Live and direct, here are some updates on my latest drastic changes, as well as my encounter with a deadly rattlesnake. I’m talking specifically about taking a break from polyphasic sleep and giving up the computer, of course.

It’s now been a little bit over 48 hours since giving up the computer and taking a break from polyphasic. Both transitions went far better than I expected.

First, giving up the computer was a great idea. In that first 24 hours I got more important stuff done around the house than I had in the past month. I cleaned up where I had a minor flood, began cleaning the kitchen, and moved the last of my stuff out of my office. I also spent time with several of my friends, which made it much easier.

Using my Treo 650, I can see if I have any new e-mail. I have it set to check only every 30 minutes, so I’m not constantly distracted. Also, the blog e-mails me all comments on posts, so I can read those while I’m away from the computer. The treo isn’t very distracting at all, and can be taken with me no matter where I am, so this seems like the basis of a good solution.

In fact, in the first 24 hours I only ended up using 50 minutes of computer time. It feels great to break free of the computer and get things done. I am going to change it to 60 minutes of computer time, plus all the time I need for commercial enterprises. I have some upcoming projects that require using the computer, and spending that time is certainly to my benefit. Also, I don’t want to have to rush through my posts here.

Polyphasic was a little harder to kick. I took a couple naps early in the day, but after that I went out so it was easy to stay awake. In fact, I stayed out until 3:30 and was on the phone until 4:30, so I got to bed later than expected. Even so, I woke up naturally at 9am. I was still tired so I went back to sleep and woke up at 10:15. Five hours and fifteen minutes of sleep. Not too bad for staying up so late. I feel well rested, but the sleep is boring, unlike polyphasic which is full of dreams and feels deeper.

Yesterday Kristen and I went to hang out in this park near her house. I don’t really know if park is the right word - it’s an expanse of land including a lake, an enormous field (paragliding part II coming soon!), and some sparsley populated woods.

The first cool thing about this park is that there are pecan trees everywhere. Kristen showed me how to open the pecans and they were delicious! We stuffed my pockets full of them and I ate them for the rest of the day. I have a pecan tree in my backyard, too. I wonder if it makes deliciosu pecans as well.

Anyway, we were walking through the brush adjoining one of the fields when all of a sudden she yells “Whoa! A rattlesnake!”. God damn you, Texas. I always hear about the creepy snakes we have here in Texas (5 poisonous ones?), but had only once seen a Water Moccassin many years ago.

Sure enough I look down and there is a rattlesnake coiled. I jumped back and immediately became very suspicious of the rest of the brush. This thing was really well camoflauged - how many others were there.

Kristen? She wasn’t afraid.

WHO THE HELL ISN’T AFRAID OF SNAKES?

I mean… there’s a movie about “Snakes on a Plane” now, just because people are so afraid of snakes. The worst part is that we were stuck in the middle of the brush, so getting to safety surely involved stomping on several snake holes on the way out. Luckily for me, Kristen carried me to safety. I was going to act like I carried her safely to preserve my overwhelming masculinity, but she promised to come here and set the record straight if I did - and I don’t know how to ban people from the blog yet.

So, yeah… a tiny girl carried me away from the deadly snakes. If it helps restore your previously ingrained macho image of me, I did carry her later on. Yeah… that doesn’t help me either.

Just as I was leaving Kristen’s place, Luke called me. He and his friends wanted to get dinner, which was perfect because I was in their area and starving. We went to get sushi (again I feel sick after eating sashimi and seaweed salad, with the same symptoms), and then later went to sixth. Overall it was quite fun. The hilarious part is that Steve, who recently moved from San Francisco to Austin, leases a large office right above Firehouse, a popular bar on sixth street.

They’re intent on getting a good afterparty going there, which is a fantastic idea. However, due to extremely poor planning and lukewarm group participation, both times I’ve gone out with them have ended with the four of us sitting around in the office talking about business. At least there’s a nice backdrop set by the rotating multicolored strobe globes, affectionately referred to as “the party balls”.

So now I guess it’s time for me to either get off the computer, use up some of my precious computer time, or do some work on it. Adios!