Las night, my ancient Powerbook G4 bit the dust, and I was thrown into a frenzy (I know right?). I lost my connectivity and ability to read e-mail, write, and tweet. How exactly could I go about my usual work (read: youtube) without it?!? I quietly sat on my bed and silently lept into leagues of anxiety… An hour later I realized my super-simplified bedroom contained a few relics of pleasure, namely a notebook and hacked Sony PSP. Before the sun rose to greet my tired face, I had setup an amiable mini office all thanks to my inclination for 0wning my electronics and solid love for archaic information distribution. My video game habit yielded a machine capable of browsing the internet as well as (with a few modifications) the capability of community software. I went to sleep happy, able to use Twitter, blog, read RSS feeds, listen/watch podcasts, and even work on my finances. My notebook gave me the ability to recreate todo lists, write out ideas, and organize my thoughts.

When a piece of your support structure breaks down, do you have other aspects of your life you can fall back on? You probably have more than you even know.

This moment of panic taught me volumes about my situation in life. I had come to completely rely emotionally on a single piece of equipment without realizing I had brought about methods of recovery completely by accident. On top of this, I had diversified my passions to a high degree without realizing my entire life weaved gorgeous interconnections.

When life fails, maybe the problem’s solution lies in the retreat and recovery.

I am going out on a limb here, but one hundred percent security in life is almost impossible. Markets crash and relationships end. When the unthinkable happens, it’s difficult to perceive any alternatives besides the avenue that’s been taken away from you. With this, you can get stuck in a downward spiral Havisham style.

Instead of freaking out and going ballistic on your psyche; circle the wagons. Stop for a moment and consider your other talents and possibilities. What are your hobbies? What do you delight in? What passions do you have ouside of your career?

Once you’ve answered these questions then ask yourself about those passions. Do they have any connections to your current situation? Do the lessons you’ve learned from them help you in ways you haven’t yet thought of? Maybe that love for making pasta from scratch has taught you the patience you need when dealing with stubborn children or castled business cronies.

Maybe you’re life is better without that faulty support system. Any thoughts?

If you look to the upper left… your left, you’ll see a poll.  I would love your feedback  I ask because I’ve come to the heavy realization that daily posts lack beautiful content (due to my day job.. of course if you’d like to donate, I’m totally down with posting full time).  I’m attempting to decide whether I will just post weekly, twice weekly, or continue posting daily and keep things short.  So, what do you think?

And for those of you who read via RSS, here’s the poll:

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It can’t be that difficult eradicating useless blog feeds… so says a friend of mine the morning of my second day of simplification. I laughed nervously. I was on the verge of telling PSP Fanboy we can’t be friends anymore, expressing remorse to Gawker, and giving Joystiq the silent treatment. The hardest of all was yet to come.

…Where to start?

Having began the day with seventy eight subscriptions, I had a lot of excess on my hands. I did what any self-respecting blog-writing-test-subject would do and came up with a process!

1. Separate the reading material into three categories aptly named 1, 2, and 3 based on their importance to me and my life.
2. Eliminate everything in the (3) category.
3. Review each blog in the (2) category, piece by piece.
4. Re-categorize the blogs into (less then five) easy to understand categories.
5. Grab some tissues

Deep Breath… Step 1

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