The Day My Computer Broke!

My trusty and faithful laptop has been acting up ( I curse Windows Vista) for several months and it has been getting slower and slower. I finally could not take it anymore and decided to format the hard drive reload everything and start all over. I must admit that a big part of me simply wanted to drive over the Apple store and by a new Mac, but I am not sure I am ready to make that jump after 20 years on the P.C.

So…..I was up till the wee hours of the AM, reloading all my programs and trying to get my email program up (you all know we can’t live without email). Everything was loaded and I had to get up early (before my usually gym workout) and make some minor tweaks, then off to work.

When I got to my office my computer gave me bad news. I would not load the Windows Vista update and keep turning on an off and was in a cycle of death. To cut to the chase I handed it off to a computer professional and went back to my world without a computer.

First, I felt naked. I kept going to my monitor and mouse, out of habit but there was not computer, so I began doing other things. I was quite figedty as I was without email, and that haunted be all day, but…………

I had tons of time as I was not stuck to the giant magnet on my desk. So, I cleaned my desk off, and began going through the piles of journal articles that I had accumulated in the “someday I’ll” pile. The “someday I’ll” thing is that we all tend to collect things with the best of intentions, kind of knowing that we will probably never get to them. Someday I’ll…..read this book, read these journals, clean out this desk, return these calls, clean out my picture files, etc. The problem with “someday I’ll” is that someday never comes. So, anyhow, I finally got around to the list. What a great day, I had all this time because I wasn’t on the computer. Still felt guilty about all those important junk email awaiting me, but I plowed through 8-10 journal articles and I really learned a lot. I couldn’t can them to PDF files and I could not add notes to my Outlook notes, but nonetheless, I learned a lot. I cleaned out my desk. Found two gift cards and some old messages that somehow got stuck in the drawer.

I got all of this done and still had time, so I went over and had a conversation with my partner whom I generally never speak with because we were both busy. Then, I still had free time between patients, because I wasn’t on my computer, so I did something I never do, I went to lunch! I usually catch up on work or try to sneak to the gym, but today I had time. At the bottom of the file were some of my office forms that I have been meaning to update so I did that and redesigned my office cosmetic brochure…..with a pencil of all things. (was really missing my computer now). I have a TV in my office and sort of listen to news programs in the background. I heard that the Pope was asking the faithful for high tech fasting for Lent. That means giving up the Internet, or the iPod, etc. Lucky I am not that religious as just one day without the computer was killing me!

In conclusion, without a computer, I had a lot more free time. The downside is that I was cut off from the outside world. The other downside was that I could not do anything real creative because I could not access my patient pictures or Photoshop. I also could not work on my textbook that I am writing which has consumed much of my life over the past month and will continue to do so until its completion. What I did have was a “time enema” of sorts. I simply seemed to have much more of it. It made me think about how much time we all waste keeping up with friends, deleting junk emails, watching funny videos and yes, sometimes doing work. It also made me think that perhaps I should simply shut the computer down for an hour in the AM and an hour in the PM and do some of that menial “someday I’ll” work.

I tried to imagine how I got along without a computer for the first 80% my life and I can’t remember how it used to be. I really missed my trusty laptop, but tonight my wife and I are going out to eat and I won’t be working on my textbook tonight. Ahhh…the good old days.

I must admit that after work I borrowed my nurse’s notebook to write this blog. Withdrawl is hell!

To learn about cosmetic facial surgery in Richmond, Virginia by Dr. Joe Niamtu, visit www.lovethatface.com

Joe Niamtu, III DMD
Cosmetic Facial Surgery
Richmond, Virginia
www.lovethatface.com