Florida

We are in sunny Florida this week and the posts have been even lighter than normal. Visiting with family, eating great seafood (Bradenton seafood fest was great - people watching doesn't begin to explain the VERY interesting people infesting this event), and watching Beckett enjoy himself on the beach have taken up most of our time. We are going to spend the rest of the week fishing, visiting Cigar City Brewery (okay - that is just me) and spending as much time with Erika's great family as possible. I am sure the rest of our free time will be spent at the beach or on a boat. It is a rough life.

But Erika's folks watch TV. A huge diversion and a sure kick to the head for our no TV plan, right?

Not really. We watched a few shows this week, but my interest is not nearly what it was before we started. I have been more interested in the basketball and the few movies we have watched. Erika has probably watched less TV than me. Becks has surely had his fill, but he has also spent a lot more time doing puzzles and running around the backyard given the great weather.

It is a trade off and we are getting the better end of the deal with less attachment to the myriad of shows out there.

But it does feel good to have a chance to watch a little Spring Training baseball. Go Cubs!!!

Steve

What a week!

I spent most of last week and the better part of this week in some stage of sickness. I can't thank Erika enough for taking care of things while I was going through the worst of it.

On to better topics - we leave for Florida on Friday!!!

I really can't wait to be on the beach, spending time with family, and enjoying time off from work.

Can anyone else tell this is pretty canned writing? I am in go mode but thought I should tell you where we are this week. I am sure we will have a a bit more time in FL to post. This week has been pretty hectic with work, meetings, shopping, cleaning, packing, bill paying, etc.

But on to the question that i am sure is burning a hole in your pocket - did I watch TV while I was sick?

...

No - we did do our movie night on Sunday instead of Wednesday this week. We watched Up In The Air. I liked it. But no TV, as I have mentioned, is becoming easier and easier.

Well, not to extend this obviously forced entry any longer, good night.

Adios and see you in the sun!

Esteban

Wild Party!!!

By Wild, I mean my parents came over for dinner and then our friend Anne stopped by for a bit. I have been sick for the past few days and Erika has been a solo Mom for most of that time, so neither of us were looking for an event. We laughed half-way through the night when we realized that we were watching the TV as it changed songs (via Pandora on the Blu-Ray). It was sad to be drawn in by the box but funny that something as simple as an album cover and a song timer could be captivating. In the end, the TV's screen saver saved the day and we were right back to talking.

As I mentioned last week, the TV is fast losing its grip on our family. Beckett is captivated by puzzles and books. Erika and I have been reading, TALKING, and listening to a lot of great music. The experiment is working and I couldn't be happier with the result. I will let Erika speak for herself. I know we are going to sleep quite a bit earlier than before, but watching House Hunters International until 11:00 doesn't really count as quality time.

Here is a pic of Becks current favorite dinosaur puzzle.



And into today - probably not as fun as last weekend's Field Museum visit, but we will stay warm while one of the season's last winter storms blows through Chicago. We will prepare for our upcoming trip to Florida and I will lament my inability to watch March Madness.

But I did do a bracket, more out of habit than anything else. I picked Murray State and Cornell, along with a few other upsets, so I am looking pretty good two days in. I am sure that will be a different story a week from now.

Have a great weekend!

Fun and games

Erika here.

Last night's movie choice by Beckett - Night at the Museum 2 (he loves the octopus).

Tonight's game of choice by Beckett - bowling in the hallway, along with a game of hockey (this is played by taking a baseball bat and hitting a baseball as if it were a puck. Oh, and, all players must wear cowboy hats).

1000 hits!!

Erika here.

Well, we've made it 13 days and, as of yesterday, we had 1000 hits on our blog. Thanks so much everyone for keeping track of our wack-a-doodle experiment. Knowing that there is someone out there reading is definitely keeping us going on our path for "tuned-out" enlightenment.

