I was only scheduled to give one presentation ("How to talk, or not talk, to your clients about Perl") but after hearing some of the opening remarks at the conference that spent too much time and energy, IMHO, declaring that "Perl is not dead!" I signed up to give a new talk about possibilities for re-framing that sentiment.

You can view a video of the talk, or you can view my slides [PDF].

I installed compact fluorescent bulbs throughout my house, and the big box stores lit up their parking lots day and night.

I decided to drive my car less, and the oil companies spilled millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

I installed a rain barrel to water my organic garden, and the big agriculture companies shipped genetically engineered, highly processed food around the world for me to enjoy at a moment's notice.

I made a living running a business that tried to care first about doing the right thing, and my government used the taxes on our income to prop up businesses that lie, cheat and steal.

I participated in the democratic processes, and my elected representatives acted out of fear, ignorance and pursuit of personal gain.

I volunteered in my community to try to make it a better place, and my neighbor threw a bag full of trash on the sidewalk in front of her own home.

I tried to honor all forms of life and make space for non-humans in a life crowded with humans, and I killed a bird with my car.

I tried to resolve my conflicts in a non-violent, restorative way, and my President sent tens of thousands to kill and die in my name.

I tried to honor and respect women, and the culture said I wasn't a real man.

I tried to live with integrity and tell the truth, and the people said I wasn't doing my part to perpetuate the commonly accepted narrative.

I tried to have hope, and they said but someone's got to pay the bills, there's no time for that.

Encouraged

My friends Hilde and Charlie are creating a bakery on their land in Michigan, Laughing Tree Brick Oven Bakery.  They built a wood-fired brick oven themselves and they're focused on using local grains and ingredients.  I've tasted Hilde's baking before, and so when they offered an opportunity for friends and family to invest in the business, I didn't think twice about signing on.  Excitement!

Aaron is taking several months to bike across the country.  He's experiencing the poetry of the places he visits, and having many other adventures that he's been kind to share on his blog.  He seems fit to wander.

Richmond has rallied around a local business owner who has taken on the daunting and exciting task of restoring the train depot building here.  He's got big plans, and he's invited the community to join him in his dreaming.  It's been good for us, and even better for our children.

Beautiful murals evoking light, laughter, history, music and movement going up all around town.

A retirement celebration full of love, laughter and deep admiration.  New chapters and a sense of the great wide open.

A small chance of further complications, just a few more procedures to get through.  Sighs of relief and easing of fears, more than I realized.  So glad we're doing it together.

Friends and loved ones who are advocating for their own happiness in new ways, saying -- sometimes quietly, sometimes out loud -- "I'm not going to take it any more."

A summer bright and bold, constantly reminding us of its presence with pounding heat, daring us to waste all of a beautiful day to the droning of the television or in the make-believe world of air conditioning.

Tasting the bounty of the earth, proof that heaven is here and now.

Life created, life given, life received, life renewed.

The photos and videos I've posted on Flickr capture some of the experience, and while the trip held too much adventure to describe here in great detail, I'll hit some of the highlights below.

Our trip was a nice combination of planned itinerary (primarily, the week-long stay on the boat M/Y Eric to tour around the Galapagos) and "wander around once we get there" mode.  The Lonely Planet Guide to Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands provide indispensable for the whole experience, from helping with food to lodging to cultural experiences and everything in between.  We were also visiting in advance of the heavier tourist season, so we were able to get into most any experience without advance reservation.

In the cloud forests of Mindo, to the northwest of Quito, we were so impressed by our stay at El Monte, a jungle lodge where we had a cabana for two nights.   Between the beautiful spot we had right on the rushing Mindo river, the amazing home-cooked meals three times a day, the beautiful main open-air lodge, and the warm and friendly staff, we were in paradise (mosquitoes notwithstanding).  We also had a chance to meet and dine with travelers from around the world, some of them on multi-month trips – it was quite fun (and okay, sometimes exhausting) to discuss politics, religion and economics with such a wide variety of global perspectives.  El Monte was created and is run by Tom and Mariella, who have worked hard to create an experienced powered by renewable resources (mostly hydro and solar) and supported by an amazing staff of cooks, guides, and hospitality coordinators.  We felt like we were among friends and well taken care of.

