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RUNNING WITH YOUR BLACKBERRY At a certain point in the term everyone hits this point... right? As I was running down by the Rivanna trail I was suddenly struck by the absurd realization that I was reading messages on my phone while I took a break from schoolwork.
Now I wasn't sending any messages while I tried to keep from falling off the trail, but I definitely did read and delete several incoming messages. Also worth noting is the fact that I believed I had to have my email system along with me while I was exercising.
This crazy type of business has happened to me before, but I didn't seen it coming again until today... Yes, I am to the point where I go "Running with my Blackberry".
While in the First Year we refer to this phase by its general place in the calendar -Black November- this new phase threatens to over-top the banks of one month and become a real (permanent?) problem.
What am I going to do about it? Well, to start with, I am not going to stop and have a beer, kick my feet up, chill out, or take time off to refocus. I have multiple homework assignment due immediately, to-do lists to... err.. do, and 350 pages of a book on Thomas Jeffeerson due by Tuesday. So that you know I don't think I'm unique in this crazy phase, my wife (who is currently way busier on a client than I have ever been) is slowly getting her will to live drained out. What should I do? Well... The only thing I can do. Tackle all issues simultaneously in a frontal assault.
In real life you can't just kick back and "recharge your batteries" when life threatens to delete you. The only way to get a hold of my schedule is to literally accomplish the things I set out to do in my daily, weekly, and quarterly schedules.
I made it a goal to blog once a week on average. Check.
I made it a goal to do some of Monday's cases on Friday. Not done yet.
I made it a goal to run once every two days. Check.
I made it a goal to practice four case interviews per week. Check.
I am surviving, and perhaps thriving (?) in this environment by sheer force of the will. The good Lord knows that I don't feel like I'm learning much but I understand the material in class every day - regardless of the subject, therefore I know I must be learning something. My family in New Mexico misses me from time to time, but my wife knows I care for her which means I must be making at least "minimum emotional payments"... Of course I never feel like I'm giving her the attention she deserves, but that's another story.
What does all this mean? It means that I am in that stage of life when you start "running with your Blackberry". This stage is temporary. I know because I've survived it before. And this gives me strength to keep tackling my to-do lists. I keep attacking my homework because I know the only way forward is through learning... and the best way to learn is to open up the books and "attend to the course material" as my good friend and former painting teacher John Puls used to say (mostly in a mocking tone that indicated I wasn't applying his lessons very well).
So I grabbed my Blackberry, went down to the river and checked that off the list, then came home, blogged, and checked that off the list. Now I need to eat. So I'll do that, check it off my list and with this done, I will do homework for the rest of the evening - or until my wife comes home... whichever comes first.
And when I lay down to sleep, I will feel like I have really "attended" to this day and not let it pass me by.
Someone reminded me recently that these are the good days - the days I will look back on with a twinkle in my eye as I try to gain the moral high ground with a son who doesn't want to mow the lawn...
It just seems like an aweful lot of work for the ability to win an argument with my imaginary children 20 years from now. Posted September 26, 2008 give a chance for the world to fall apart Posted by: Anand I leave my mobile home whenever I go to gym or running. If the world fell apart while I was exercising, oh well..so be it! So far that hasn't happened though. Even after best attempts by people on wall street....maybe I shoud not be joking about this! Posted 2008-09-26 21:53:19
Posted by: Auntie Bethie Well written post Christof! Posted 2008-09-29 12:38:00 My thoughts exactly Posted by: Christof Meyer I have to say... the whole time that I was running I was thinking to myself - what the frick?! Am I really at the place in life that I can't do ANYTHING without access to technology?
Since I'm not like... the president, I find it very hard to believe that somehow or other my Blackberry is critical to the survival of... well anything! Posted 2008-09-29 14:23:13
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Posted 2008-10-05 19:38:13 Nice try, but Posted by: everette Are your working on the urgent or the important? Great blog... Posted 2008-10-05 19:39:59 I thought... Posted by: Jackie ...second year was better re: time??
:)
Great post--enjoyed reading! Posted 2008-10-08 17:39:30 a dangerous habit! Posted by: it's not so much the fact that you run and look at your messages that strikes me, it's that you do that on the Rivanna trail! I run there too: it's all winding, down hill, up hill, there are rocks and trees on the path, probably deers and brown bears. ok maybe not brown bears, but still... Posted 2008-10-09 22:03:37 and the last comment... Posted by: Irene ...was posted by me! (Irene) Posted 2008-10-09 22:04:39 COMMENT ON THIS POST
