One of the reasons why I stopped traveling was because I wanted to slow down and experience new things. Plus, I had a sinking feeling that my busy life was spinning out of control. It was just going by too fast for my own good.

One fun part of slowing down is finding new things online. So in the past couple months, these are my new online treasures:

  1. MySpace.com: I know I’m one of the last people my age to go onto MySpace, but it’s pretty easy to avoid social networking sites when you are engaged to be married. But I figured its a cultural phenomenon, and I know little about it. So last week I kick-started with http://myspace.com/nomoho. Since then, I’ve been tweaking my layout to make it look fresh and different. But the most rewarding thing is how people have found me through MySpace. So far I’ve reconnected with a couple friends from college and some folks that I’ve met on the road. This is going to be fun.
  2. Google Calendar: This online calendar is so handy and easy-to-use. In my previous life, I kept my calendar at work because that’s the only life I had. But I always felt helpless and foolish when I had to sort out dates at the end of the night. Now that I’m getting my life back, it’s nice to have an online calendar with so I can sort out all of my appointments, travel, and reminders. At any moment of the day, I can login and get a grasp on the next two months of my life. I don’t have to worry about missing something and letting someone down.;;
  3. Del.icio.us: This is handy online archive of my bookmarks that I jumped into a few days ago. I hate clutter, so I quit bookmarking sites several years ago. (Okay, so maybe I marked the best, but that’s less than a dozen.) But it sucks because sometimes there is an interesting website, but I would end up letting it go for the sake of browser cleanliness. But with Del.icio.us, I can bookmark anything and everything. And they all remain neatly organized. But the best part about it is looking at what similar websites people have bookmarked. It’s essentially a community-nominated search engine, but the results are unparalleled. I found some really handy Ajax sites this afternoon that really got my creativity spinning.;
  4. Craigslist.com: Some of my friends live on this site. So of course, I avoided it because I didn’t’ want to get suckered into someone else’s inferior interest. But I take all that back now because Craigslist is a bargain-finders dream come true. It’s the best local classified ads out there. As of this week, these are the things I’m looking for: sturdy outdoor furniture, travertine tile, anything chrome, a Chevy 350 engine, and a bed frame. It’s so much better than skimming the ads in the paper because the Craigslist.com actually has pictures, and that can save me from a long drive across town, only to be disappointed.
  5. Itunes.com: It’s not really a website, but I’m excited to be using iTunes. I’ve imported all of my old CDs so I can get rid of them.

Since I work on the Internet all day, having new tools makes a big difference. But what’s more rewarding is knowing that my life isn’t spinning out of control. Getting organized online makes the rest of my life more manageable. Actually, I don’t think that it does. I’m sick of having to remember account numbers, user names, and passwords. I counted this afternoon, and I have 19 different places that I have to remember all that crap. It takes a significant part of my brain just to not forget all of those passwords.

I think the modern life is out of control. Who the hell started to promote “multi-tasking” as a solution to life? I’m tired of doing two things at once. Yet, when I take it one thing at a time, I feel like an underachiever…like the world is passing me by. My attention span is all but gone.

I Tivo “Law & Order” because it is smart, exciting, and entertaining. Without the commercials to watch, I can get in whole hour-long episode in about 40 minutes. But last night during a 15-second lull in the plot, I impulsively opened my phone to play a game. I snapped out of it a minute later, and I became embarrassed—all alone in my living room. I’ve been suckered into this culture. It’s making me miserable. I think this is why my mom and dad gave up the big city life to run a farm in the rural South.