A lot of people have literally gasped when I tell them I don’t have internet in my apartment. It has even developed into a new phrase “I’m going offline” meaning I’m heading home, where there’s no TV, radio, or net.

The truth is I have found a solution; setting my computer out the windowsill where the fire escape is. That sounds kind of romantic doesn’t it? Also I’ve made a joke that I can really only tell myself — “my Mac runs on Windows.” Get it?!

All this reminds me of the way back days of college when I would pay $5 for 30 min of dial-up per month. I’d get on, check my email and log off at a maniac pace. That’s basically all I need to do now. Other than that I run out of stuff I “need” to do online. Half of the time, I haven’t even gotten any emails and none of my subscriptions have been updated. I guess I can’t download TV shows and endless albums like before, but that seems to be lending to new habits. One is reading the Village Voice and other free weeklies. Harkening to my days in Chicago, where I looked forward to picking up the latest Reader on the way to work every Thursday. As this blog indicates, I’ve been watching way more movies. It is a bit of homework as people at work reference / recommend movies all the time, and I feel like I haven’t seen anything.

All in all, I still love the internet. But not having 24/7 access isn’t so bad. And I don’t think there’s any risk of ruining my reputation at being really good at the surfing the web.