Brandon Moon

Well, I made it through my Internet fast!

While it was a good experience, it wasn’t exactly what I thought it’d be. What surprised me most is that it wasn’t really that different. I didn’t have compulsive urges to get online or anything. But it was surprisingly difficult to cut the Internet out of my life entirely. Something I pretty much failed at doing.

First of all, I allowed email during the fast. Basically, there was too much of a chance I could miss an important email from work. I also had to check things like mint.com or my bank, since I do my money management online. And, well, I have a pretty pitiful music collection. I tried for the first half of the week to only listen to my music, but eventually I broke down and went back to Pandora. Oh, and I left my weather widget running…

In short, I had a surprising amount of interaction with the Internet in spite of my fast. There’s a good portion of my life that does rely on the Internet. I don’t consider this an unhealthy thing though. Finances, email, etc. are all very good uses of the Internet in my mind.

What I did succeed at was untying myself entirely from my social networks. No Facebook, no Google+ (I do check it from time to time), no Twitter, no blog, no socializing of any kind on the Internet really.

Frankly, staying away from social networks didn’t really change things much for me. It was kinda nice to not worry about finding cool links to share, or having to compose a blog post, or anything like that. But that’s fun stuff I do with my free time, so it wasn’t that big of a deal.

Also, I wasn’t left with a bunch of free time and not knowing what to do with myself. Turns out I just read a lot more, and took up some old hobbies, like origami (which is a lot of fun actually).

The place where my Internet fast made the biggest difference was at work. First of all, I have to make a point here. A bit of browsing during work hours is actually a good thing. To be hyper-focused on one thing can actually be counterproductive sometimes. It’s good to take a break once in a while, and browsing is a perfectly good way to do that.

Unfortunately, I think I’ve wasted quite a bit of time browsing when I should be working. Not to excess or anything (I do get my work done), but it can be a bit of a distraction. I found that during work hours, if I took my breaks doing other things (like origami), it fulfilled that break without being too distracting. It was much easier to get back into the flow of work and get stuff done. This is something I’d like to keep doing.

And so, I’m back online. Without too much damage (either from being away, or from coming back). And I’m pleased to say, I think I’ve already found a pretty good balance.

Alrighty web folks… I know I posted about Bear Lake last week and told you all to go visit, but… I didn’t think you’d visit the same weekend! There were so many people up at Bear Lake! We barely managed to get a camp spot, and had to drive clear to the end of the beach to find a table. Yikes!

We still had a lot of fun though. Here’s some pictures to prove it:

Hanging out on the beautiful beach at Bear Lake

My nieces gave my mom and Tasha a facial

Tasha and Pierce got to be really good friends

I really wish I knew what was on Benson’s mind in this photo

Click here for more photos

P.S. Since I didn’t get to it, this post counts for Friday’s!

Well folks, I’m out for the week. I wanted to get some posts queued up for today and tomorrow, but I didn’t get the chance. I guess this will have to count for today’s. If I have a good connection, I’ll post some pictures tomorrow.

We are on our way up to Bear Lake, which is an awesome place up on the Utah-Idaho border. Its a big lake with a distinct blue color, but the most amazing thing about it is how shallow it is (sounds weird, but it’s true). On the north, south, and west sides, the beach (yes, it has an actual beach) slopes gently into the water, after which you can walk out for hundreds of feet before you can’t touch the bottom. Being six feet tall, I can go until my family looks like little ants. It’s an awesome experience!

The shallow water makes for all sorts of awesome games you can play. Sometimes we play Horseshoes with one of the stakes in the lake, or Bocci balls where we throw towards the little “tide pools” that form in the beach. Not to mention building sand castles and drawing in the sand, and hunting for shells (there are a few small ones out there). My favorite activities by far are ultimate frisbee in the water, and water soccer. Yup, imagine running in one foot of water while playing ultimate, its an awesome experience. Diving for the frisbee is tons of fun too!

We usually camp up a canyon on the Idaho side of the lake. Tasha and I are really excited because we get a chance to try out our new camping stuff! It’s a pretty cheap place, plus there’s some really cool caves up the canyon that are a lot like the Timpanogos caves. They’re called “Minnetonka Caves” if you’re interested.

If you get the chance, Bear Lake is just a few hours north of Salt Lake. It makes for a great vacation!