Our time in the Galapagos Islands was phenomenal.  The main theme of the encounters with the land and the animals of the islands is that they don’t know any fear of humans, and so it is possible to walk right up to a sea lion, a blue footed boobie bird or an iguana and look them in the eye. And that we did, day after day.  We sunned on the beach with the magnificent families of sea lions, and then joined them in the water when it got too hot. We snorkeled around amazing coral reef with penguins, sting rays, sharks and the most beautiful varieties of fish. We hiked through lava rock formations to see iguana resting and watching, huge bright red crabs sunning, waved albatross nesting, and great blue heron quietly stalking. Pelicans swooped by just inches away, and finches (all 13 varieties) showed us their nests. We watched in awe of the giant tortoises that had been alive longer than Kelly and I combined, slowly moving around their home in search of the best grass, the coolest pond.

After the Galapagos, we headed south into the Andes mountains for the city of Banos, where we originally intended to stay just a night or two, and ended up soaking it in for five days.  Banos seems to be the Ecuadorian equivalent of Boulder, Colorado – an outdoorsy person’s Mecca buried in the mountains, with myriad activities you can take on to pass the time.  Every block offers touring companies that will take you rafting, kayaking, canyoning, jungle tripping, go-carting, mountain biking and more.  There are trails extending up to the volcano and surrounding volcanic formations that range from steep to “are you kidding me?”   The best part is that once you’re done with your outdoor adventure, this place knows how to help you relax.  There are natural baths with water heated by the volcano, massage and spa companies on every block (most professional, some not), and so many different restaurants representing cuisine from around the world, it can take an hour to decide what to eat.  I think we found a good balance of high adventure (the most intense Class IV+ whitewater rafting either of us have ever done) followed by relaxation (ask me about the spa experience sometime).

Adjusting to different forms of transportation was a source of constant excitement on this trip.  As is apparently the case with much of South America, the experience of taking a bus between cities is very common, and can be very harrowing (especially for the uninitiated tourist).  Taxis in Quito seem to top even the most white-knuckle-grip experiences I've had in cities in the U.S.  One private driver we hired was an amazing and knowledgeable personal tour guide as he deftly navigated the different terrains, while another had never been to the destination we hired him to take us to and ended up depending on us for map navigation.  The Quito airport runway is a little bit short and sits smack dab in the middle of a densely populated city, so takeoffs and landings were a little nerve-wracking.  And it turns out that I am capable of getting quite sea sick, which I found out on night #1 on our Galapagos boat in the form of an evening-long  vomiting session on the sundeck.  Things got better from there, thanks in no small part to the great care from Kelly and the crew (and Scopolamine), but there were some moments where I wasn't sure I was going to make it.  All in all, figuring out transportation was an adventure in itself.

This trip was the first real international travel I'd done in more than a decade, and my first time to South America.  Despite all of my detail-oriented preparation lists and packing and figuring out finances and scattered attempts to brush up on Spanish, in the end I just dove into the experience and let it take me where it would - this almost always resulted in great joy.  It was an honor to travel with Kelly, and we took good care of each other while enjoying the company greatly.  Ecuador was a beautiful, welcoming, diverse, complicated, amazing place to visit, and the experiences we had there were perspective-bringing and life-giving.

I'll be happy to tell you more about it when I see you next.

It will make me feel better to acknowledge that here, so: my blogging is paused right now.

I plan to resume a regular schedule later this summer.   I'm still tweeting, although with less frequency there too.  Make sure you're subscribed to my RSS feed or e-mail subscription so you know when I start up posting again.

Thanks for tuning in!

Some observations on walking to work:

