Monday, January 20, 2014

Offline

When I woke up this morning it figured to be a good day. For the first time in weeks it was less than completely dark when my alarm went off; I could make the bed without turning on a light. After I got out of the shower I heard birds chirping. When I got down to the kitchen there was fresh coffee made, and there were a lot of choices for breakfast.  All of this put me in a great mood.

Then I remembered we were having Information Highway issues, and my great mood vanished.

The problem started yesterday morning.  When I tried to get online after breakfast I got an error message telling me our home network wasn't available. Son Donald did some moving-around of wires and determined we could still surf the Web by going downstairs and plugging the computer directly into the ethernet cable. Mid-afternoon that stopped, too.  (We get our service through the cable company.  The TV still works.)

All day I wandered around like a lost soul.  I checked emails on my phone a couple of times. However, I have a small phone data plan because I count on using the network in the house.   There wasn't anything urgent enough to drive to a coffee shop for free WiFi, but I missed checking in on blogs and websites.

This morning, with no ability to access the Internet I finished all my To Dos quickly.  I decided to go to work early and use my laptop with their WiFi.  I put the computer in a tote bag, then added my lunchbox and some other necessities and left for the day.

Traffic was light.  I got to the mall 45 minutes before I had to clock in at the Customer Service desk and set up in an area with a hotspot.  It was SO satisfying to be able to access the Internet!  Time flew, and before I knew it I had to go to work. I had a chance to use the computer a couple of times during my shift, and at the end of the day I checked the Internet once more.  After I hit the 'Publish' button for this post I packed everything up and left the mall.

The cable company is coming out tonight. I hope they're able to fix the problem so I don't have to go through the same procedures tomorrow!

Five years ago today: Bingo!

12 comments:

  1. I've shared your pain. Hope you're back in business real soon.

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    1. It's now Day Three. If it goes on much longer I might start getting used to being unavailable online.

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  2. I am lost without the internet! Fortunately so many places offer wifi but you do need it at home. Hope it gets fixed soon. It is great the days are getting longer.

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    1. Yes, thank goodness for WiFi! I've carried my laptop to more places the past few days than I have for the last month.

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  3. It would be difficult to be offline for very long. I have tried, every so often, to stay off of the computer for the day, but I have my phone which is pretty much my other computer. As a matter of fact, I have found, from those non computer days, that the phone is just as good as the computer and I can take and send pictures with it which I can do with my computer but rarely do. Perhaps if I had an iPad I would use it for photos. Hope you are reconnected very quickly.

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    1. I hadn't realized how reliant I was on the Internet until I didn't have it.Every time I tried to pick up a project Sunday I needed to be online for some part of it...researching information or communicating with others via email. I told Hubby that this month if I go over my data limit on my phone and have to pay the higher amount I'm not going to worry about it

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  4. Ut oh - I hate that. The lost soul description is exactly that. If I'm w/o internet all of a sudden I can't think of what else to do though that's the time to get caught up on other stuff.

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    1. Yes, there was lots of other stuff I COULD have done. Cleaning the house comes to mind :-)

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  5. I've lost the internet a time or two at home too, and it's awful! I'm just so lost without it. Never realized until then just how addicted I was to it.

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  6. Isn't it funny how we're now so dependent on the Internet? I feel so adrift when we're without connection.

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