I am back on the grid after 30 plus days. So how was it… to say the least it was enlightening and quite relaxing although I must admit it took a couple of days of withdrawal pains before I got to that point. I thought I had prepared enough before going off the grid by printing out my phone lists, calendars purging my name of e-mail lists, etc.  However, I must admit I did have to break a couple of times during the period out of economic necessity. The first time was to re-direct my VoIP phone after I found out that it could not be done via the phone only via their website as my wife who led me to this path practically begged me to get back on the grid as she ended up fielding my office calls at our home number, getting text messages to her mobile phone for her to tell me things and finally receiving e-mails addressed to her for her to read to me.

I did also have to answer a couple of business e-mails that needed to be tended to after a couple of terse phone calls about needing to respond to some proposals and business opportunities via electronic means only. Also at the end of the month I needed to take a business trip to California so I needed to turn my cell phone back on during the last week. I did also use the computer to access the web to get and print some photos for a memorial for our black lab, Pirate, who after  14 and a half years of loyal and unrelenting love was put to eternal rest. Sweet puppy dreams my friend may you rest in peace.

So what did I learn? First off I realized how time consuming e-mail has become on my daily regime. It seems I have conditioned people to expect immediate responses, even late at night and early in the morning. This will change as I realized there is really very little e-mail that you need to be that responsive to. When I do not respond immediately it seemed most of the things that needed response seem to have come to a rightful conclusion without my input and the ones that could not were solved via a simple telephone call versus a diatribe of e-mails! Also after receiving some 3,000 plus e-mails during the month I realized I need to further reduce the number of information and group mailing lists I am on as they suck up time and give you back little to nothing in return. The overall amount of time I saved was immense as it allowed to me to finish a couple of good books and catch up on many periodicals (all of which I recycled after reading). I also found that by calling people versus e-mailing them faster results occurred along with much better rapport being established with business associates and customers. All my personal friends also seemed much more responsive to a live conversation versus e-mail with many of them being downright surprised at how long it had been since we had actually spoken.

Another  lesson learned was that by using cash to purchase things versus using my credit card I was way more mindful of what I spent my money on and thus spent less. I did use my credit card for some business needs as it was a more efficient way for me to keep track of my expenses. However, for personal purchases moving forward, I will continue to use cash. My efforts at recycling and or fixing versus throwing it out were modestly successful as it entailed numerous written letters and a few phone calls where I was put on hold for an extended period before I reached a real person. I would say that the internet really can help out here as getting rid of many no longer needed items could have been much easier by placing an online ad on Craig’s list or FreeCycle with much better results. Also finding and procuring replacement parts would have been much easier and I put off doing many fixes until I was back on the grid.

Cycling and walking to work netted me a loss of 5 pounds of weight for the month. So I will continue to do this along with eating smarter and healthier. Imagine how much energy would be saved if everyone lost 5-10 pounds or more of weight in the next 30-60 days. Taking mass transit as much as possible also helped reduce my energy consumption and netted me a few new friends. However for a summer vacation trip, I did fire up the ole’ gas eating SUV to take a trip to Maine with the family. During this trip to Maine we stayed at the Attean Lake Lodge on one of the islands at Attean Lake which was only accessible by pontoon boat. It is a very unique family enriching vacation spot. I was truly off the grid then as there was no cell service, no TV, no newspapers and no electricity except in the main lodge where meals were prepared.  The rooms had a wood stove for some heat and kerosene lamps for light at night reminiscent of a bygone era I had only read about and have now experienced.

After this off the grid experience I have learned how to get my life back or at least more balanced. I now turn my Crackberry off at 7pm and back on at 7am during the week days (there is actually a way to program this to be done automatically). By not having this diversion device for the month, I realized how rude it is to be at meetings and events constantly checking it and not paying attention. So I will now make a habit of leaving it in the car or at my desk when going to meetings, out to dinner with family and friends, etc.

I must say that I did learn how useful the Internet can be and how it can save allot of time, however I also learned that you can equally waste allot of time on the Internet as well via the many social websites, and other non essential sites. As one friend put it when I announced I was back on the grid on my FaceBook page… “Welcome back… you didn’t miss much”.

I will close with an excerpt I read in USA today a couple of weeks ago by Captain James Kelly, an Army Chaplain at the Arlington National Cemetery, who wrote an article on the passing of 77 year old military spouse who understood what it meant to be a good neighbor. “Technology allows us, even encourages us to disconnect from our fellow man. Don’t believe me? Try riding a train in a major U.S. city. And neighborhoods? They are becoming a collection of individual houses rather than a community of people… we could use a little yesteryear today.”

I can now say that I can live with about 20% less technology and gain about 40% more productivity by not using it to save time… an interesting conundrum. With that I leave you to all re-think what you have been doing not only to make the world a better place for us all to live by saving some energy but to grab back a little of yesteryear when technology did not rule our lives.

Now back to work… more energy related posts to come so keep checking back.