Life Without a Phone

Truth be told, I have never personally owned a phone.  Work has always provided one for me.  Due to this I guess I associate a phone with work.  No work, no phone for me.

It has been 6 weeks since I last had access to a cell phone.  I do have a Google number that I have been using for text and calls.  Works great and it is free.  I also use email more to communicate.  Carolynn was worried what I would do if I had an emergency.  Turns out 99.9% of the communication via a phone is of a non-emergency situation.  Still waiting for the .1% to show its head. If it does I can still make an emergency call from an old phone that I carry to take pictures.

What have I missed?  I do not think much.  Only my wife, mom and about 3 friends ever contacted me via my phone. The rest of the calls were work related.  Society now communicates via FB, Twitter, Snapchat, etc.   Everyone has to be in constant contact.  It seems they can not even go to the bathroom without being on their smartphones.   I decide to be in contact when I want to and I have really been enjoying it.  BTW, I never used my phone while in the restroom.

Now if I can only get my wife and son to put down their phones.   Every time the family is driving or sitting down, their faces are glued to FB or Snapchat.   Personally I now set aside a period of time either daily or weekly to check on social media or say check on stock prices.  I used to be constantly checking the Dow and other stock indexes.  It used to really stress me out when the market was down.  Now I rely on the financial plan that I created for Carolynn and I and  just check the market only once a week if I want to.  If I go back to day trading this might have to change, but for now I am really enjoying not reacting to every event.

How long can I last without a phone?  Who knows, but for now I am living in the moment and enjoying a Cage Free life.

2017 New Years Day Ride

Carolynn and I headed over to Lawrence for LMBC's annual New Years Day ride.  I believe this is our 17 annual. 

Very good turnout today.  I would say well over 50 riders.  As one would expect, turnout usually depends on conditions. Today we started at 29 degrees with a small amount of cloud cover.  

Trail boss Art King was happy to announce that the River Trails were all rideable until the sun started to come out. 

Gerard making the Mary look good.  I believe this is Gerard's 17th LMBC New Years Day ride also. 

Chuck I do believe you are a little over dressed.  And what is up with the boots and that helmet?  I will send you a new Rudy Project winter helmet to replace that god awful pink unit you have on :-)

Check out the 2017 LMBC New Years Day Ride album for more pictures.