It's official. I have become Yuppified. Case in point: I am about to write a rambling, unimportant complaint about technology and the modern world on a blog. Please forgive me while I indulge myself.

I have somehow amassed a collection of electronic devices that I should not need and can not afford. While my cell phone was the leading gadget to march me down that slippery slope, it remains necessary but annoying; only somehow I can not remember the moment it became necessary. Following the cell came a digital camera, laptop, jump drive, ipod, and HP Printer/Scanner/Copier All-in-One. Admittedly the ipod is a lot of fun, but the point stands. The manifest of my technological evolution is a routine of podcasting, chatting through facebook (IM isn't hip anymore, on no) and blogging. I used to read Harpers Magazine and listen to Morning Edition on NPR. Now I get the five minute news update from itunes while reading briefs from the UN and Human Rights Watch web pages. I feel informed, but not connected.

I teach environmental education for crying out loud! What's the matter with me? I work outdoors with real people, teaching real kids about Eastern Tent Caterpillars and Tulip Poplars. I praise the virtues of community building and give groups the chance to overcome adversity together. Why do I spend my time off on a computer?

My problem, I believe, isn't unique. Though this is new to me, I think I am in many ways a decade behind the rest of America. Probably more. While many working families sent their kids to band and soccer practice after school, we had mandatory outside playtime at home. We never substituted quick drive through lunches for raw peanut butter and whole grain bread. We had television yes, but I was 15 before I really discovered its captivation. Growing up at my house, we talked politics and religion, we feared and respected my grandmother, and we kept our elbows off the table. Even when I got married, my wife and I rejected TV's and microwaves. All our friends think we are hippies and a little off our rockers, and I have always liked that image. What am I doing here?

Maybe, the truth is I am bored. I leave my work at work when I go home at night; we make dinner, read a little, and get ready for bed. Lately, however, I haven't actually been going to bed. I get online, check my email, post pictures on facebook, and avoid going to sleep because, let's face it, sleep is boring. I think the internet offers a way to acknowledge every persons need to be social, communicative creatures without actually doing anything about it.

I need to get out more. As depressing as this may be, my answer might be a club, sport, or discussion group. Maybe to avoid being a yuppie of the 21st century I need to revert to the social norms of the 1950s. At least some of them anyway.

As you may know, Loren and I moved to the Boone area after I finished my undergraduate work at ETSU. I hope to begin the grad program in International Relations and Comparative Government at Appalachian State University, but am currently taking a break. I look forward to the labor of love in PSCI, but like St. Augustine said, "Lord, give me purity and give me continence, but oh no, not yet." I have too many things I want to do before beginning a faithful decent into graduate studies.

For now, I am working at the new Camp Harrison of the YMCA. Planet Herring Ridge is the Environmental Education program of Camp Harrison, and I am fortunate to be a new instructor there.

Herring Ridge is a lot of fun. It is quit similar to River Ridge, the E.E. center I formerly worked with in Tennessee, but there are many differences. I am learning a new Choice model for high ropes facilitation which creates a very different motivation and goal set than the Challenge-By-Choice model I am familiar with. I have new requirements for the method of tying old knots, which I am having a surprisingly difficult time adjusting to. I am learning new emergency procedures, new challenge elements, new wetlands ecology curriculum, and a new management structure. All in all, I am having a lot of fun.

The YMCA camp is also, of course, a conference center. Though I enjoy the E.E. function far and away more, my responsibilities reach across the board and have had only one week of E.E. thus far. The kids from Countryside Montessori were wonderful and made our first week a breeze and a standard to reach for with each subsequent group.

The E.E. season will be over in mid November and I am searching for a full time job elsewhere. I am thrilled at the possibility of working for an international relief agency, and am working hard not to let my head remain in the clouds. Maybe in the spirit of the good saint I could be granted just a meager portion of purity - at least purity of single mindedness for the moment.