Writer's Block: Unplugged
Nov. 22nd, 2010 07:31 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
feste_sylvain[Error: unknown template qotd]
As some people know, I had to be... well, "coerced" is too strong a term, but I'm afraid I don't know the proper term for the next step down. (Suggestions welcome in the comments.) But anyway, getting a cell phone wasn't my idea. However, now that I have it, I do recognize its utility, so now I carry it willingly. When I remember it. Which is most of the time. But if someone were offering money to go without it, I'd have to think about how much it saves me, and make sure that I'm compensated. (I think that it would probably be around $20 for a week; I'd have to include the costs of planning ahead which the cell phone allows me to do on the fly.)
The TV is also easy, as we have digital recording. The hard-drive there is currently around 20% full, so a week's worth of programs wouldn't fill it. No problem. (As long as the week itself weren't, say, a week where the Red Sox were in the World Series.)
But the Internet? The whole freaking Internet? Jeezum Crow, Raymond, I'm on the Internet around eighty hours per week. The "advanced planning" I mentioned in the cell phone paragraph? I do all that on the net. News, weather, chatty contact with friends, answering "What does plutonium look like?", witty political banter, movie times, restaurant coupons... I would have a hard time doing without the net. A week? What would I do with myself? And how would I do it?
That would be at least as difficult for me as vacations are. Vacations cost into the thousands for a week, so my answer would likewise be into the thousands. Well into it. The last time I had to do it, I managed to sneak on anyway at a couple of motels. And that saved me from some nastiness from the car rental agency...
I'm now thinking five figures. And some lead-time on the net to plan for the week off of it.
As some people know, I had to be... well, "coerced" is too strong a term, but I'm afraid I don't know the proper term for the next step down. (Suggestions welcome in the comments.) But anyway, getting a cell phone wasn't my idea. However, now that I have it, I do recognize its utility, so now I carry it willingly. When I remember it. Which is most of the time. But if someone were offering money to go without it, I'd have to think about how much it saves me, and make sure that I'm compensated. (I think that it would probably be around $20 for a week; I'd have to include the costs of planning ahead which the cell phone allows me to do on the fly.)
The TV is also easy, as we have digital recording. The hard-drive there is currently around 20% full, so a week's worth of programs wouldn't fill it. No problem. (As long as the week itself weren't, say, a week where the Red Sox were in the World Series.)
But the Internet? The whole freaking Internet? Jeezum Crow, Raymond, I'm on the Internet around eighty hours per week. The "advanced planning" I mentioned in the cell phone paragraph? I do all that on the net. News, weather, chatty contact with friends, answering "What does plutonium look like?", witty political banter, movie times, restaurant coupons... I would have a hard time doing without the net. A week? What would I do with myself? And how would I do it?
That would be at least as difficult for me as vacations are. Vacations cost into the thousands for a week, so my answer would likewise be into the thousands. Well into it. The last time I had to do it, I managed to sneak on anyway at a couple of motels. And that saved me from some nastiness from the car rental agency...
I'm now thinking five figures. And some lead-time on the net to plan for the week off of it.