1. Since walking has become my usual mode of commuting, I've found myself noticing even more what complex and sometimes onerous machines automobiles can be.  There a feeling of lightness I have in walking out the door and propelling myself down the street, feeling my muscles working and pace changing, saying hi to people and noticing changes in their moods and dispositions from day to day, just being out in the open air of the world.  This is much different from the protocols for entering, activating and safely operating my internal combustion go-go machine from one place to another; it's just a much heavier and more isolating experience, and while it still has its place, I'm quite glad to partake in it less often.
2. The walk takes about 15 minutes or less.  My prior residence was less than 2 miles from my office, which took about 30 minutes.  Even though Richmond tends not to be all that pedestrian-friendly, the previous longer route was especially obnoxious in the loud and busy roads I would walk, and so it became a bit of a psychological barrier to wanting to do it every day.  The 30 minute mark was just long enough to create some stress about how much of the day I might "lose" to walking back and forth, even though other calculations show we lose a good part of our day/lives to earning the money to be able to drive in.  In any case, 15 minutes feels like a great number for me right now - just long enough to make the walk enjoyable, and short enough that I feel close  to all the places I want to be able to be quickly.
3. I've certainly saved a little money, between several hundred and a thousand dollars in gasoline expenses depending on what past year I compare it to.  The drive to work obviously didn't use a whole lot of gas in itself, but not driving my car every day also means lower automobile maintenance costs.
4. This winter season found Richmond with more snow on the ground for longer periods of time than it's had in recent history.  Local residents and businesses are generally not very cognizant of the impact on pedestrians when they leaving their sidewalks unshoveled; it means that people either have to walk in the street, which is dangerous, or take alternate routes, which is inconvenient.  This didn't stop me from walking, even if I had to transport an extra pair of shoes along with me, but it's still disappointing to see the significant resources expended on making paths clear for cars and so little attention given to keeping pedestrian walkways usable.
5. I live in an Indiana Enterprise Zone, which means that the local governments have designated it as a "distressed or blighted area" that could benefit from some economic development incentives.  What it really means is that my employer and I both get tax credits for me living there - close to a thousand dollars on my return this year -  the idea being that I'm helping to make the area less distressed and blighted.  What's that have to do with walking to work? The goal of having a walkable, bike-able city lines up nicely with the goal of having a vibrant downtown business district surrounded by vibrant, well-established residential neighborhoods.  When we remember to plan communities around the needs of people instead of around what's best for automobiles, we almost always inevitably also build a stronger local economy.
6. I have to recognize the relative ease with which I - a tall white male - can wander out into the streets past dusk on my walk home after a late night at the office, not thinking too much about being vulnerable or unsafe.  I know some of my downtown co-workers wouldn't find it desirable or even acceptable to put themselves in the same position.  There are things Richmond could do to help with this - e.g. fix the streetlights that don't work on Main St. - but there are also a broader set of cultural issues that need work before the pedestrian lifestyle is truly "safe" and normal again.  In the meantime, I'm privileged in a way that I'll keep taking advantage of, but won't take for granted.
7. I usually listen to music while I walk (and lately I'm listening to courses on learning Spanish).  Sometimes I don't listen to anything and just enjoy the sounds around me.  The sounds I listen to often set my mood for the day, and can inject a burst of creative energy that stays with me as the melodies or lyrics echo around in my head.  It's perhaps no different than listening to the stereo in the car, but dancing, tapping your fingers to a beat, absorbing a powerful verse - they're all a little more fun when you don't have to keep your eyes on the road.

Those are some of my experiences of getting to work.  Do you have any to share?

It's a pretty simple exercise in the end.  Make a table of all of the things you spend time on in a week, and compare that to the total hours available.  If you're over, then you have to change something.  If you're at or under the available time, then you still might need to change something to be happy, e.g. increasing the amount of time available for fun, sleep, or just relaxing.  Or you may find that you spend time exactly the way you want to!

Here's what my chart looked like, in no particular order:

When I filled out a version of this chart more than a year ago, I found that I had 184 hours/week of stuff I planned to do, 16 more hours per week than actually existed.  I made adjustments and scaled back or ended some of my time commitments, and got it down to 168 hours.  I've rarely found myself feeling continuously overwhelmed since (short periods of oh-no-how-will-I-do-it-all still come and go), and once in a while I update the table to see where I'm at.

Of course, it may be difficult or undesirable to commit to some firm number of hours for each activity every week, and we all know that life has an impressive way of nullifying even the best made plans.  But the exercise itself can help you see any disparity between your mental model of how you want to be spending time, and what reality might actually dictate.

How does your first column of hours add up?  Any line items that surprised you (or that I forgot!)? Which items are you going to change so that you can spend your time the way you want to?

(Disclaimer: I'm not here to tell you how to live, but my general sense is that the world would be a better place if people didn't spend their time watching television.  Period.  That said, and the reality of TV watching as a cultural norm firmly in place for now, I continue with my narrative.)

The end of channel surfing

The first stage in my transition away from "watching TV" was to get free of the notion that my schedule should ever revolve around the schedule of TV broadcasters.

It's a shame to think about how much of my childhood scheduling might have revolved around wanting to be home at a certain time to watch a certain show, and what other opportunities I might have missed as a part of that.  That's where the Tivo DVR that I bought a number of years ago really changed everything - because it records the shows you want to watch for later viewing, I never again had to worry about being proximate to my TV at any particular time.  Add in features like fast-forwarding through commercials, having "access" to shows and movies that were on during hours of the day I never would have watched before, and integrating content from the Internet and my computer, and it was quite the little media center.

Yay! I was a little more in control of my TV watching habits, and didn't spend any more time wandering through channels looking for something mediocre to watch.

