One month down...much more fun to go

So blogging on blogspot.com is really cool. No really, while trying to think of something legitimate on which I could waste my time writing on, I was perusing the "stats" section of my profile, which gives some details on number of page-views and where people are viewing from. Now I know I've looked at my page often (hoping desperately for comments or more followers), but apparently there have been 250 total page views, 223 of them are from the US, but I also have had 5 each from the United Kingdom and Mexico (gracias!), 4 from Canada, 3 from Germany (danke!), 2 each from China, Italy and Lebanon, and 1 each from Australia and Brazil. 30% of my page-views have come from people using Firefox (like me!) and 30% have come from people using Internet Explorer. 52% of page-views have come from people using Windows (get a Mac), while 41% comes from Mac users (good choice), with 2% from iPhone users and 1% from Blackberry users. 70 of my page-views have come from my link on Facebook, while I have gotten 21 pageviews from people who viewed a website: Good Jesuit, Bad Jesuit (here's the specific link of my post (use the "Listen Now" feature, very creepy): What I miss about Georgetown). I do apologize for throwing these numbers out at you (blame it on the Math major in me), but I find it both fascinating and frightening at the same time that the web can keep track of so much information. But given the number of page views, I still only have 6 followers...come on people!

So as this post's title indicates, I have been here for over a month now. I am still not sure how much of my work experience I will post on this blog. I doubt I will give many stories about my job especially when they involve the clients, since, one, I've signed a confidentiality agreement and two, I wouldn't want my life and troubles plastered all over the internet (and clearly information goes pretty far even on a small blog like mine). So I will let you know now that I wouldn't expect to hear intimate stories about my job over the course of this year; I just don't feel comfortable giving out that information. I'll definitely write things I've learned through the year, but I feel like it will be more general topics rather than specifics.

On that note, I'll switch topics to living in community and relating to the 4 values of JVC (spirituality, social justice, simple living and community). So far we ('we' as in my house community) have been living without internet and we do not have cable (although our television does work and gets several stations like Fox, CBS and ION). This is something I expected coming into this year: living on a small monthly stipend means that every decision regarding money and expenses becomes so much more important; I simply cannot afford to do things without thinking that spending money now, means less spending later. And going without internet was going to be a real test: I spent countless hours in college on the internet just passing time (thank you very much Facebook); I don't know how life went on before the internet. We've all heard the argument of the internet being a blessing and a curse countless times before, so I won't go into that. I get access to the internet at work, so I can check my gmail on a regular basis. And when I have time on the weekends, I can go to the Berkeley Public Library and get internet (like right now). But there are times when having internet at home would be easier. And there are some people who don't use the internet regularly at work or don't get it at all. With this in mind, we had a internet discussion this week on whether or not to invest in internet. Given that we have 8 people, the money was not a large factor in our decision making process and could not be a scape goat (it should come out to no more than $5 a person per month, very reasonable even on a limited budget). But the large decision was how does internet usage fit in with these values of living simply and living in community. I fear that great evil of the internet-that it will become a distraction to our living in an intentional community, and it seems like having internet would go beyond living simply (for me at least). But we had a conversation about the internet. I had been going back in forth in my head thinking I want it at some point and not want it at others. Mostly I want it for reasons of being able to try and find streaming websites to watch Phillies game, Eagles games and Hoyas games, and to stay current with a few tv shows (House, White Collar, etc), and so I came to a vote of yes. Of course when we sat down and started discussing the internet, I went back to my fear of a breaking down of community and of it not allowing us to live simply, and started going back to thinking maybe we shouldn't get the internet. It was quite interesting that during our conversation we focused a lot on living simply, and finding alternative ways to living simply. With 8 different people in the room, there were 8 different definitions of living simply in the room. And I think that's the beauty of living in intentional community; that, while having 8 different people living together can cause tension and conflict at times, so much else is brought to the table that it counteracts any tensions. We are lucky that there aren't extremely strong personalities in the house, and so dialogue can occur and I think it brings us that much closer and builds our community more. We've been here for one month and known each other for about a month and a half, but I definitely feel like our community has grown stronger each passing week. I finally ended up voting in favor of the internet (which we'll get in our home soon) and I still fear that people will wind up on their computers more, especially on work days, when most people have been relaxing in our common room either reading, watching a movie or talking after dinner, but given the attitudes of our community, I will feel comfortable bringing this issue up again if the internet comes between us...and I'm pretty sure this means our community is heading in the right direction.

I'll be keeping you updated on community life a lot through the year, but until I decide to post next time, go Phillies!!!!

(p.s. The internet discussion paragraph was more a stream of consciousness writing, so I apologize for the lack of fluidity in the paragraph)