8 Kalimat 165 B.E. (Baha'i Calendar)
Soundtrack in my head:  Simon & Garfunkel, “The Sound of Silence”

Another Cave Day at home where we close all the windows and curtains in an effort to keep the heat outside.  The temprature outside is 85 degrees, and the humidity is pretty insane.  So I decided to grab my laptop and seek out a cafe with air conditioning.  

Great minds think alike.  Two of my housemates were already at the Fair Trade Coffeehouse when I got there, laptops already plugged in.

I may jinx myself by saying this, but I actually like the fact that the heat makes me get out of the house.  As someone who loves to write, it's all to easy for me to spend hours in my room on my desktop computer, and that's not healthy.  

A couple of months ago I got an Asus Eee PC laptop.  I was tired of staying cooped up in my room while writing.  Sometimes people in the co-op house will take their latops into the dining room or the living room so that they can work and yet not be isolated in their rooms.  In the past, some housemates organize excursions to local cafes for the purpose of doing work instead of conversing.  It's nice to be around people even if we're working and not conversing.  

What appeals to me about the Eee PC is its portability.  It's tiny—maybe six inches by nine inches.  You can see it here in this picture. My sunglasses hanging over the screen and the glass of iced coffee next to it give you an idea of how big it is.  The keyboard is 83% the size of a normal keyboard.  It took me awhile to get used to the smaller keyboard, but I'm fine with it now.  

Furthermore, although there is only 4 GB of memory in the machine, it runs on a Linux system.  Linux, among other things, is far more efficient in the way it runs and so this little computer has a full Open Office suite, a media player, a music player, games, and a bunch of other things--and plenty of memory is left over.  I'm in the midst of changing over my desktop to Linux, too—more on that in another posting.

I've been realizing more and more that there is much to be said about a variety of venues.   When I was on the Global Walk for a Livable World, I spent most of nine months in a world without walls.  (Except for my tent.)  Going back into those walls was a difficult adjustment for me.  

A number of years later, I understand even more how variety is the spice of life.  So, I'm actually grateful for the heat forcing me to find a comfortable place to unwind.  Now if only I could find a way to make our kitchen stove portable on the days I have to cook dinner for the house...