Although I did not quit black coffee to eliminate all caffeine from my diet, the negative side effects of high caffeine consumption that I was experiencing from drinking lots of black coffee was my main motivation. However, the past few weeks I have unconsciously been increasing the number of lattes I drink, thereby increasing my caffeine intake, increasing the negative side effects that I originally quit black coffee to avoid, and decreasing the money in my wallet.

So today I decided I’m going cold turkey on all liquids except water and tea (and possibly soy milk for protein shakes), until at least the end of the year. I really need to escape this caffeine addiction (yes, it’s addiction, no matter how much I don’t want to admit it). It’s ridiculous, unnecessary, and costing me way too much money. I quit black coffee, so this should be easy.

I am fully convinced that the iPhone, along with the developer tools Apple is providing, will lead the way for a new generation of mobile devices over the next few decades.

I don’t usually make such bold statements, especially given how fast technology changes and how quickly fads come and go, but the iPhone was different. It seemed like less of a phone and more of an enjoyable computing device; a toy for children, a toy and a smartphone for adults, and a beautiful piece of technology (as in looks) that people love to show off.

In Jeff Atwood’s latest blog post, he made similar statements that describe the revolutionary level at which the iPhone is changing the way we define mobile computing (talking about the latest iPhone 3GS):

A landmark, genre-defining product, no longer a mere smartphone but an honest to God fully capable, no-compromises computer in the palm of your hand.

We will look back on this as the time when “software” stopped being something that geeks buy (or worse, bootleg), and started being something that everyone buys, every day.

Jeff’s post gives a great overview of what’s amazing about the iPhone. He says to check back in fifteen to twenty years to see if he was right about his prediction on the historical impact the iPhone will have on computing. It looks like I’m one year ahead of you, Jeff.

One option I came up with was to use something like AirBNB to rent a cheap room for the two nights that I’m in Cambridge. I would drive (or take the train) to Cambridge on Wednesday morning, stay overnight somewhere local until Friday, and then drive back to NH Friday evening. This would save me about six hours of commuting and would be a good balance between the advantages and disadvantages I outlined in the earlier post.

However, renting a room twice a week would also mean an additional $320 a month spent on rooming (assuming a $40/night room, which seems to be the cheapest in the area). Even with the $115 I would be saving on gas from not commuting as much, that’s still an extra $205 every month. For quite some time now, I’ve been doing everything I can to save money and cut down on expenses, so spending money on something that really just solves a big inconvenience doesn’t seem to make sense.

So I continued thinking of other ways that might be cheaper and still offer the same result. That’s when I remembered reading about couch surfing. What is couch surfing? It’s exactly what it sounds like (well maybe not exactly): someone offers to let you sleep on their couch (or floor) at no cost! People do it out of the goodness of their hearts (and/or the desire to meet people and/or socialize). The CouchSurfing.org website is the primary resource for couch surfers around the world (including those hosting a couch) and there are over a million registered users, including me!

While I’m couch surfing, I can continue to make up my mind about whether or not to move back to the city and at the same time work on adapting more of a mobile lifestyle. There are no long term (monthly) commitments and I will be saving money (on gas) instead of spending it. Also, one of my 2009 New Years Resolutions was to “improve my social skills”, so at the very least couch surfing will help with that!

I’m sure couch surfing will prove to be an interesting experience — I’ll be sure to take notes and write about it.

From the forty pages I read, the following excerpt really stood out. (It’s very important to read slowly, and understand each line. The context changes a lot, so you might need to read it a few times to fully appreciate it.)

(8-20)
Is it not that they are in fact
the troublemakers,
without even knowing it?

And when it is said to them,
“Believe as the people believe,”
they say, “Shall we believe
as imbeciles believe?”
No, it is they,
they who are the imbeciles,
though they do not know.

And when they encounter
those who believe,
they say, “We believe.”
But when they are alone
with their obsessions,
they say,
“We are in fact with you;
we were only joking.”

While everyone will of course read the text from a different context and therefore interpret it differently (that’s what makes humanity so interesting), my take on it was that it seemed to explain the way so many people in this world behave: deceptive. And while I’m sure there is plenty of intentional deceptiveness that goes on in this world, I’m also fairly certain there is as much, if not more, unintentional deception that goes on under the covers (”troublemakers without even knowing it”). But how? How can people be deceptive without even knowing it? Simple: By deceiving themselves! In deceiving themselves they are unable to be fully aware of their actions towards others.

We must make a conscious effort to be true to ourselves so that we may be true to others.

If you like lots of gore and zombies chasing innocent people around, then you probably won’t like this movie. However, if you have somewhat of an imagination (enough imagination to enjoy science fiction) and like to be kept guessing, then you’ll probably agree that this movie is awesome. (Fair warning: Everyone else watching it with me thought it was the stupidest thing they’ve ever seen.)

You can check out the trailer on Hulu.com.