John and I went to lovely Asheville over the weekend, ate some delicious food, and saw lots of fun things. 
We left the computers at home and took a few books. I managed to finish the Harry Potter series, which was wonderful, and we went to Malaprops a few different times.
Being without a computer for the weekend was really nice for us. We realized it was probably over a year ago, on our honeymoon, that we last didn’t have regular access to the computer. The weird thing was being somewhat disconnected from the friends we keep in touch with online. Of course, with my mini computer, I was able to tweet and post flickr photos, but it wasn’t the same type of interactivity that you find when you’re sitting with a laptop.
And it’s refreshing. It’s good to clear your mind of things every once in a while, so when you come back you have a fresh perspective. And I’ve noticed that’s been true for me this week. But I’ve also noticed that by being away for one weekend, I have a ton of email, many (worth reading) RSS feeds to read, and several other digital chores that I do every day. I’m just now catching up with it all from the weekend.
This is mostly interesting to me because when I’m away for a week or so, it normally takes me about a week to catch back up too. I think when I’m away that long, I realize that there’s no hope reading every feed, so I mark all as read. I also realize that most folks who sent casual emails aren’t looking for answers for each message (if they haven’t followed up), so I can batch answer all emails from one person at a time. One weekend is just a short enough period of time to make it seem like a waste to ignore the feeds and though there’s email to answer it’s normally just one or two per person. No good batch solutions there.
How do you deal with a few days away?
Hey, that’s my hometown. Where did you wind up eating?
I only get back a few times a year to visit my folks, but I have to say I really miss it this time of year. The colors in Richmond are nothing compared to that vibrant display you get in the mountains.
I have to admit that I leave all my computing behind when I go on vacation (no matter how long). I take my cell phone and that’s about it. We always take pictures though and upload them to our flickr account when we get home.
Honestly, I find that I don’t miss it all that much.
What a small world! We ate at the Laughing Seed, Early Girl, Jerusalem Garden, and a Noodle place. I love Asheville for a lot of reasons, one of which is the amazing food.
I can only imagine how much you’d miss it if you came from there. Good to know that I’m not the only one that enjoys leaving the computing behind on vacation. I think I need to get better at clicking the “mark all as read” tab in my rss reader. Thanks for your comment!