Pantrygirl, unplugged.

I’m a total weenie. This morning’s routine was a little off-kilter. Add to it that I needed to be in the office early and you can understand why I left both my cell phone and pda at home. After my pre-requisite stare into oblivion, I decided to check my appointments for the day. I unzipped my bag and to my horror, the pocket for which I place my pda was empty. You know the close-up of Janet Leigh’s face when the shower curtain is pulled back? Imagine that face on a mass transit bus. My world literally stopped for a brief moment. I imagined my little pda on my dining room table crying like a baby for it’s mother. Then I looked at the next pocket, figuring I can at least tell my husband to put my pda back in it’s charger. Gasp! It was empty too! Two abandoned children, cold and alone wishing for the warmth of my palm. The attachment to my appliances is quite scary.

It took all my will to not get off the bus at the next stop and sprint back to get my precious babies. That’s when I realized it’s time for another session of ‘wireless’ living. I know I’ve written about these sessions but I’m too lazy to actually look for the reference. Besides, if I actually find the last time I did an wireless session, it will only show me that I need to regularly have these sessions.

A “wireless” session, is when I turn off my cell phone, put away my pda and turn off my laptop and go “wireless”. I try to do these for an entire week to get the full effect. Now, some of you may totally freak out at the prospect. Many of my consultant friends think I’m insane for doing this. Others, understand my need to not be ‘online’. Others probably think this isn’t a big deal. For an electronic fanatic, like myself, this is a very big deal. For one week, the only way a person can contact me is through my husband. Ok, I do check my voicemail to ensure my boss isn’t going to fire me. My IM is turned off. No emails every 5 seconds. Luxtv, our workday newscasts, programming by Lrudlrick, is turned off. No breaking news alerts. No surfing of any kind. It takes two to three days for the withdrawal symptoms to subside but I’ve gotten better.

So what the hell do you do? Well, I read a good old fashioned newspaper and if something happens after the newspaper is printed, I can read about it the next day. It’s not like the troops are going to be shipped home in one day. I catch up on my articles and magazines that have been stacking up in my workbag and my magazine rack. I do an errand I’ve wanted to do but haven’t had a chance to. For example, organizing my pictures from the year before or cleaning out my DVD and CD collection.I don’t know what possessed me to buy Bell, Biv, Devoe. I also venture out more and just enjoy the outdoors. I take long walks with the pooches and head downtown and just walk around Union Square and Chelsea.

Try it. It is the most liberating feeling to know that the world hasn’t stopped going a 80 miles an hour but you can and the world doesn’t tilt on its axis. It’s also a humbling experience.

Here is today’s ethical dilemma. I promised my cousin, I’d call him today at 11 to coordinate where to meet tomorrow. It’s now 11. I don’t have my cell phone. Ethically speaking, I don’t believe it is a person’s right to use the company phone for personal long distance calls. So what do I do? Ok, I used the phone but only for a few minutes. I made sure it was a quick, meet-me-here, bye.

Where was I? Oh yes, so I think it’s high time that I do another “wireless” session.