I have found that during the work week, I am definitely getting more sleep. I come home after work - exhausted - make dinner, eat it with Steve and Becks, play a bit, read some books to Beckett, get him to sleep and then go read my book in bed. The reading lasts for about 20-30 minutes and then I am asleep. Not too bad. I have found that I actually look forward to my book and think about it often during the day. I'm trying to figure out if this is disappointing. After all, I had dreamed that without a television I was going to be learning new things, developing new talents and finding a side of myself I thought never existed. Yet, what I've figured out so far is that I need to sleep more. Maybe I'll start finding the new Erika once I'm done with work this week.

Sunday

It was a good weekend in the Larson house. We went to the Field Museum, bought a booster seat for Beckett, went to a friend's birthday (still tired today, thanks), visited with Erika's mom, went on a brewery tour at Half Acre (just me) and found time to build block forts, play hide and seek, walk the dog, do puzzles, and read books.

I can honestly say that, except for a brief moment this morning, I did not miss TV. Which brings me to my lesson for this weekend: Erika and I need to replace that Meet the Press, Sunday morning coffee ritual with something. We will likely be re-subscribing to the Tribune soon and that will fill the hole. Coffee and a paper sounds pretty nice, anyway.

Have a great week!

Runnin' Rod

Erika here.

Some quick notes...
- It's only been one week. It feels like much longer than that.
- I truly felt withdrawal yesterday. I found myself sitting on the couch just plain bored. I didn't want to read, Beckett was busy playing and I settled into some major ennui. So, I cleaned... yeah me.
- Beckett has taken to telling anyone he can that he doesn't have tv. For example, on the phone with his cousin, Charlie this morning: Charlie - "What are you doing, Beckett?" Beckett - "Not watching tv." Yesterday, I heard him telling the dog, "My mad, Wrigley. No show. No tv."
- On the upside, Beckett has begun playing out scenarios from the books he's been reading instead of tv shows or movies. Of course, the scene he is reenacting is from the trippy and slightly alarming book, "In the Night Kitchen" by Maurice Sendak. Beckett pretends he is cooking a "Mickey cake" which in the book is a cake with a little boy named Mickey inside it. (Don't worry. Mickey does eventually get out of the cake only to swim naked in a large bottle of milk.)
- Becks also asked to go to the library this week to just get books. In the past, the library was a place to first get movies and secondly to get books.

And the best news of the day...

- After having an amazing lunch with my good friend, Mary, today, I drove past Rod Blagojevich running down the street. He looked at me, I stared at his hair (which was amazingly floppy and not as stiff as you would think). Oh... darn. Now I am thinking about how I am going to miss him on Celebrity Apprentice. Add that to my list of grievances against you, Rod.

Movie night and week one in the books.

Steve here.

Movie night on Wednesday was great. We rented Where the Wild Things Are and 2012. Becks wanted to watch Finding Nemo. It was a great time. I don't think Erika made it out of Wild Things, but it was nice to relax and be entertained. That is the big difference for both of us I think; unless you are reading, you are forced to create amusement. And even reading requires more effort than TV.

We have both commented how we are easily bored. I think we will have to mentally restock for all things non-TV related that are entertaining. Once the weather warms a bit, we can spend our boring evenings talking on the deck. It amazes me how a change of venue can alter your perception. In the meantime, lots of games and books to keep us occupied.

So Week One is past and we are now on Day 9. That is a good number, it feels good to be past the initial week and have the pattern broken. After dinner, we both clean up and then play with Beckett. He is going to bed earlier and we are playing games, reading or just talking. We inevitably end up going to bed earlier, but that isn't a bad thing. I can always use an extra hour of sleep.

We have also been listening to a lot of music. You can follow what we are listening to on the right side of the blog. You can also follow what we are reading.

Our experiment is quickly turning into our normal life. Soon, it won't be a novelty that we don't watch TV and our blog will focus on what we are doing with our lives instead of TV. I think it will act a reflection of what we do as a family and a reminder of why we started this in the first place.

Thanks for following.

The monkey on my back...

