My second show airs in a few minutes. You can listen in iTunes Radio (College/University Stations), in SecondLife, online, or using the iPhone App.

There is no long term podcast, so if you want to hear the show be sure to tune in live.

Here’s the set I’ve got planned for you:

1. Airport Surroundings, Loney Dear
2. Flat of the Blade, Massive Attack
3. There is a Wind, The Album Leaf
4. FeelingPulledApartByHorses, Thom Yorke
5. Numb, Tricky
6. Powerless, The Flaming Lips
7. Seeplymouth, Volcano Choir
8. Some Riot, Elbow
9. Kettering, The Antlers
10. I Think UR A Contra, Vampire Weekend
11. Foreground, Grizzly Bear

Here I am DJing in Second Life…

SBCC Radio in SecondLife

When is enough enough?

Though I definitely don’t own a great deal of gadget technology compared to many others, it still feels like quite a bit. Specifically, I own a 2004 iPod Click Wheel, a 2008 iPhone 3G, a 2009 Flip HD, and a 2009 MacBook Pro. What does adding an iPad to the mix create?

Each piece of technology comes with its own environmental impact in the production, ongoing use, and ultimate disposal. Aware that I am only one consumer, collectively we consume and waste a great deal. It seems that we often consume without thought or awareness and we easily succumb to desire through marketing and possibly an underlying unhappiness.

My Buddhist practice asks me to be aware of my actions in body, speech, and mind. This action includes my consumption. I have taken the both Five Mindfulness Trainings and the Fourteen Mindfulness Trainings as my guides to living. These trainings represent the Buddhist vision for a global spirituality and ethic. They are a concrete expression of the Buddha’s teachings on the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path, the path of right understanding and true love, leading to healing, transformation, and happiness for ourselves and for the world.

In the training on Nourishment and Healing, I am to be “aware of the suffering caused by unmindful consumption” and “am committed to … practicing mindful … consuming.” In the training on Simple Healthy Living, we are “committed to living simply and sharing our time, energy, and material resources with those in need. We will practice mindful consuming…”

Fully aware that these are not commandments, but rather ideals to aspire to, I don’t want to get too caught by the vows either. The idea is to bring awareness to my actions. The real “clincher” of these trainings are to “contemplate interbeing and consume in a way that preserves peace, joy, and well-being in my body and consciousness, and in the collective body and consciousness of my family, my society and the Earth.”

Cost. My first question above regarding cost is the least important and easily remedied. I make a decent living and just received a retirement refund from another institution in the amount of a new iPad. Check!

Professionally. I work with technology. I teach technology. The impact of technology on my profession is significant, particularly if we consider the ongoing migration from print to electronic formats. It could even be that the library continues to shift dramatically in the next 20-years. Understanding and knowing technology enhances our profession’s ability to respond to these shifts and its impact should not be underestimated. Though I could easily digress into the mindfulness training on right livelihood, I will not muddy the water further. As a leader in my profession, I need to maintain currency and awareness. Check!

Family Harmony. For me, there are two issues with buying the iPad as it relates to the home. First, adding another device to home environment already cluttered with technology and secondly, the potential to continue to degrade interpersonal relationships in the household. The iPhone already has developed a central role in my daily activities both at home and at work. Finding a balance to provide harmony has been challenging and I am concerned the iPad may make it even more difficult. That said, there is the potential to draw us together at times using the technology. This is a great unknown. It could be that it is simply banned from the house as the television has been for the last decade. This obstacle is one that needs further consideration and an easy solution is not apparent aside from simply not buying the iPad. No check for this one.

Environment. From an environmental perspective, the iPad is designed with arsenic-free display glass, BFR-free, Mercury-free LCD display, PVC-free, and recyclable aluminium and glass enclosure. This is good. Nonetheless, no matter how environmentally sound a product is created, it is still another “thing” created and put into the universe. It will have an impact, particularly if millions of people purchase an iPad. This type of technology also has a certain level of planned obsolescence. For example, speculation already exists that the next version will include video. Why not now? Will I need to buy another iPad when v.2 is released? There is no way to truly wiggle around the environmental cost of the iPad. However, keeping technology operating and long lasting is one method to lessen the impact. Obviously it can’t be like a vehicle (I drive a 25-year old vehicle), but it could be designed to last 5-8 years. Not very long. No check for this one.

