LIVING WITH MCL

On Saturday, I received 80 hits to my blog. That is far and away the most visitors ever to my blog in a single day. Even more remarkable, it was the weekend which is typically a slow time. So why the sudden surge? It certainly isn't because visitors are interested in me. Most of the hits, almost 50% have been for a post about  curing your cancer not being the best idea . And that wasn't even my post. It was a repost of an article I found in the Wall Street Journal [in 2006] which I thought of interest. It used to be a couple of posts I did on polychromasia were the biggest draw, but no more. Those posts still get their share of hits, just not as many as the curing you cancer post, and I'm curious why the shift? I've also noted a shift in who's visiting my blog. By far the most hits come from the US (as you might expect), followed by Canada and Great Britain. But lately I have been seeing more hits from other countries like Australia, Brazil, Ireland, Taiwan, Norway,...

So anywaze, besides that, my attempt to sever myself from the internet has been met with mixed results. I did delete all my social media accounts, i.e. Facebook, Twitter, Linked in, Strava, and even a few I only recently rediscovered I had. What I am having trouble with though is eliminating all my email subscription accounts. I still get some useful information from them occasionally. Plus I can't help but marvel at the naivety of so many individuals. I don't know why I'm so enamored by it, but I am. Surprisingly I have managed to refrain from commenting on [most of] those posts, which is an achievement in itself. Hopefully time will take care of the rest.

To borrow a little something from Ronald Reagan, the Internet isn't the solution to our problems, the Internet is the problem! I've believed this for quite awhile, and it is the principle reason I dropped my Facebook account awhile back, and more recently my smartphone. It's not that I'm [completely] against technology, but I do think [next to religion] it's the biggest cause of the problems we are experiencing in the country today, i.e. divisiveness, intolerance, mistrust etc. Because of the Internet, we no longer interact personally with each other, preferring such faceless applications as Facebook, Twitter and even blogs to express our thoughts. Even talking on the phone has declined as we switch more to texting and email. Because of the Internet, we have become detached from our fellow human beings, no longer interacting with people in the ways that brought us closer together in the past. Instead we're driven apart by the increased use of email and caller I...

Two years ago, when I got my DroidX, I was all excited. The thought of being able to log on to the internet where ever I was, having access to GPS, my Kindle books, a camera etc. all in one convenient, compact device, seemed like a good idea, maybe even necessary and important. But now I'm not so sure. When I think about it, is it really worth $30 per month ($60 if you add in my wife's Droid), to have access to the internet everywhere, especially when you consider I'm already spending $40/month for wifi access at home? I hardly ever use it, except when I am at home, and I'm too lazy to go get my laptop to check whatever it is I feel is so necessary to check. And why do I need a Kindle or camera on the phone, neither of which is a good substitute for the real thing? The GPS may be about the only thing that is a good idea, but is it worth $30/month, considering how little I use it? We have become slaves to technology. We've been brain washed into thinking we need to s...

I've come to the realization I spend way to much time sitting in front of my computer. I've actually known this for a long time, but I just don't seem to be able to do much about it. Some of it is actually productive, like answering work emails, keeping track of my finances, and logging in my miles on the bike, but that only takes up a small portion of my time in front of the computer. Too much time is spent playing around on Facebook, reading emails from other lymphoma survivors (OK, that might actually be considered worthwhile), and reading news and political commentary, sometimes even commenting when the urge arises. Even writing this blog seems to occupy more time than I would like. And now that I have my DroidX, I find myself spending even more time staring at a VDU (visual display unit). Certainly the internet has been a boon to the world in many ways. Most notably for the amount of information that has been made much more readily available to everyone, and something ...