No. I didn't blog last night. I came home after a tremendously long day at work and was exhausted. (In case any readers out there don't know what I do... I am a developmental therapist and special educator. I work with 3-8 year olds primarily on the autism spectrum.) Usually when I come home, Ryan Seacrest or the sister wives on Big Love help me to forget about the trials and tribulations of the day. Last night, they ditched me (or, I guess, I ditched them.) My eyes were too tired to read, so I just went to bed.

With that decision, one of my fears came true last night. I became boring and went to bed early. Tonight, I am wholeheartedly determined to stay awake past 9, but I did put on my pajamas at 7.

It's fascinating to have a monkey on your back. I went through this a bit when I quit smoking 9 years ago. That darn monkey is just hanging on your back, scratching behind your ears and whispering in his best evil monkey voice, "You're going to miss that girl with the bad teeth and dreadlocks on American Idol tonight." Damn you, primate.

I would also like to thank all the friends and family out there who are checking in with us. It's nice to know we're thought of. Although, it does make it harder when they say things like, "Oh, I was thinking about you guys the other night because you really missed out on seeing ______" I do like hearing that something was incredibly awful that I ordinarily would have wasted an hour or two on. It's nice to know that the Oscars sucked and that I can still see all the fashion in US Weekly. I also love hearing that we have inspired others in taking a break from television. Our neighbors, The Days, didn't watch tv until 7pm one night, while my friend, Suellen (who is on bedrest, btw) hasn't watched in 3 days. We're impressed with all of you and like to know we've put a little bug in your ear. However, our goal in this was never to expect those close to us to follow in our footsteps.

This is our crazy journey, but if you want to jump on the loony bus every now and then, we'll welcome you with open arms.

It was Erika's turn...

But she went to bed a bit early tonight. Her Monday's are always terrificly long and difficult. So here I am. I was just staring at our television - cold and unused, recalling a conversation Becks had with his his grandparents in Florida this evening. He was saying goodbye when he said, with a sad face, "TV is off. Mommy turned off the TV." Does the poor kid think this is some kind of sick joke we are playing on him? While he might not remember the experiment, it will likely benefit him as much as it does his mother and father.

Such is life.

Goodnight.

Weekend Recap

Steve again.

I am sure this is going to sound like something out of rehab for a few weeks as we struggle to adjust to life without TV. We will eventually find ways to gobble up the enormous amount of free time we just created. I did some elementary calculations. If the TV is on for 3 hours per day at a minimum, we just gained 21 hours of free time. Easy math - except the solution leaves a giant void in our personal lives. TV watching together is a very easy activity and one we both gravitate towards quite naturally. We can fill that void with more meaningful activities: playing, reading, talking, etc. It will just take some time before it doesn't feel like we are missing a large part of our daily routine.

That being said, I think it is fair to say that I have been using the TV to babysit my son now and again. Not all the time, mind you. I love spending time with him; but I think it is too often that our time involves a movie. Or a TV show. This time around, I can do things right. And the funny thing about Beckett - he hasn't missed a beat. Sure he has had a few meltdowns. But he is asking to read books 4 or 5 more times per day and he is playing with us and solo like never before. Turn TV off = instant imaginative spark. How can you argue with these results?

I had my own panic attack about TV yesterday afternoon. Saturday, mid-day. We had finished the bulk of our chores and shopping for the weekend and it was only 1 PM. What to do? TV is the obvious answer. Turn on a game, or a show, or at least Anthony Bourdain re-runs. Not happening. I felt a brief moment of panic as I realized my pacifier was gone for a good long while.

And then I finished the book I was reading.

This is a good choice for us. We enjoy the relative calm that turning off the television inherently creates. We also enjoy the trepidation that going in a new direction brings to the table. But most of all we enjoy that we are doing this together.

Last thing before turning to my new book for the rest of the evening. Those of you who know my wife, know about her love affair with The Oscars. She picked a brave week to start this noble experiment and I am proud of her for not complaining once. She is great.

Have a great week.

p.s. To our friends in Houston, congratulations on your new baby. We are so very happy for you!

"Man, no take my silver box!"

