Sometimes, we have to give up the things we love. For me, it was the Internet.

Let me fill you in on a few details. Besides writing this column for the Tribune, I am also employed part-time here as a proofreader. That’s right, I’m the guy to blame whenever you find a typographical error.

But, I digress. Part-time employment means that after our print deadline is met and my other responsibilities are finished, I get to go home for the day and work on finishing the final draft of the novel I’ve been writing for the last two years.

At least that’s what I was supposed to be doing. Unfortunately, I was spending way too much time surfing the Internet and getting absolutely nothing done. To combat this, I decided not to renew my account when it expired. I have officially been off-line since early December, and my productivity has increased exponentially because of it.

There are a few things I miss. I enjoyed reading the posts on the Tribune’s Web site forum, and occasionally posting a reply of my own.

I liked going to CNN’s Web site (www.cnn.com) to see what was going on in the world, particularly since I am not a cable subscriber and my alternative is to watch local news stations.

I enjoyed The Onion (www.theonion.com), an outrageous weekly newspaper parody. How can you not find humor in a news story with a headline that reads &uot;George Bush gives France 30 days to speak English&uot; or &uot;Heroic PETA commandos kill 49, save rabbit&uot;?

I also miss the conveniences of online banking, online shopping and e-mail. These were so much easier than driving to the bank or placing a phone call.

That said, there are also a few things about the Internet that I won’t miss.

I will not miss the countless pop-up ads congratulating me for being the 10,000th visitor to a particular Web site, and telling to click on the &uot;OK&uot; icon to receive whatever prize they are offering. Incidentally, I must have had impeccable timing, because it seemed I was such a visitor to any given Web site three or four times every day.

On the subject of pop-up ads, I will also not miss the pop-up ads for the so-called &uot;security&uot; cameras. These advertisements promote home security, yet always feature photos of scantily-clad women in seductive poses. Is that what they’re supposed to be for? What I want to know is how some woman, wearing only a swimsuit and lying on the beach, is going to be able to prevent my home from being burglarized.

I will not miss the dozens of spam messages I used to receive on my Hotmail account. I finally set the e-mail message security to the highest possible level. Funny thing, with that level of filtering, the only thing that was able to get through was &045; get this &045; spam messages from Microsoft. I never did figure out how to block messages from them. (Go figure.)

I will not miss Ibonics, the apparent official language of the Web. u no, the way sum ppl type online? its not 2 kewl 2 me. u no y? cuz its hard 2 read & rite that way when u no how to read the rite way, k? Seriously, there should be some sort of program hidden on all computers that automatically detects Ibonics users and wipes their hard drives.

Nor will I miss e-mails that say &uot;I better get this back&uot; in the subject line, encourage me to help someone I don’t know to get their money out of Nigeria, or to forward to everybody I know and Bill Gates will send me $5 for each person who I send it to.

Anyway, not having Internet access at home seems to have thankfully put a considerable dent in the time I spend online. It was a nice distraction to get rid of. However, that will be where I draw the line. I have no intention of getting rid of electricity, gas, water, sewer, telephone or transportation. Certainly not unless I decide to move over to the Harmony area, anyway.

Dustin Petersen is an Albert Lea resident. His column appears Mondays.