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	Phil's Blogservations Monday, July 10, 2006 Posted by philgomes 3:22 AM Going Analog For A Week Going Analog For A Week As I mentioned in an earlier post, it's time once again for the father/son family fishing trip. I think we're in our eighteenth or nineteenth year now. I've lost track. Some of those memories are a mite hazy in any case. (For those of you who are wondering, I'm the "son" part of this father/son equation.) I spent the short post-Fourth workweek and the weekend assuring that the batons will be properly passed. One of the advantages of moving to a 2,000-person company -- and it'll be a year on August 2 -- is that there are a whole bunch of really good people to pass such batons to. Anyway... No blogging. No Internet connection. In fact, where I'm going, the general area is served by maybe three phone lines. The highway sign marking the nearest town proudly conveys to motorists its elevation (4,000 feet or so) and its population (2). The only newspaper that the general store gets is the Modesto Bee. (Modesto is a few hours away.) The shop receives the paper either late in the afternoon or sometimes even the following day. It's no 700-feed-strong Bloglines account, for certain. For this week, though, it's exactly what I need. Yes, I guess that if I was an uber-dedicated blogger, I'd smokesignal my posts to an associate or whatever. Some bloggers even go so far as to invite a stunt-double to guest-blog, just to keep the virtual seat warm. Nope... I've got fish to catch, trails to hike (and make), carnes vinho d'alhos to barbeque, books to read, a guitar to play, family to catch up with, and stories to tell, hear, and create. I suppose I'll get through the online-withdrawal twitches around Wednesday or so. For those of you who believe that leisure time has no redeeming quality unless a line -- however tangential or dotted -- can be drawn to one's working life, then I'll throw you this bone... Rule #1 of fishing is "If you wanna catch the fish, go where the fishermen ain't." I've decided I'm not going to move the ball the next ten yards -- for my clients, my agency, myself, or anyone else -- if my efforts continue to siphon from the online world for exclusive nourishment. The small liberal arts school I went to held exploring the great books of literature as a core element of education. I've hinted at re-engaging these works before. I'm going through my bookshelves to see what books will end up joining me on the trip. Maybe the collected letters of Hemingway. The Uses Of Knowledge by John Henry Newman could stand a good re-reading. I'll likely bring some as-yet-unread Burroughs who, putting aside his personal failings, has become one of my absolute favorite writers. There will also be a pad. And a pen. Just look at the feature list: High-contrast display. Inexpensive. Intuitive input device. Electromagetically resistant. I'll tell you what's not going in my backpack. No read-me-or-your-career-jumps-the-shark business tomes. There's a word for such books this week. "Kindling." See you on the seventeenth. Technorati Tags: pr, public relations, phil gomes, vacation, fishing HOME | OBSESSIONS | FAQ | HEROES | CAREER | BLOG | CONTACT Note that the views expressed on this site do not necessarily reflect those of Phil's employer, its business partners, its clients, or anyone or anything that doesn't come from Phil.	ABOUT THIS BLOG This blog not only discusses PR and media matters, but Phil's everyday observations about a variety of topics. EMAIL phil[at] philgomes[[dot}]com SYNDICATE Feedburner ARCHIVE YAHOO! IM SKYPE WISH LIST PITCH POLICY MY PHOTOS www.flickr.com Photostream RSS Enter your Email Powered by FeedBlitz COMMENT AND TRACKBACK POLICY Comments and trackbacks are unmoderated, though I will delete the patently offensive ones. Any comments and trackbacks are the opinions of the individual writer of those comments and trackbacks, and not those of Phil Gomes, his employer, its clients, or its business partners. If you have a bone to pick, bug the people who wrote the comment or trackback.