Erika here.
Friday was my first full day home with Beckett without the television to entertain us. I caught myself periodically throughout the day thinking, "What should I do next? Oh, I know, I'll go sit down and watch a show." The realization would then settle in that that wasn't possible, and I'd quickly panic thinking, "What can I do next?" But, these moments were relatively quick and I was able to settle in doing something else, be it making the bed or making ramps for Matchbox cars. I also found myself looking at the clock and my brain immediately going into What's-currently-on-television-right-now mode. I'm sure this habit will fade with time?

I did go online and peek at the American Idol results, but when Steve asked me who was voted off, I couldn't remember 2 of the 4 rejects. How important is this if I can't remember? The same holds true with so many shows for me. I'll watch for a whole season and then can't remember the result or "big reveal" a few months later. Maybe it's early onset Alzheimer's, but for some reason I think it speaks to the frivolity of reality shows. With that said, I kind of obsessed today thinking about what I missed on Project Runway, Survivor and the fact that Jim and Pam had their baby on The Office on Thursday.

In my quest for things to do all day home with Beckett, I ended up napping with him in his bed for 2 hours. I never nap. Is this due to my frantic pace the past 2 days to make it through the withdrawal? Or, did I just come home too late after drinking too much on Thursday night?

Speaking of Thursday night... good friends+steak+wine = great distraction from tv.... Singing karaoke at Carol's Pub until midnight gave me the release that I needed after the build-up to D-Day.

Beckett did cry on Friday when Comcast came to pick-up our cable box. He wailed, "Man, no take my silver box!" When he attempted to turn on the tv later in the day, I explained (again) that it didn't work. He then asked if my parents, Papa and Ro-Ro, have a tv. When I responded that they did, he said, "My want to go to Papa and Ro-Ro's now!" Oh, a day chock full of meltdowns. I hope he gets the hang of this soon. My baby's in withdrawal. Do they prescribe methadone for toddlers?

Day 2

Steve Here.

We made it through Day 1 unscathed. Actually, it was better than I expected. Erika had a dinner to attend, so Beckett and I played, jammed on his guitar and read a fair number of books a few times over. He was in bed by 8:15, just in time for a few friends to arrive. I was in bed at eleven. I think Erika strolled in sometime after that. Not too difficult.

But the habitual tendencies are the interesting part of this experiment. Day one we wake up and don't turn the TV on - weird. After dinner we go to the living room to play and don't turn the TV on - weird. Becket goes to bed and friends come over and don't turn the TV on - weird. Wake up on Day 2 and Beckett turns the TV on and the local news comes in crystal clear - QUICK, TURN IT OFF!!!

I guess we will unplug the TVs tonight - better for the electric bill, what with phantom electricity.

So here we are, coffee in hand, Pandora playing in the living room, about to leave for work. And it is just us and that is the point.

"No, tv? That's silly."

Erika here.
Well, the cable company followed through with their promise. No cable reception as of midnight last night.



Here's a picture of our quiet television. We have such a nice tv, don't we? Blu-ray player and everything. Sigh.

This morning wasn't too horrendous since we were so frazzled running around trying to get ready for the work day. Becks did ask for it at one point. I went through the spiel that he can't watch tv, mommy can't watch tv, daddy can't watch tv, yada yada. He then turned to me and said, "No, tv? That's silly." No buddy. It's for real.

I only work a half day on Thursdays, so I am now at home, and Beckett is napping. I have been sitting in front of the computer since he went down. But, oddly enough, I'm not wasting time on facebook looking at pictures of people I don't even know. I'm actually getting some things done that I've been putting off. It's mostly work stuff, but I did realize that our pictures saved on our computer need some major organizing. So, that's a project that I'll attack with my new found time. Beckett and I also ran to the art store. I wanted to pick up some sketch books, pastels, etc. to fool around with in the evening. I haven't ever been an artist, but love to play with color and draw pictures for Becks. I was actually really inspired after visiting MoMa in New York last month. So, we'll see what becomes of this.

I am sitting with some fears about our commitment that I'd thought I'd share.

