Until last week, surfing the web had been the first and last of my daily routines. The installation of my new internet service seemed sure to deepen my addiction, but the new box proved to be an unexpected failure. My personal computer has been unable to connect. Instead of picking up the phone and dialing for service, I decided to cook some Japanese eggplant—which I had never done before. My life has begun to change from there. It’s as though entire hours of my daily schedule have been redevoted to cooking. Contacting people in the community has involved more personal phone calls, fewer mass mailings and more delegation of responsibility than I would previously have felt comfortable with (and sometimes more than others feel comfortable with assuming). Meditation has returned to being the first routine. In the meantime, my blogging has taken the biggest hit. But it’s been a wonderful experience.