Computer Addicts

ALOHA, 

Welcome Back to Virtual Waikiki

 " If there was such a thing

as inspiration from a higher realm

it might well be

that the neurotic temperament

would furnish the chief condition

of the requisite receptivity. "

William James

 "Few of us are not in some way infirm, 

or even diseased,

and our infirmities help us

unexpectedly."

More William James

 " Maybe there was nothing. 

But how would you know

if you didn't send out

a signal? "  

Jeffrey Eugenides,

'Asleep in the Lord'

 Congrats to Morgan Freeman

for his recent American Film Institute award.

This guy is ALL class!

> < } } ( ° >

" We must learn to balance

the material wonders of technology

with the spiritual demands

of our human nature. "

John Naisbitt

'Megatrends' 1982

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(='.'=)
(")_(")

Aloha, my name is Cloudia,

and I am an internet addict. 

The web is SO involving,

that I regularly need to "fast"

from the computer.

Waking up,

getting (web invisible) Husband off to work 

(thank goodness SOMEONE does!)

clears the deck 

for me to "turn on, tune in,

and drop out"

from my body.

Getting that next post ready

consumes me,

piles of notes & clippings

beckon like fool's gold.

Pictures suggest themselves,

captions that presented themselves 

when I took the shot

morph into "bits" of data

and giggle with electric glee

as they anticipate meeting

Y O U.

My laptop was acting weird - possibly infected -

and it seemed I might have to ship it off to my

special computer friend in Seattle!

The sense of 'emergency' was palpable;

YOU folks are my Buds, my social circle!

I can't keep up with all of you

excellent play mates

as it IS!  

Going off line seems like exile!

Well, I spent ALL day yesterday

restoring my Dell to it's factory settings

from the "image" on the hard drive - not a disk.

I installed EVERY Windows7 update,

and re-installed the programs I use

with a nifty, amazing website utility called

NINITE

you really should check it out.

NINITE allows you to check-off multiple programs,

like web browsers FIREFOX & CHROME,

along with PICASSA, and many others including

'clean-ups' like AUSLOGICS,

then Ninite installs them ALL

with one click!

So I'm told that the odds are very good that I've

'repaired my computer.'

Only time will tell.

  My very clever computer helper

(the one in Seattle, who TeamViewers 

over to help me out) fears I might have an

extra-clever Chinese root virus,

and still wants to do a fresh install in-person

(goodbye laptop and friends for a week!)

He has taught me SO much!

Like: 

"Working online is like making sandwiches."

It leaves "crumbs" around your hard drive

and you need to clean up 

after sandwich making.

So I run AUSLOGICS one touch repair/cleanup

and it finds things like Registry Errors,

Start Up Errors

(and the like) fixing them

with the click of the mouse.

So back to internet addiction.

Some play games, others FaceBook

and Tweet

fanatically,

We bloggers create & publish!

We communicate with other thoughtful folks

ALL OVER THE WORLD!

We make friends who we think about

when we are OFF LINE.

Yes, BLOGGER and the Web are amazing.

But sitting right down to the key board

first thing in the morning,

while it uses the richness of recent dreams 

to create,

also denies the body it's 

morning stretch.

Recently, I have started to WALK first thing.

Throwing my legs out far,

swinging my arms,

posture tall, camera ready,

being among others

in AMAZING Waikiki!

Yep, gotta care for the body first.

Don't want to get "POPCORN BRAIN

do you?!

"The worry is that life online is giving us what researcher, David Levy, calls 'popcorn brain' --

a brain so accustomed to the constant stimulation of electronic multitasking

that we're unfit for life offline,

where things pop at a much slower pace." 

Reports  CNN.com.

Chinese research on the brains 

of internet addled youth

have shown actual changes in the brain!

So do spend time in the physical realm; 

care for your dear body.

You'll never catch up with EVERY blog post, every short story,

every WHATEVER!

PUT DOWN THE CLICKER!

(after you leave your comment here,

of course :)

When I thought I might be offline for a while

I panicked.

But a secret little part

rejoiced;

The private little part that likes to walk,

to stare,

to do nothing.

The part (perhaps)

that makes me

"Me."

Are YOU such a 'Me' too?

I love you guys and our circle!

But if you go outside, or far away,

for a week or two

I won't forget you.

So clean up those computer crumbs

and spend some time off line.

*Pop*   *pOp*

there goes my brain - 

time to run!

       What say YOU?   Fondly, cloudia