The Dead Phone Chronicles

Day One

      The first day without a cellphone was a wondrous day. It seemed the whole world lay before me without any tethers to restrict my mind and body. I felt lighter. There was no simultaneous ringing/vibrating to interrupt a project or a movie. I was without the steady stream of faulty equipment messages. Broken gate arms. Thirsty friends. Inexplicable spam. Irate women. I was free. January 25th had become Independence Day.
      Yet there was a single twitch in the back my mind. I anticipated it. I knew I would have to think about looking for the phone in  my pocket that was no longer there. I knew I would have to think about not thinking about it. I fancy myself a spontaneous kind of guy. Sometimes I like to go out and have a drink or dinner with a friend. This became difficult. Eventually the addiction became apparent and I tried to ignore it. My right thigh would actually spasm slightly and I would reach into my pocket to answer an imaginary text message. It happened more than once but I didn't beat myself up about it. My new phone from corporate would be here soon and I wouldn't have this quiet time for much longer.

Context Allows Comprehension - From October 14, 2009

      Recently I came across an internet pic(aren't they all now?) that showed how small our planet is compared to some of the known celestial orbs floating around the universe. First it shows Earth next to the moon, Mars and Venus. Next is Earth next to Neptune and Uranus(teehee). Then Jupiter. Then our sun. From there it compares our sun to other stars found in the galaxy until our massive sun is about the size of a pixel. That period i just typed? That's about 4 pixels depending on the format your reading this. The next enormous star is then dwarfed by another star and another. The cycle ends but just because these are the only ones we've seen thus far. And by "seen", I mean the ones we've pointed the Hubble Telescope towards for an extended period of time. If you haven't been paying attention to astronomy's greatest instrument lately, then I'll let you know what it has been up to.