Jan 11
The day the internet died…
It died some time yesterday in the afternoon.
Which was fine.
Who has that much time for internet things when your son scatters the entire contents of every cupboard in the house to the four corners of the universe faster than you can put it back again? A tin of baked beans by the toilet door? I can live with that. Plastic containers jammed under the sofa? I can live with that. I can even live with being unable to find a matching pair of shoes. But when Caspar goes to bed…
I want my internet!
No internet.
Big Sis’ and my computers are networked. There is a hub and a cable modem in her room. I have nothing to do with them. I turn the computer on in the morning and the whole world is there waiting for me, probably as bleary eyed as I am. Sometimes Big Sis turns her computer on after mine and has to reset things to get the connection working properly at her end. It involves pulling out a plug and then putting it back in. No drama. She just waits until whatever page I’m opening is loaded and it is done in a flash.
Last night, I unplugged and replugged and shut down, and rebooted - her computer, my computer - in a variety of orders for about an hour and still the world was silent.
I. Was. Not. Happy.
Big Sis was out for dinner but I called her anyway and that’s when I discovered the awful truth. There was nothing I could do to fix it: The phone was dead too.
I turned the television on. I turned it off. I sat down at the computer to do disconnected things. I got up again. I paced. I did 3 Sudokus. I sat down at the computer again. After calling from the neighbours line to see what was going on, I knew there was a serviceman somewhere fixing something. It’s possible that some of the intervals between me checking the line were as long as fifteen minutes, but not likely.
Is it done yet? Is it done yet?
It was all to no avail.
Now this would seem like the perfect opportunity to tidy up all the files cluttering my desktop - both the electronic one and the physical one - and to sort through all the folders called “To Be Sorted” without distractions. I did a little of that. I even read through some of my feeds (I’d just installed a new desktop feedreader that day) and wrote half a post in my text editor. But I wanted my distractions!
At 12:30am, I gave up and went to bed.
With my Sudoku.
Note: Because I’ve migrated all my feeds to a new reader I’m way behind in my reading so if any of you are missing me, I’m slowly catching up. I’m hoping the new program will make everything a bit more manageable anyway. Soon, you might be sick of seeing my name on your blogs. xx cm
January 11th, 2008 at 11:29 pm
well that just sucks!! I’d be completely and utterly lost without my internet. My mother was laughing at me last year when she knew I was going to be in hospital without it for a few days. I told her my mobile was web capable!! bahaha
January 11th, 2008 at 11:36 pm
Oh no ! would cry too - I second the toddler trashing -yes I can live with it but when they go to bed I love my internet too ! My down time.
January 11th, 2008 at 11:42 pm
I was in a similar predicament yesterday! My laptop’s power adaptor gave out in the afternoon and I spent all night without it. I do at least have a pc as well, so I could check my email; but I couldn’t do any work, and I’m used to browsing the web while watching tv or listening to music. Bloody annoying. So first thing this morning I took it down to the shop, and they were happy to repair it under warranty, but it would take 3-4 days. No way I can last that long so I had to buy a new adapter as well
January 12th, 2008 at 12:13 am
I just bought a web-capable mobile phone too. I couldn’t fathom being without email for an entire week of vacation.
January 12th, 2008 at 9:35 am
Yup. I think nearly all of us can relate to this one. I have to say, I’m a bit of a luddite though and the idea of trying to use the internet on a mobile seems ludicrous. They’re too small! But it would have been nice to have on that night. Mind you, I can’t even send an sms on mine anymore. Baby drool and electronics don’t play well together.
Brett, are you going to come and play with us at the Aussie Bloggers Forum?