I’ve been struggling with how to best manage the constant flow of non-critical information that flows around me. RSS feeds. Email. Technorati references. Podcasts. The list goes on. I am going to try an experiment for a couple of weeks, prompted by a reinstall of the OS on my Powerbook.

Yesterday, before leaving the office, I fired up Software Update to grab the latest 10.4.6 update on both my desktop and ‘book. Came in this morning to find the G5 ready to go, but the Powerbook was sitting with an “Installer failed” type of message. I rebooted both, but the ‘book wouldn’t come back. So, I nuked it and reinstalled after wiping the drive.

I’m taking this opportunity to rework how I do things. I’m leaving my RSS client Blogbridge over on the desktop machine. No RSS at home, or on the weekends. I think that will make it easier, since 99+% of the stuff that comes in via RSS really can wait until Monday AM, and it doesn’t need to steal time from the family.

The Powerbook will have the Developer tools (XCode, Subversion, etc…) as well as email and iChat (and browsers, of course) but no RSS. I’ll see how that goes.

Also, Blogbridge runs WAAAY faster on the quad G5 than on the aging Powerbook.

I just realized that I never provided a “final” update for the little “unplugging at home” experiment/bet - where Janice dared me to go a month without being online at home.

Well, it actually went pretty well. Overall, it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be - initially, it was quite hard (withdrawal, shakes, bugs beneath my skin - well, no bugs, but you get the point) and then it was just… gone.

I did slip. Twice. When I was trying to do a bit of work from home. I finished up, and thought “hey, while I’ve got the laptop fired up, I’ll just check my email. And maybe just a few feeds. And maybe Flickr. And maybe respond to a couple comments. and (an hour later) crap. close the laptop… Rob caught me once and helped pull be back from the brink (thanks, Rob ) but still, 2 days in 30 where I spent time online at home, that’s not bad at all.

So, after the 30 day bet was up (on Dec. 12), I find that I’m spending some time online at home, mostly in moderation. I’m less likely to leave the laptop crunching RSS feeds 24/7 so it’s ready when I want to check in (although lately I’ve been guilty of falling into old patterns - must work on that - things like the New Year’s Eve Field Trip definitely help). I’m down to maybe an hour or 2 per day - some days less.

It’s not quite to the level of requiring a support group, but it’s also not completely in check. I think, in the larger scheme of things, there are far, far worse things to be addicted to, though. And, is it really any worse “checking in” as opposed to, say, watching Survivor or something? I don’t do New Year’s Resolutions, but one of the things I’m going to be trying to do is reduce/manage my online time so I’m more focussed and less distracted at home. I’ll be trying to work out a more efficient “burst mode checkin” so I can still check my 495 496 feeds without losing the benefits of triangulating from multiple primary sources.

It’s hard. Much harder than I would have guessed. I was upstairs the other night, gathering Evan’s laundry to throw in the wash. The laundry was in the hamper in the home office. The computer was just sitting there, begging me, pleading with me. Just check your email. See if someone’s commented on your blog. Check a couple of blogs. What harm could it do? Who’s gonna know? Come on…. You know you want to….

I think I know how Frodo would have felt, with The One Ring pulling at his neck, begging him to be discovered. … we hates it … tricksy! false! my…. preeeeciousssssssss….

But, I resisted. Somehow. Not sure if it’s going to get easier or harder over time. I know it’s going to be difficult tomorrow - the Learning Commons is being renovated, and our desks are all dismantled, so I’ll be attempting to work from home Friday…

Janice just dared me to go a whole month without checking the computer while at home. Apparently I’m a little addicted to checking in (RSS feeds, email, writing blog posts, etc…).

So… I’m going to give it a shot. No non-work-related computer access from home for one month. I plan on leaving the Powerbook locked up on my desk at work.

Unplugging until Monday morning…