Sometimes I Just Want to Unplug...

Forget about keyboards, passwords, uploads, downloads.  Give me ink on paper. The rustle, the feel, the smell of a newspaper. Easy to navigate. No www//blatherblatherblather.com or dot this or dot that and don't forget that a back slash isn't the same as a front slash. I can read the paper in the back yard, listen to the birds, hear the farmer cutting hay, feel the breeze on my neck.  Or I can lay my magazine down, go for my second cup of coffee and not worry about whether or not I'll be disconnected when I get back.  And if I drop half that cup of joe on my latest edition of Wired, I don't have to worry that I'm going to lose a week's worth of work and a month's worth of salary.

I can stretch. Put my feet up. Shift, when I am not hunched over the altar of the computer gods.  Have you ever noticed how much that position, humbled, hands close together, eyes cast downward, looks like praying? For what?

Oh, and have you ever tucked anything more often than a book under your arm? How good does it feel to have that solid block of knowledge, entertainment, escape, so close to your body? How close do you feel to the contents? To the author? It's almost like having an eye in your armpit.

But I will leave genetic modification for another time.

That said, thanks for stopping by to read my blog. Really. I appreciate it.

I was skeptical of webinars. Then I logged onto a couple of Penn State's "Manure du Jour" sessions. They started in January and wrap up with hour-long lunchtime sessions, 12-1 p.m., on April 9 and 16.  They offer all the advantages of a seminar - knowledgeable speakers, illustrations, even the chance to ask questions - but you can participate at home. Hunched over your computer. Really, they are well worth your time and attention, and they're free.  If you missed the live sessions, they've all been recorded.  Check it out at  www.aec.cas.psu.edu.