For just over a year, I've enjoyed the company of this little black book that's second to none (thanks CP!). And I've kept a wide range of ideas, sketches, to-do lists, and mockups, including a few good ideas for this site. It's hard to believe that the Refresh logo is a mere 373 days old... time flies when you're having fun and making websites!

Pen and paper have been an integral part of my creative process ever since I was a kid: coming up with mystical lands where bizarre and dangerous monsters roamed across the construction paper; devising architectural marvels that I'm sure would be a real structural engineer's worst nightmare; and storyboarding the unlikely tales of a band of culinary utensils under the apt title of "The Kitchen Adventures."

The pen and paper tradition continued in college where I found a much-needed reprieve from the latest obsession: staring at a screen and contributing to this new internet, sure to not be just another passing trend, but a full-blown promise for the future. My 'offline' time became just as important as my 'online' time, whether that be planning a layout in the back of my notebook (instead of listening to the lecture), dreaming up crazy web services on the whiteboard that would leave the programmers shaking their heads, or doodling the next great graphic treatment for my homepage. In fact, this little guy, a robotic dog named AURi (automated robotic intelligence, donchaknow) became our mascot for the Student Information Network and leapt off the page to help host a flash-based presentation in 2000.

It's been a full year since this site relaunched, and my offline habits are more vital than ever. At home, I'll do my best thinking while I clean the kitchen, take a shower, or sit on the floor in my room... not necessarily in front of the glowing screen. With a full hour roundtrip commute to work, I fill that time writing, sketching, reading, or napping to good music. Even at the Museum, I have to escape to a good quiet exhibit like Reptiles or the Hall of Planet Earth to see my productivity go up.

I'm not the first to say this, and I definitely won't be the last. How do you spend your time offline?