How do I Turn This Thing Off?

When I visited my cousin Deborah and her husband Bart in 2006, I had the joy of celebrating Shabbas with them. For twenty-four hours, the telephone didn't ring, the computer was off, and the television was quiet. We walked to the synagogue and then home again for the noon meal that Deborah had prepared the day before. It was a day for family and reflection. It is truly a wonderful tradition.

Much of my day, like those of so many people today, is spent on the computer. It is a communication marvel, but can become a demanding taskmaster. So for April (and hopefully for longer if this works), I will not turn on my computer for a twenty-four hour period over the weekend. I cannot set a specific time, because our translation group meets via web-conferencing and often we get together over the weekend. So I'll have a sliding time slot centered around Sunday.

Now if you're thinking at this point that I must be out of things to write about so am rambling on here, don't worry. ;-) My point in this entry...here it comes for all you patient readers...is that I will not be posting on Sundays during April. After the morning practice at the center, I'll be having some old-fashioned, go outside and get some fresh air, read a book, talk to people, low-tech Sundays. So I'm posting this on Saturday for release on Sunday and will be offline for a day. (If I feel myself weakening, I'll ask Celine to hide my laptop. Finding it hidden somewhere on seventy-five acres should take me about...twenty-four hours...)