OK, maybe this hasn’t been a pot-boiling cliffhanger, but I’ll have you know that more than a few people have asked me that very question lately.  In my last post I promised to embark – and report – on a quest for the zero-minute month.  Through the magic of some cool new technologies I was determined to get my monthly cell phone “anytime” minutes down to a bare minimum, if not completely zero. 

How’d it go?  Well (my old journalism  professor would admonish me for “burying the lead” here) but I got pretty close.  The goal wasn’t to stop talking on the phone, or to stop using the cell phone, but rather to incorporate the use of some readily available technologies and services into my daily routine to minimize the use of AT&T’s anytime minutes on my plan. 

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After years of biking 6000+ miles/year I’ve become pretty sensitive to watching the road and the actions of drivers.  Out of self-preservation I simply can’t trust anyone behind the wheel when I’m on my bike and have taken to become fairly militant about pointing at people, shouting “DON’T!” and calling drivers things my mother wouldn’t approve of when they ignore my “advice.” 

And while it’s true that many of them are on their cell phones when this happens believe me when I tell you that the vast majority of those not paying attention are screaming at their kids in the back seat, reaching for their Starbucks in the cup holder or tinkering with their CD/radio/navigation device on the dashboard. 

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There aren’t a whole lot of people you’ll meet who are more tech-centric than I am.  I can barely write with a pencil anymore and think better at a keyboard than a blank sheet of paper.  But there’s something about the morning newspaper (my choice is the Wall Street Journal) that still appeals to me.  Maybe it’s that tactile sensation of folding the paper, the audible crinkling when I fold it over into neat quarters to read while holding one handed (a technique I learned while commuting via subway in New York) or something less esoteric… no batteries to deplete, screens to worry about cracking – whatever.  It’s a newspaper, not a news screen, I figured. 

And then my wife’s birthday – which seems to come about once every three months – elicited the usual “what now” response most men have when considering gifts.  Jewelry, the default safe haven for men, wasn’t an option for this birthday (don’t ask) so it was incumbent upon me to be <gasp> creative.  So, in an effort to assuage my own conscience and simultaneously encourage my wife’s reading habit, I succumbed to the siren song of electronics and bought a Kindle, that e-book reader that’s all the rage amongst the first-class-seats-set. 

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Most times I'm asleep before takeoff. The routine, honed after 20+ years of heavy traveling and more than two million miles in the air, is more a result of muscle memory than thought. Backpack stored in overhead - check. Newspaper and reading materials folder in seat-back pocket - check. Earbuds firmly inserted to block noise and memorized announcements - check. Turn off phone - check. Wake-up when drink cart rolls down the aisle - check. Log into WiFi to get some work done - check - WAIT - what? WiFi? Up here? Yup.

After years of isolation at 35,000' and the ability to effectively block work-related communications thanks to a lack of Internet connectivity the wall has come down - or gone way, way up, depending on your point of view. It took years before the net's reach extended outwards from the home or office but now that's pretty much routine - wireless cards, hot spots, tethering a mobile to your laptop, etc., all keep us connected when we're on the horizontal. But now the reach has gone vertical. Just last week I had sky-high WiFi. And loved it.

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