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Program Alarm 1202: Executive Overflow in Everyday Life

When Apollo 11 was rocketing to the lunar surface, the on-board computer began to issue 1201 and 1202 program alarms. The codes meant that the computer had so much to do, it couldn’t get it all done in real time, and so it had to postpone some of its tasks. I know how that computer feels. My day is often filled with 1202 codes. I’ll occasionally change my chat status to 1202, although few people get the joke.
Like Milo of Croton (who supposedly lifted a newborn calf every day until he was eventually lifting a full-grow cow), I have steadily, if accidentally, grown increasingly busier so that every moment of my day is filled. Even time that should, in theory, be relaxing, is spent multitasking. When I walk, I listen to audio-books. When I do chores around the house, I’m listening to podcasts. When I write code at the day job, I am listening to music. Few and far between are the times where I sit and do nothing at all.
Yesterday, I reluctantly turned down an radio interview request because I have too much going on right now. A few years ago, I would have jumped through all kinds of hoops for an opportunity like that. But those 1202s were buzzing, reminding me I had too much to do, that I couldn’t get it all done in real-time, and so I had to postpone some tasks.
Over the years my default setting has morphed from idle to busy. If I ever find myself with nothing to do, I feel lazy. The daily buzz of the 1202 alarms acts like stimulant.
For the past year or so, I’ve had a recurring day dream. In this reverie, I find myself on a farm in some remote place, like Montana or Wyoming. In one direction is a vast, empty plain, and blue sky as far as the eye can see. In the other direction, snow-capped mountains tower in the distance. I spend my days splitting wood, building a fence, and sitting idle on the porch. There’s no Internet, no television, no streaming music, no iPhone, or MacBook. There’s no email to check, no Twitter notifications, no to-do list. This is the place I go to hide from the 1202s. I can never stay very long, because the grating buzz of the alarms soon penetrates into that imagined place.