Fears are as follows:
The quiet (makes me a little nervous)
The boredom (I tend to get frantic when bored)
Will I be able to relax? Will I find something that keeps my mind from racing?
Will I become incredibly boring? For example, will I go to bed at 8 every night?
Friends and family will dread visiting our place
Will I have to endlessly entertain Beckett? Will I be able to shower or clean the house without having Becks watch tv?
I fear that not knowing the following will haunt me for the entire year: I won't know if the American Idol winner truly deserved it, the same goes for the winners of Project Runway and Survivor. I won't know Oprah's next big thing. I will have no idea why all those people are on that island in Lost. I will miss the season finale of Big Love and the entire seasons of Dexter and True Blood.
The worst fear of all is that this television boycott will be incredibly difficult and I'll quit. I'm not a quitter.

T-minus 14 hours.

The time is almost upon us. We have received some nice support via Facebook and email, and we are very excited for this experiment to begin.

See you on the other side!

The Official Rules

Steve and I have both concocted our official rules for our year-long adventure/torture... Although "official," they are OUR rules and we reserve the right to edit, remove or add to them at any time.

1. There will be absolutely no television watching in our house for one year beginning on 3/4/10.
2. If we visit another place that has a television on, we can watch it.
3. However, we cannot seek out other places to only watch tv.
4. We are allowed 1 movie per week. Beckett will receive a weekly choice, as will Steve and I.
5. We cannot watch television online. No Hulu or YouTube.
6. It is okay to read articles that make references to certain television shows or sporting events.
7. If on a long car trip, i.e. our 20 hour trip to Florida, Beckett (our 2.5 year old) is allowed to watch movies on a portable DVD player. Movies are also acceptable if any of us are extraordinarily sick.
8. If the Cubs or Bears make the playoffs, we can seek out televisions playing the games. Non-negotiable, people.

Yikes. Seeing them all laid out like this is making me a tad sick to my stomach. To curb the nausea, I'm gonna run to watch American Idol. (It is fruitless since I won't even get to see who makes the top 12.)

The cable is cancelled!

Steve here.

I called Comcast yesterday and cancelled the cable effective March 4th at 12:00 am. Comcast wouldn't waive the $75 cancellation fee, even when I told them about our noble experiment. Their loss - we will shop for service when we come back to TV. They were nice enough to discount our internet service for the next six months.

This experiment is about addiction. This is also about habit and family and creativity. I have had a love/hate relationship with the television for a very long time. I love the technology, the advancements surrounding quality and the geeky joy I experience watching a show in HD or on a Blu-Ray disc. I also have a penchant for stupid shows like Stargate and 24. But I have seen it zapping any chance at meaningful conversation with my wife on most evenings and I have seen it hinder play with my son.

I also can't handle seeing my son stare, zombie-like, at the TV for as long as we allow. He loves movies and he loves a cornucopia of kid programming. From Curious George to Little Einsteins, that kid is hooked. And his addiction is our fault. So this is for him as much as it is for us. I want my son to view TV as a luxury that is fun sometimes, not as a necessary part of his daily routine.

March 4th is D-Day because I am currently out of town on business. We didn't think it would be fair for Erika and Beckett to go through the first few days alone.

We need to post the rules, but I want it to be clear - we aren't purging TV from our lives, we are purging TV from our home. We aren't trying to punish our family and friends. We will watch TV at their homes if they want to - but we hope to be a positive example of the alternative to TV addiction. I expect to have family stop by less, I expect to be chided as participating in an extreme experiment. But thankfully, Erika and I have each other and we spend most of our time together, so we will be fine. This isn't that hard. We both like to read - we will read more. We both like music - it will be a bigger part of our lives. We both like to cook - we can do more together. We both love our son - we can spend more time on the floor playing, in a chair reading, and taking him on long walks with the dog after dinner (if this winter ever ends).

We also want to be more creative - I don't remember when I decided to stop being creative, but lately those juices have been flowing and I don't want it to stop. Turning off the TV will only help manifest whatever I decide to create.

In conclusion, welcome to the start of our experiment. We can't wait to share our journey with you.