so much bigger.

Simpler or bigger. Bigger or simpler. I have always known technology would find a place in my life again. I was just not sure when or what that would look like. And to be honest, I still don't know. It will continue to evolve.

And if it seems that I am alone in the blog universe, will the blog continue?

If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

U-Turn

Lately I've been taking a lot of wrong turns. And I mean that, not figuratively, but literally. Life seems to be an out of body experience. I turn a corner and find I am nowhere I intended. Which is not a big deal. I can always turn around or go an alternative route. Luckily I don't drive that often. I'm not quite as much a hazard behind the wheels of the stroller.

But why? I think it is this blog. BLOG. Who came up with this word? It is awful. But I am having more fun with this blog than I ever imagined. So I seem to daydream frequently as to content and format and intent and ideas. And then when I should really be dreaming, I find myself here - in front of the computer.

So this week I have been trying to sort out the technicalities of blogging. I know it's not pretty yet. I'll get there. But in the meantime I have been trying to answer these questions: What is a follower? What is a DDS reel? Should I list my email address? What else do I need for functionality? How does the community play into all of this? Am I doing all right? And Mom and Wendy - are you out there?

Me and My Blog

So I don’t know much about the electronic world. At one point – okay, just last year – I was content with dial-up Internet access. I would open my browser and then go change the laundry before I even bothered to look at the screen. Doing anything online was usually a multi-tasking proposition – a good time to cook dinner while helping kids with homework, while checking my email.

The addition of high-speed Internet was life changing to say the least. How great to be able to look up that plant my son just ate quickly so to know if I should call the poison control center! But I must confess I still don’t take things too seriously in the online world – I am still not a daily email checker. So, you must forgive me if I don’t know what your anachronism means, or if I’m not knowledgeable about the latest online thing. I take it blogging has been around awhile?

There is always a slight war inside me when it comes to technology. I’m not afraid of it mechanically – at one point I actually earned a living in part by building databases for a small company. But I do fear how it has changed our culture. How does one have time to bake one's own bread if one has to check out every new You Tube video?

And what of the kids – always back to the kids – I live daily with the, “Mom. Can I play my Lego Star Wars game on your computer?”

“How about building a fort in backyard?”

“It’s only 20 degrees out and it’s snowing!”

But really isn’t it better that our children get a slight case of frostbite rather than sitting in front of a computer for half of their free time? Blah, blah you’ve heard it all – obesity problems, attentive deficit disorders, violence infused youth.

Those who’ve known me a long time know of my aspiration to join the Amish so I could live like the pioneers. That Laura Ingalls Wilder, she had it good with a fiddling playing Pa and an orange at Christmas. I have romanticized “living off the land.” But when you throw indoor plumbing and antibiotics into the equation, modern times do have their advantages.

So why this blog you might wonder? I must confess I am purely, selfishly motivated. I want the world – okay – at least the USA to think more like ME so I don’t feel like a granola infused, fiscally conservative, eco-wierdo all the time. I have noticed within myself that when I hear of others who drastically change their lifestyles – for example living without a car – it inspires me to change my reality and question what can be.

SO THAT IS MY GOAL - AN EXCHANGE OF IDEAS TO CHANGE OUR REALITY ABOUT OUR AMERICAN WAY OF LIFE.

As an aside – I went to my son’s school today and sat in for a few minutes on a presentation by Eco-cycle. Apparently my son’s school is 24^th “in the world” to establish a eco-cycle program. Does this mean that only 23 other schools in the whole world are recycling and composting, or does it mean other schools are taking part in other programs?