Here's a simple test of my own devising: Take your hands off the keyboard, put them in your lap, look up from the screen and find a blank place on the wall in front of you, and just stare out into the distance. Don't do anything else right now, just do that for 15-30 seconds, and then come back here.

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No cheating, just do the exercise.

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Don't worry, the next paragraph will wait for you.

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Okay, assuming that you did the exercise, what I'd like to know is: Did you think about anything during this time, or did you just stare off in the distance without any thoughts?

For me, it turns out that when I do this I don't think about anything. I don't think about software, or finance, news, or accomplishments, nothing.

This might not be too unusual, but it turns out that the same thing is true when I'm out eating with other people, in a meeting, or even most times when I write software. In those little in-between moments in life there isn't much going on up there for me, just plain silence.

Now, I don't write this as a good or bad thing, just a curious thing. I wonder what other people think about -- if anything -- in life's little in-between moments.