Tethered to a TV?

Once my TV-watching was controlled by storing content on an Internet-connected device that would let me retrieve it for later viewing, I thought more about why I couldn't watch the content from anywhere I had a screen, instead of having to be in front of the TV itself.  The most impressive tool that I found in aiding that un-tethering was the Slingbox, which takes most any audio/video signal and makes it available over the Internet, while also allowing you to remotely control whatever device is playing the signal.  In other words, I could watch my TV from anywhere I had network access.

This meant that not only did I not have to be on time to watch content I wanted thanks to Tivo, I didn't have to be anywhere in particular either.  While my actual practical uses of this were few, the slight shift in TV watching paradigm was refreshing.

Thank you, Hulu.

A few years ago, to give up cable TV meant giving up the watching of most TV shows altogether, unless you were bumming off of friends and family.  But the recent trend is that most kinds of television content is available in some other digital form, whether it's on DVD or on the web for free or available for purchase through an online store like Amazon or iTunes.  The emergence of services like Hulu.com, which makes full length episodes of many TV shows available for "free" soon after their broadcast, further drove establishing standards for digital delivery.  (I say "free" in quotes because Hulu still shows you advertisements that take up your time and burn into your soul, and neither time nor souls are free.)

So it was about a year ago that I decided that the few shows I still watched on television were either (A) shows I didn't need to watch anymore, or (B) shows that I could find within a reasonable amount of time using other means.  I called the cable company and told them so, and haven't looked back since.

Hello, Roku.

This strange new world of only watching shows over the Internet was working just fine, but I did notice that there was a drop in the convenience factor, as I could no longer sit down in front of the TV, pressing a button and watch something.  If I wanted the TV-watching experience, I took the time to hook my computer up to my TV and sound system, and things like pausing to answer the door or switching between content options became a lot more noticeably distracting.  (Reality check: yes, watching glowing rectangles is the true distraction.)

A few months later, I saw the announcement of a new $100 device called the Roku player that would make digital content as easy to browse and view as "regular TV" had once been.  By linking it with a Netflix account at the lowest price level ($9/month with 1 physical DVD at a time) or paying per-use for Amazon.com selections, I had access to a significant collection of movies and TV shows available for on-demand viewing, and I was back to navigating all of that with a remote control - no computer hookup needed.

A little bit after that, the folks at Hulu made available the great "Hulu Desktop" application, which basically turned navigating their content into something you could also do with a remote control, and so while there was still some computer hookup needed there, it wasn't as distracting.

Am I there yet?

That's where I'm at right now.  I can sit down with a remote control and have a real "TV Watching Experience."  I have a wide variety of interesting (some of it is even, dare I say, socially redeeming) content available to me on demand, and I don't miss cable or broadcast TV at all.  I go to the movie theater a lot less because I have (IMHO) an equivalent or better experience with my own technical setup.

I can't make any claims around living a life free of the distractions and time-wasting activities that cable TV brought with it - I spend plenty of time staring at glowing screens, I still watch shows produced for TV, I'm still bombarded with messages not of my choosing, and I'm still subject to information overload.   But I've got a lot more control over how and when I experience that information than I ever did when I subscribed to cable.

While watching this content (especially documentaries) is something I enjoy greatly, I hope to continue to reduce the amount of time I spend in front of a TV for any reason, trading it for time spent experiencing the world in other, less passive ways.

If you have experiences with making changes in how you "experience television," (whether you own one or not), I'd love to hear about them in the comments.

Thanks to those of you who took the time to complete my blog feedback survey at the end of 2009 - it was really helpful in understanding how my regular readers see the blog.  From the responses I received, here are the highlights:

• 60% of you read most of the posts here, and 40% always read the full posts.
• Most of you find out about blog updates from Twitter or Facebook, and the rest use RSS feeds or just visit my website directly.
• Most of you think the blog is either very (or at least more than moderately) interesting and useful.
• You seem to like the variety of my blog topic areas, but "technology and internet stuff" came out on top while humor, sustainability issues, and posts about Richmond, IN all came in a close second.
• You think the design and layout of the blog is generally adequate; only 1 person said it was distracting.
• The single thing you think I should do to improve my blog is to post more frequently.  After that, you either want me to expand to more topics, or to focus to fewer topics.
• At least half of you would like to comment more on what I write, but don't feel like you have time to formulate a response.
• For most of you, adding sponsorship ads to my site is either not a problem at all, or might be annoying but wouldn't change how you read the blog.
• Other comments included:
  • "More naughty bits!"
  • "I like your courage in saying what you want to say."
  • "Thanks for keeping it interesting."
  • "I think you should go retro and get a weekly column in the PI."  (I'm open to this.)
  • "It's one of the few blogs I genuinely try to read on a regular basis."
  • "I appreciate that you take a public stance on several important community issues."
  • "Even if I don't agree with the viewpoint of your commentary, I usually come away with the feeling that you have approached the subject from a thoughtful perspective."
  • "I read new entries just about immediately."
  • "I think you have a unique perspective on small business, technology, and alternative means of building community...You have a lot of knowledge AND a vision, which is a great combination."
  • "Keep up the good work."

