The Rush is Over!

I started this blog intending to write about what was happening in my life and how meditation was part of it.  I watch bemusedly as computers keep coming into it.

Traffic to this blog is fairly light, as is expected given the subject, the newness of the blog, and probably the content.  The blog software does record statistics that describe how many people have visited the blog and what they have looked at.  (Only statistical summaries are available; individual users cannot be identified.)

A month or so ago, a friend asked about using an mp3 player with the Macintosh.  I did a quick check on some forums and said “sure, it will work fine.”  Well, that turned out not to be the case.  I researched the problem further and wrote a web page on how to use an mp3 player with a Macintosh computer.  I shared that with my some friends and also referred some people on the Sansa Fuze forum who were trying to get their player to work with the Macintosh.

Since then, the majority of accesses to the blog have been to read the article on using mp3 players with a Macintosh.  The busiest day on the blog was the day before Christmas, the second busiest was Christmas, and the third day was the day after.  I guess lots of people gave or received Sansa Fuze players for Christmas and then needed to figure out how to make them work with a Macintosh!  (By any web standards, we are talking small numbers here–peak use was less than 100 visits per day.)

Traffic is now returning to normal levels.

Emotionally, I find reinforcements to my expert persona like this to be difficult.  They build the ego, the sense of “I,” and the sense that “I am an expert and everyone should recognize that.”  I fall into a mode of answering questions and playing an expert on mp3 players, and on use with the Macintosh.  The latter is particularly a problem as I don’t even have a Macintosh.

So the challenge is always to back off and let others be the experts.  I need to say something myself only when what I say is truly useful instead of just being first with the “right answer.”

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A Computer Weekend

As some of you know, my pre-retirement career was developing software. I also gained a lot of experience with computer hardware, especially PCs. In retirement, I still use PCs a lot and enjoy helping friends with their computer problems.

I maintain my computers carefully, keep all software updated, and generally have a trouble-free existence.  All computers fail, and mine are no exception.

Even computer experts can have bad days, and this was a doozy!

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Dharma To Go

Smaller than a credit card, only 1/4″ thick, it holds 1,500 hours of Dharma talks—more than I’ll listen to in many years.  That’s my new mp3 player: a Sansa Fuze with 16gb of memory.

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Using WordPress

I’m using WordPress for this blog.  Why WordPress?  My photography blog is at blogspot, although I have not written anything in it recently.  I spent my career working with computer technology, and always learning about new technology.  So I’m using WordPress just because it’s different than what I have used before.  That’s how I learn.

If this takes off, I’ll host it at my own website (http://www.moxis.com) but for now I’ve set up a free blog at wordpress.com.

You should expect the appearance of this blog to change frequently as I experiment with different styles to find one I like best.

I’m sure I’ll be talking about technology issues, especially as related to meditation and tools for meditation, in future posts.  I’ll try to keep that to a smaller part of my postings and focus more on meditation concerns.

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