A moment of quiet sprinkled with a healthy dose of chaos...

Technology: So although I assimilate gobs of technological devices—[iPad (#2), Laptop (#3), Desktop (#5), double monitors at home and at work (so I can work 4 screens at times), GPS Road (#1), GPS Trail (#1), iShuffle (#1), Video Camera (#3), iPod (#2), xBox (#4 - 2 RODs), Blue Ray, DVD, Smart TV, 5.1 theater sound, stereo, etc. etc. etc.]—I DO not own a cellphone. It is a thing for me... I see their utility; I appreciate the wonder; I get that revolutions are coordinated with cells; I know that it may be the only device that works when the "wires are cut." I also know that a cell phone (especially a "smart" phone) would tie down this addictive soul to the point of not moving...

Tests: I've taken the Myers Briggs personality test twice, once when I was 20, and again ten years later. On both I scored almost the same. The latter test moved me slightly to the center on all indicators. The one indicator that surprised me—and seems to surprise everyone else also—is that I am a slight "I", introvert. I did not fully understand what that might mean until I read Susan Cain's Quiet. [I did not like her almost constant anti-extrovert jabs, but much enjoyed the value she places on the roll of introvert in society.] The Introvert/Extrovert indicator is more about where one recharges as opposed to being an indicator of perceived energy. Do you feel invigorated after that holiday party or drained by it? I get nervous, talk up a storm, make jokes, smile a lot [it's not faked], and drive home feeling exhausted and wishing I had listened more; I have long thought of myself as a wannabe Pooh trapped in a functional Tigger...

Pre-holiday storm: Wednesday night we had a pretty good snow storm. Roughly a foot of heavy-wet and then cold-frozen snow dropped in my area. The power went out; the candles were lit; the fire blazed in the stove; our phone line (and subsequently our internet) was ripped from the house and flung across the street (removing a little siding as well); ALL the devices failed to "connect" save my wife's cellphone...

Ack: I felt a little twinge of panic; the fire calls would be coming in any moment; my night was about to get crazy. I turned on the portable radio and listened to the communities around us called out over and over for burring lines, car crashes, a few small fires, some CO calls; we were not called out...

Quiet with dashes of chaos: I heard a loud crackle and then a pop. Again. And again. The whole family went out to listen to the storm created by the trees yielding to their wet burden. The others went in after a few minutes. I stood by the fire I had built, and  then proceeded—after a few—up to the ridge above my house, placing me a good ten feet above the roof. I could see down into town, and down onto our lot. No street lights; little traffic; flickers of flame from my neighbors' windows; and the trees continued to pop all around me. Huge limbs crashed across the way, echoing in the muffled quiet of a snow storm. Medium sized limbs nearby; it was a symphony of clacking cotton woods and poplars, and cracking pines. The cascade of surrendered snow finished off each break with a "shhhhhhhh" giving the visual feedback of how close I was to the drop. The quiet of the night broken in sporadic moments was exquisitely recharging; it was a lot "Pooh" with frequent splashes of "Tigger". Ahhhhhhh...

Photo Credit: James Kurella

A moment of gratitude: Thanksgiving was just the five of us who usually live in my house. It was quiet. The power was back on. The internet still down. It was refreshing to have many of the devices "out of service" for a while. I revel in my ability to reach out to the world, but rejoiced in the quiet served by be forced from the "feed" for a few days...

A Parting: For this moment I offer a photo borrowed from a friend from college who appreciated my energies both wild and quiet. The subject of the image is "Middle Path". Appropriate, no?

Tomorrow is December 1: The holiday madness is upon us with named days to do crazy shopping. Don't forget to find the quiet; don't forget to sip your hot beverage of choice; don't forget to find the little lights in the darkness. They're pretty, eh?