The Digital Age

I love the digital age. I love those little fiber optic cables running into our house. Those same cables make it possible for me to write this blog. To stay updated on the lives of all of my readers. Well, except Steve's of course, as I can find out how he's doing just by looking into his office at any time of day (or night, really). Those same cables allow me to call my family overseas, my friends in faraway places, and my husband when I realize I've forgotten something from the store again. But you know the downside to all those cables? They create some serious dependency issues. And I mean serious.

On Friday, when our internet connection started to fade in and out, I got a little cranky. Well, a lot actually. I was trying to upload grades for my online class, and that doesn't exactly work when you keep having to reset your modem, check your router, and reboot your computer. Especially if you consider that I was working downstairs, and the router and modem are both located upstairs, in our "bonus"room. Running up and down a flight of stairs every five minutes does very little for my mood, let me tell you that. It also didn't help that at 3pm, the Flint Switch 'n' Save program kicked in, meaning our HVAC got turned off. Yes. In spite of the fact that we requested to be taken off that program last summer, our AC unit stopped running just as the outside temperature peaked at about 106F. Just wunderbar. But at least our internet seemed to be working. Note, I said seemed.

Because less than two hours later, as I picked up the house phone to call someone, I noticed there was no dialtone. Surprised, I walked up the stairs once again, to our other phone, which, coincidentally, happens to sit right next to our modem. Which, so I happened to notice, was off. At first, I remained optimistic; I tried to reset the modem, I unplugged its cable, and plugged it back in, and then slammed it down on the bookcase it was sitting on. The last action wasn't really a part of the attempt to fix the modem, it just made me feel a little better.

So at this point, we have no phone, and no internet, as both come in through that same modem. And talk about cold turkey. No blog, no Facebook, no email, no calling people. Now I can just hear my mom say something about reading a good book. But you see, that's not the point. I read a million books a year anyway. I just, apparently, love staying in touch with the world. Randomly reading blogs, checking news websites, and tinkering with my Facebook page has really become second nature. And so I was all "verklempt"this weekend. Dependent on my cellphone, I carried it around with me everywhere, even leaving it on at night in case there was an emergency. And because we don't have an international calling plan on our cellphones, I had to place a collect call to my dad on Father's Day. I can tell you that that felt really giving.

But thank heavens for American customer service. Because the technician from Cox Communications stopped by this morning at 9am. Yes, a Sunday morning. And he even called if he could come earlier than our appointment slot, which was from 1pm to 3pm. And now everything works just fine once again. Yay!

So please excuse me while I get my daily internet fix!