Electrolicious

Every summer, Andreas and I go out to Wildhorse Island in Montana’s Flathead Lake. Dre’s mom has a rustic cabin out there, and each summer we make a pilgrimage to go sit and read and talk and walk and enjoy the lake.

So, last weeks’ unplugged night was actually an unplugged two days … which I figure is a great way to celebrate being half-way done with my year of nightly Unplugging.

And now for you … photos.

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I’m in Los Angeles this week* and last night found myself around a large table full of Angeleno friends, talking and drinking very strong Cadillacs and snarfing down delicious Mexican food. I’d accidentally left my phone at a friend’s house, but whatever: I was done with work for the day and many of the people I’d want to call were sitting in front of me, so I wasn’t too worried.

As the extended dinner/drinks session wound down, one of my friends pulled out her new iPhone and started fiddling. As I gazed on, another friend drunken observed, “Oh my god, it’s unplugged night! Ariel’s unplugged! I just realized she hasn’t checked her phone once this whole time!”

I was like “What? No, I just left my phone at — oh wait. Right! Yes. This is me unplugged.” I’m not sure if this makes me the laziest unplugger ever, or if I’ve just so integrated my Tuesday night routine that I subconsciously leave my phone behind.

*I’m in town for meetings some with people who might want me to host a nontraditional wedding reality show. It’s still completely unsure, so nothing to get too excited about.

Life, Unplugged: On The Virtues Of Disconnecting

‘Technology Sabbath’ Offers One Day to Unplug

“My husband’s not doing the unplugged thing; he doesn’t feel he needs to,” she says. “So there are nights that I’m unplugged and he’s checking his e-mail and surfing on his laptop, and I’m like, ‘Grrrrr.’”

Friday night I was on ABC’s World News with Charlie Gibson, talking about 52 Nights Unplugged in the context of a segment about multi-tasking and time management.

TV is a weird beast, and one I’ve learned a lot about in the last year. For the curious, here’s what this particular experience was like.
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