A Good Old-Fashioned Technological Campfire

Last night, we had such wonderful brisk weather that I decided to start up a nice campfire in our fire pit.  After a roaring fire was underway, I sat back, communing with nature and enjoying the peace, quiet and tranquility for a full 8 and a half minutes.  Then I went inside and got my laptop computer and brought it out by the fire.

Since our house has Wi-Fi and I was close by the house in our back yard, I went on-line.  I tried to “Skype” Taylor but he didn’t appear to be on line.  So, I checked out Facebook and made a few comments.  Then I browsed a couple of web sites and looked up a book that I heard about on Amazon.  And, suddenly, it hit me.

“What am I doing?” I thought.  “I’m outside, relaxing, enjoying nature.  I’m engaging in something as primal and visceral and natural as humanity itself—sitting in front of a  fire—and I’m on the Internet at the same time?!?  This is nuts!”

I realized that this was one of those pivotal moments.  This was one of those moments where we would see what kind of person I am.  Am I going to be one of those people who is hopelessly tethered to the matrix-like artificial life of the web?  Even while I’m in the very presence of the natural wonder and beauty of all the strip malls of Oak Lawn?

“No!” I said, out loud.  And I stomped my foot for emphasis.  I refuse to live with the sad desperation of someone who needs the constant stimulation of a computer connection to feel alive and fulfilled.  “I do not need this computer!” I shouted as I stood up and cast the vile machine into the fire.

Well…okay…that last part just happened in my mind.  I didn’t actually throw the computer in the fire.  That would be a very expensive way of making a point.  But I did turn it off.

“There!” I said with satisfaction.  And then I sat down, took a few deep breaths and turned my attention back to the soothing rhythms of the flaming fire.  “Yes,” I thought, “this is better.  So much better.  This is the natural pace at which we were meant to live.”

And I spent the next hour simply relaxing, watching the dancing flames, and texting back and forth with several friends.

“Yep, this is how the pioneers used to do it,” I thought, as my phone softly beeped, signaling the arrival of a fresh text message.

An Inevitable Texting Tale

Well, there are certain things that are inevitable.  They’re going to happen.  Yes, indeed, they are GOING to happen.   Maybe they’ll happen sooner, or maybe they’ll happen later….but we know that, ultimately, they’re going to happen.

One of these inevitable things happened to me yesterday.  I actually, received a text message from my wife while we were in the car together.

Alright, granted, I was in the front seat driving and she was all the way in the back seat…you know, WAY back there in the back seat of the van.  But still, a text message wouldn’t seem to be necessary in such an instance, would it?  (Text me, if your answer to that question is “yes”.)

(By the way, Nadia was in the back seat because her sister, Paula, was on the passenger side of the front.  Believe me, when it’s just the two of us, Nadia does not sit in the back seat while I’m driving, unless, of course, we’re going some place where she needs to show up making a good impression.)

I looked in the rear view mirror as I was driving and asked her, “Did you text me?”

In response to my question I heard the notification tone on my phone indicating that I had just received another text.

I asked, again, “Is that you texting me?”

Another notification tone.  Nadia had a sly smile on her face.

It turns out that she had text-ed me a picture.  And then as I was asking if she was texting me, she was responding with the following text messages:  “No, that’s not me.”

She can be funny like that, in a tricky way, sometimes.

Later that night, as we were laying in bed, we had a good laugh about the silliness of the whole matter….via Skype.  Then we sent each other an instant message, saying, “xoxo, goodnight”, signed off of our laptops, and went to sleep.

It wasn’t REAL sleep, it was virtual sleep, but I feel rested….in a digital sort of way.