For more on how  iPad will change your life, here’s Attaining Nirvana through iPad.

FreeGeek takes in all the unloved computers, tests them to see if they are actually usable or if the parts can be extracted. Reuse before recycle is key.

It is a lot of work that goes into this process. Most of this work is handled by volunteers. FreeGeek is a non-profit organization and some of their money comes from the precious metals like gold, silver and copper found in the motherboards. They also help in regulation of ewaste. They stop of lot of toxic material from the computers being sent to the poor countries. Most of the ships that bring in goods into the US and Canada may be leaving with tons of toxic material. Even though this is illegal, there are some loop holes in the procedures. The toxic material ends up elsewhere in the world.

Even though I like most of what FreeGeek does, I was quite appalled at what gets reused. For example, if the keyboard is even slightly dirty, it gets discarded. Black is preferred to white keyboards. It involves too much labor to clean it. This is sent to yet another recycler who figures out what to do with them. The reused components get built into reincarnated computers and sold at the thrift store or given away free to volunteers.

Interestingly, this is one place where Macs are not considered cool, in fact they are despised. They are a headache to recycle. FreeGeek loves PCs but dislikes Windows. Linux and Opensource is what is loved at Freegeek.

I read today that Hugh Jackman stopped the broadway play asking the person in the audience to stop the phone ringing. He is awesome! But, for some reason I do not get so annoyed when the phone rings non stop in a yoga class, even during the savasana. I know yogis should know better and remember to turn it off, but still I sort of forgive people when they forget to do that.

I got rid of all my yoga notes. It weighed about 6 kilograms. I sold it for 5 rupees per kilogram. Made some money off of my yoga notes that I have been carrying around. I am sure some one in Bangalore is bound to see my stick figures while buying peanuts in a paper cover. I hope they break into a yoga session after they eat the peanuts.

Technology has its uses. I diligently took photographs of all my notes before selling them.  I have stored them on my laptop. Now, I can only hope my laptop does not crash or it does not get stolen. There is no guarantee of either but to be detached with this entire thing. I considered getting it scanned, but it is very expensive in India. I thought of getting my yoga text books and related books scanned. They cost a lot, way more than the cost of the books. I have decided to let go of a lot of books that I do not have space for. I like each and every book that I have, but I have to rank them to select the top 3. Or I will have to leave behind other important things.

I do prefer to hold a real book or sheets of paper than reading it on my monitor. Now the decision is between not having the notes or reading it on my monitor. So, it is not too bad. And, I also think I have read my notes so many times, that it is stored in my brain too. But, that is not too reliable. A compromise is not bad in this case. While I am on the use of technology to simplify things, I want to point out an excellent article written by Papi for Mint, which questions if technology does simplify things.

This is tough. What do I take, what do I leave behind?