Thanks again so much for your honesty, and thanks for reading!  (And of course, I welcome feedback any time.)

Now I can announce the winner of the random drawing to win a $25 gift certificate for either any business in the Center City business district in Richmond, Indiana or for Amazon.com.

The winner is Aaron Hill! I'd like to post the entirety of Aaron's response upon being notified of his win, since I think it really captures a lot:

SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEET

Thanks again, Aaron.

Looking forward, I'd like to honor the recurring theme in the feedback I got in that survey and from others: that posting more often about the issues of the day in our community is a good thing.  One of my own personal goals for this year is to do more creative writing, and while my blog can't be my only outlet for that, I hope it's a significant one.

My current target is to post at least three times per week, and at least one substantial entry within those three.  The other entries may be more like a couple of paragraphs and a little less refined, but hopefully still useful and/or interesting enough to keep you tuned in.   I will appreciate any encouragement, reminders or coffee that you want to offer if you see me slipping from that a bit.

Happy 2010.  Here's to a new year of blogging.

One of the new additions that I'm most proud of right now is the Clear Creek Food Cooperative, located at 710 East Main Street, right below my company's new headquarters. The store is open to the public as of this past weekend, and the inventory is still growing as we stock local foods, organic produce, crafts and gifts made by local artisans, and healthy bulk foods, snacks, spices and more.

On one hand, it's just another place where you can buy food and related stuff here in Richmond.  But behind the facade of a simple grocery is the promise of something that, I think, is much greater than that.  As a cooperatively-owned business, it has the potential to help us return to the roots of what small business is about - a community of people meeting a common need or desire in our town, pooling their resources to do it in a way that everyone benefits.  With a focus on locally sourced items, it helps work toward the promise of Richmond as a self-sustaining place.  With a focus on organic and fair trade items, it helps work toward an economic model that values justice as much as it values monetary wealth.   And so on - you can read about the co-operative identity to learn more.

Four years ago I joined the Coop's board of directors to see how I could help out.  The Coop was a place that served the primary function of serving a lunch to students on the campus of Earlham College, and much of its other mission - to be a gathering place for a community of people interested in those Co-operative principles, healthy food, education and collaboration, etc. - had been left behind.  Even with that clear role on a college campus - it was still struggling financially, and people in the wider Richmond community who wanted to take advantage of it had a hard time finding it, knowing when it was open, feeling at home shopping there, etc.  And yet, conversations about making changes were hard - students didn't want to lose this campus gathering space, and the traditions and culture that had evolved up over the years had become sacred to some; the idea of taking a risk on a big change like moving was at times unthinkable.

You may remember about a year ago when I made some snarky remarks about an article in the Earlham Word about the future of the Coop and whether or not it would move off campus.  That was one step in a long process of considering our options for revitalizing the organization, one that goes well beyond my time with the board - so many people have put so much time and energy and passion into making the Coop a better place.  We did decide that the best place for the Coop was out in the community and that it was time to make that leap, and this new beginning in a new space represents not only a success of the current board, staff, membership and volunteer base, but a gradual progression of a decades-long conversations.  And even though the future is uncertain and there are still plenty of things to figure out, it's a milestone to celebrate!

Shopping at the Coop will not be like shopping at Meijer, Kroger or Walmart, and you'll still have to go to those other kinds of places to get everything you need.  It won't be open 24 hours and you cannot get your oil changed or your photos processed while you browse.  But if you find value in the values of small Main Street businesses, one that considers the health of its customers and the local community in its decision-making processes, you'll find that you belong at the Clear Creek Food Cooperative.

I hope to see you there!

It's only 10 questions, most are multiple choice, and if you do take it by the end of the year, I'll put you in a drawing to win $25, either for any business in the Center City business district in Richmond, Indiana or for Amazon.com.   (And if you don't want to identify yourself, that's fine too, you just won't be in the drawing.)

Thanks for your feedback.