Technology | Raam Dev

Posts Tagged: Technology

We’re not lab rats, damnit. We’re humans!

Are you a dreamer? Do you frequently find yourself gazing off into the distance getting lost in a world of “What If”?

Back to work. You can’t daydream forever.

But what if you could? What if you had the freedom to daydream when you felt like daydreaming? To work when you felt like working?

Humans aren’t supposed to spend their days in office buildings. We’re not supposed to spend large amounts of time moving ourselves from one place to another in giant hunks of metal while our bodies slowly deteriorate and our relationships slowly fade.

We’re not supposed to spend gargantuan amounts of time plopped down in front of electronic devices moving our fingers and eyelids, absorbing radiation, and spending more waking time in the virtual world than in the real one.

We not supposed to arrive at home and focus our attention on a box that has been pre-programmed to brainwash us while simultaneously allowing our bodies to atrophy. Continue reading →

My swim trunks and a tiny island

Today at my parents house I swam 1/4 mile to a tiny island (the lake is called Little Island Pond, but it’s actually a lake and it has two islands; a little one and a big one). I wasn’t planning on swimming all the way there but I decided it was a nice day so why not. I’ve been wanting to start training for a triathlon and swimming is definitely an area where I need to work on my endurance and technique. I tried to stay close to shore and raise my hand and splash my feet whenever it looked like a boat coming towards me might not see me.

When I got to the tiny island (a big pile of rocks with a few shrubs and lily pads all around) I found a suitable sized flat rock and laid down in the sun. It was so peaceful. Boats and jet skis would roar by every now and then, sending waves rippling towards the rocks, eventually crashing and lightly splashing water on me. My iPhone was a 1/4 mile away. No buzzing. No ringing. Not even the possibility of it. It was literally just me, my swim trunks, and a bunch of rocks in the middle of a lake.

I had no way of tracking time and I don’t know how long I ended up staying there. I wasn’t thinking about time. I was just enjoying the moment. It’s amazing how quickly time can pass when you’re thoroughly enjoying the moment. Eventually I slipped back into the water and made my way back. I practiced the combat side stroke, a technique used by the Navy SEALs. It’s amazing how well the technique moves you through the water. When I looked up at the shoreline, it seemed like I was moving at the speed of a slow jog!

One thing I like to do is track my distance in various activities. If I spend an hour swimming, I’d like to know how far I swam so I can try to improve on the time. A few days ago I started using an app on my iPhone called RunKeeper. It tracks distance and time using the built-in GPS and even plots your route on a Google Map. Awesome. So I thought, “Hey, if I could get my iPhone in a waterproof case and drag it along behind me while I swim, I should be able to track the distance in the same way!”

With the plan in my head seeming flawless, I purchased a waterproof case from Eastern Mountain Sports. When I arrived at my parents house I put the iPhone in the waterproof case, stole a shoelace from my brothers’ boot, tied the case to my ankle, and started swimming. I took a peek at the case to make sure no water got inside. So far so good. I swam about 100 feet and checked again. Hmm, the app stopped recording the distance. It looked like someone touched the screen. Maybe the iPhone touchscreen was being finicky and responding to the temperature of the water? Weird. I turned around and swam back.

When I got to the shore and looked at the iPhone through the case, I noticed water inside. WTF? That would explain the weird touchscreen responses! I was pretty shocked. There was water in the waterproof case! Luckily, the iPhone still worked. (The Griffin hard case I’ve kept it in since the day I bought it probably helped.) I returned the case to EMS today.

Thanks to Google, I figured out an easy way to estimate my swimming distance using Google Maps:

The total distance round trip was about 1/2 a mile. I plan to continue swimming on the weekends, even as it gets colder. If the Navy SEAL trainees (BUD/S) can swim and train in near freezing water, then so can I (check out some of these videos if you feel like being inspired).

The Three W’s: What to Write Where?

I’m not sure why, but lately I’ve felt as though I haven’t had much to write about. I’m not sure if it’s that I haven’t had much to write or that maybe I just haven’t felt the desire to write what’s on my mind.

As I’ve mentioned in the past, I intentionally don’t write a lot of personal things on this blog. That’s not why I started it and I’m not narcissistic enough (yes, we’re all narcissistic to some degree) to think that my thoughts, dreams, and personal observations are all that important. I don’t really feel compelled to express myself or talk about what’s on my mind and it’s not that I don’t feel like people will care what I have to say; it’s simply that I don’t care what I have to say. In this age of information, I feel as though anything to be said has already been said and so why should I repeat it?

But I digress. Perhaps all the definitions and various places to write are slowly killing my creative outlet. Perhaps making the decision of what to write and where is becoming difficult enough that I choose to simply not write anything. My time can be used for more important things than figuring out where I should write, let alone what I should write.

Writing about events and places is easy: I simply recount what happened and maybe include some pictures for eye candy. But nobody wants to hear about the ride into work, or the meetings, or the support emails, or… or maybe some people do? Well, to those people I say go find another hobby. Or at least, find another blog. I find it absolutely revolting and a total waste of textual space and time to see people writing about things that have absolutely no substance. I will not become a twitter shitter or an iRaam. The last thing I want this blog to become is my personal diary. (This post is coming dangerously close to what I’m trying to avoid.)

Then there is the question of where to write. When I started this blog, it was easy. Facebook wasn’t even open to the public and Twitter didn’t even exist. Now I find myself posting thoughts, activities, and other updates on Twitter (trying desperately to stay within the 140 character jail) with my Facebook status automatically being updated by Twitter. (Then my Facebook friends, who probably never read my blog, comment on my updates and make me feel compelled to reply on FB.) Anything that doesn’t fit on Twitter I usually put on my blog as an Aside (it appears without a post title), and longer stuff, like this post, get the honor of being a full-blow blog post with a Twitter update announcing it being published.

So why haven’t I been writing more? I’ve been asking myself that question a lot the past few weeks and the only answer I can come up with is that my rule of not writing about passing thoughts or seemingly pointless observations is leaving me without much to write. I’ve been very busy concentrating on work and fitness and I haven’t had much time for exploring my various interests or writing about them. So I’ll try to start writing more asides with what’s on my mind and see where that takes this blog.

Slow Down and Listen to Life

When was the last time you voluntarily spent lots of time away from technology? When was the last time you laid in the sun and simply enjoyed doing “nothing”? For myself, spending long amounts of time away from technology is extremely relaxing and healing (and by long, I mean more than six hours!).

Technology operates on a timescale much different than that of life. By constantly surrounding ourselves with and using technology we subconsciously expect ourselves to keep up with it (and to operate on the same level). It’s like looking at the road directly in front of your car on the highway and expecting yourself to process and react to changes in the road conditions.

We need to slow down and relax our minds. Try taking a 24-hour vacation from all technology (that includes mobile phones). Light some candles. Meditate. Have a conversation. Play a board game. Enjoy the life-giving sunlight. Listen to the wind. Listen to your heartbeat. Listen to silence. Breathe.

MacBook Pro Keyboard Lights

I didn’t realize how cool the MacBook keyboard lights looked in total darkness until I turned off all the lights to, ahem, save energy. I took a few photos with my Nikon D50 using 8, 15, and 20 second exposures, a timer, no flash, and a tripod. For a couple of the pictures (like the one below) I turned my display brightness all the way down.

Posts Tagged: Technology

We’re not lab rats, damnit. We’re humans!

My swim trunks and a tiny island

The Three W’s: What to Write Where?

Slow Down and Listen to Life

MacBook Pro Keyboard Lights

Where in the world is Raam?

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