I keep thinking about how difficult it was to participate in “Mental Detox Week.” Originally, it was “TV Turnoff Week” and just this year it was renamed. Well, I only took action for 3 of the 7 days. However, I went outside and was able to photograph my niece (above) and do some other things I probably would not have done if I were allowed to work on my laptop.

Here are some things I learned during my shortened “detox week.”

1. TV is EVERYWHERE - When I go to the gym…there is a tv in the locker room, tv’s on every exercise bike and elipticals….you can barely escape. So, even though I didn’t turn on a tv for 4 days now, I’ve seen tv because I was in the room with others while it was on.

2. The TV thing for me was the easy part. However, Mental Detox Week calls for unplugging ALL electronics basically. Phones are harder. Where TV is not even close to a necessity, phones are a form of two way communication. Therefore much harder to let go of. I did make a phone call to friends, but tried to limit it to phone calls I feel I had to make to avoid being rude and a bad friend. Giving up my laptop and email for 3 days was not as difficult as the phone, but it was the hardest thing to give up.

3. The idea was to give something up…make a sacrifice. It’s like “Buy Nothing Day,” it only works if you give up buying something permanently, not going out and buying it all the next day. And truthfully, I feel its these self sacrificing decisions we have to make to stand a shot in hell at survival. Anyways…enough philosophy.

Site Updates: I’m really excited to get the poster in the store…that will happen this week. Also, I’m going to feature an awesome traveler who is currently in China if I understand correctly, and hopefully get an interview with her soon.

I have been working on a new database, and the closer I get to finishing it, the more I realize it’s further away from being complete. That’s been taking up a lot of time as of late.

In 1994 one of my favorite people, Kalle Lasn, launched a campaign called “TV Turnoff Week.” The idea being that everyone not use their tv for that week. The idea spread quickly and some estimate that more than 30 million people were involved in 2007. This year is the first year they switched the name to “Mental Detox Week.” It runs April 21st - 27th; unfortunately I didn’t know about the dates til yesterday. The name was changed so that it includes all devices such as cell phones, ipods, computers (whoops) etc. So to do my part I will not update again until the 28th. And I won’t be checking my email either…or answering my phone. It’s a wee bit scary, but if I don’t participate, it kind of defeats the purpose of this post. (And yes, I do feel bad about not posting this on the 21st.)