Ultimately, this is an exercise in deep looking; exactly what the Mindfulness Trainings and my Teacher asks us to do.  I will continue to ponder, consider, argue, reconcile, meditate, and discuss until the moment a decision is made.

What are you planning in regards to the iPad? How do you make decisions about technology consumption?

Note: The title of the blog post is a play on a new book by Jaron Lanier called “You Are Not a Gadget: A Manifesto” – thanks Jaron!

Dragon and lion dances. Firecrackers. Drumming. Laughter. Lisi (red envelopes with money). Generosity.

Today is the second day of the new year. It is the only day in the year that lay people (non-monastic) may visit the quarters of the monks and nuns. What joy!

As we travel from room to room, carrying our glasses, we share tea, cider, snacks, and songs. Interspersed with visits by drums and dragon for us to offer up oranges and snacks to the beast.

The monastics live in simple quarters. Some sleep on the floor, others on thin mats. A few books, some clothes, and an altar are usually in each room. They share their space and their tea.

It is a lesson in simplicity. It is a lesson in friendship. It is a lesson in generosity.

May your tiger year be healthy and may your life be long.

(posting from iPhone; links and pix may arrive later)

My day started at 4:00am, followed by 60-minutes of sitting meditation at 4:30am. I started sending tweets at 6:10am.

Here follows my Library Day in the Life as the Library Director:

Driving the @SantaBarbaraCC van pool from Ojai. 06:40 from Tweetie

First day of the spring semester; should be pretty mellow. No scheduled meetings. 07:50 from Tweetie

@brewinlibrarian cheap headphones are way better than cleaning. Buy from geekbro.com -- $1/ea, item #728054 08:02 from web in reply to brewinlibrarian

30-minutes at the Reference Desk and now software updates on MacBook Pro. http://post.ly/KTb0 08:11 from Tweetie

An office view. Just the way I like it. http://post.ly/KTf9 08:18 from Tweetie

An Office View

An office view. Part II. A very lucky Library Director.http://post.ly/KTkM 08:18 from Tweetie

Do you scan twitter for mentions of your institution? I use Twitterspy in my Gmail to alert me & add users to @lurialibrary. 08:30 from TweetDeck

@Cespur I can take most questions about SBCC, but may refer the person to the right location for the answers.08:35 from TweetDeck in reply to Cespur

Reading email & Twitter. Installing latest Chromium build while students & staff drop-in. 1 person out today. Making coffee. 09:38 from TweetDeck

A variety of needs, details, and people keep me on my toes, but need to remember to remain calm. Meeting with Outreach Librarian. 09:50 from TweetDeck

Reference desk. Mostly questions about textbooks. Inquiries coming in person and through our IM service. 10:43 from TweetDeck

I really really LOVE Fluid (OSx only) in conjunction with Fever. Can track my RSS feed right from menu bar. Fast & easy.10:54 from TweetDeck

Repairing computer furniture, with screwdriver even! Is there no limit to what the Library Director will do? 11:06 from TweetDeck

Balancing some over expenditures in the library budget. Ugh! 11:57 from TweetDeck

Checking in with my online class; answering student questions. Listening to Donna Summer. I Feel Love. 12:44 from Posterous

Taking a mindful walk outside; an important part of any work day. See you in a bit. 13:23 from TweetDeck

Number crunching. How much money remains in our book and database budgets? Consumed about 45-minutes.14:25 from TweetDeck

Revising faculty equipment requests spreadsheet for ranking by Planning & Resources committee on Tuesday. 14:50 from TweetDeck

Major sidetrack. Multimedia installers completed with new projector config in classroom. Testing & training. Rearrange.15:53 from TweetDeck

Reviewing minutes and documents for SBCC Distance Education Workgroup. 16:17 from TweetDeck

The van pool is departing -- gotta love a schedule. Leaving a few things unfinished, but that is the norm. 16:32 from Tweetie

Finish up the email I was drafting at work. — at Ojai Coffee Roasting Co http://gowal.la/s/2LVp 17:24 from Gowalla

Took a few hours off to be with family, eat dinner, etc. Putting kids to bed now, but starting to review my online classes.21:14 from TweetDeck

New blog post: Social Media -- What does that mean? http://j.mp/8emqwY #MAT149 22:00 from Twitter Tools

Finished checking in with classes. 18-hours later, here ends “Library Day in the Life Project” Round 4. Time for a book in bed. 22:14 from TweetDeck