Just say no to crack (berry)

A couple of nights ago, I woke up suddenly from a nightmare. I was in my car driving, but not really paying attention. I looked up and saw nothing but the blinding red brake lights from the cars in front of me as I screeched to a halt. The next morning, I returned my new Blackberry.

In the last few weeks, I have been debating whether my fun and fancy phone was really necessary. I am never really that far away from my emails as I am online all day at work, and at least logged on to everything at home if I'm not near my computer. While I turned off the email notifiers before going to bed, I found the constant chirping of my Blackberry very distracting in ways that I didn't realize would bother me. It's not that I am anti-technology. I love the internet. I love my emails, I love facebook, and I have a love/hate relationship with twitter. I love Google and all of it's googlicious manifestations, like Google Reader, igoogle, etc. I love writing on this blog even if absolutely nobody sees it or cares that it exists. It's for me and it's mine and I love it. But I do not need to carry it all around in my pocket.

However much I love my family and friends, I do not need to know the INSTANT that they tweet that they had a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch. I do not need to know the INSTANT that someone responds to something I posted on Facebook. And I certainly do not need to know exactly when Victoria's Secret sends me a coupon for a free panty with $45 purchase.

Technology is a wonderful thing in many ways, but even though we are all super-connected at all times through the internet, I am really bothered by the distractions and lack of personal interaction that comes with it. I sometimes worry that the internet has robbed me of my ability to socialize in the real world. It's not as easy to speak with confidence when I lack the ability to read my words a couple of times before hitting "send". Rather than work on my Blackberry thumb typing skills, I think I want to relearn the beauty of socializing without devices. If I am chatting with you, I want to make eye contact and read your reaction instead of reading on facebook that "Joe Michaels is watching TV".

The tweets, the status updates, and the emails, are all still going to be there whenever I decide to get around to them. If anything is ever so important that I must be alerted right away, I do still have a cell phone; but I've decided to forego the bells and whistles, save the qwerty keyboard for texting ease.

I am all about simplifying wherever possible these days. Technology can be a lifesaver at times, but I'm happy that I am not so drawn into it that it turns into a time suck. That's what TV is for. :)

Butterfly Boucher

A couple of nights ago, my friend Jen and I went to Rams Head in Annapolis to see Butterfly Boucher. I first saw her opening for Sarah McLachlan, several years ago, and loved her set so much that I bought her CD Flutterby, that night.

I guess Butterfly had some issues with her record label and it took a long while for that second album, but it was well-worth the wait. Butterfly is really fun to see live so definitely get out there for some drinks and music if she has a show near you!

What I loved most about her performance is that you could tell she was having a blast up on stage. Joking, laughing, conversational, but best of all, a super-talented singer and songwriter!




I found this video on You Tube from a performance in Boston. From her first CD, one of my favorite songs: I Can't Make Me Love You


Scary Fragile- title track from latest album.


If you're a tweeter, follow @butterflyb. It was fun to be able to comment on one of her twitpics as a conversation starter when I met her after the show!