Dependent

Isn't it amazing how, without realizing it, we can become totally and utterly dependent on something -- like our Internet connection?

This morning, I was just working away when my Internet connection was suddenly just gone. Poof! I tried all of the stuff that usually works. Nothing. Then I picked up the phone. Dead. The TV was out, too, meaning that there was nothing I could do -- the cable was out. Normally, this would be just a slight annoyance -- one that would throw me off but wouldn't be Earth-shattering. I've got plenty of things to do offline. But today is Thursday. And on Thursdays I have to send out my weekly newsletter to all of the site's subscribers. As a general rule, I do so by 10. But by 9:30, I was still getting nothing.

"Go to Panera," Paul suggested. "They have free wireless, right?"

So I packed up my computer, ran off to Panera, ordered myself a bagel and a coffee for six bucks, and booted up my computer. But, as it turns out, there's something screwy going on with my wireless access. So while everyone else was just a-surfin' away, enjoying their coffees and free wireless access, I was plotting various ways of killing myself that would be as painless as possible, me being a wimp and all. By then it was around 11, and I still had a bagel and a giant mug of espresso-fueled beverage to finish. So I gulped my coffee, scarfed down the bagel, and went running out to the parking lot, to find that it was raining, which never ceases to happen when I decide to wear my glasses.

I threw my laptop back into the car and sped home, where I found a couple of cable trucks parked down the street. I left the computer in the car (in case I had to get back in the car and try the library next) and ran inside to check the phone. There was a dial tone. So I got my computer back out of the car and came running back in to re-hook up my computer and get online.

So it took me three hours (and $6) today to do something that should have taken about 20 minutes.

I was going to post pictures today, but my Adamas still looks like it did a couple of repeats ago -- only bigger -- and my baby sweater (which, I've been assured, has a big enough neck opening) pretty much just looks like a knitted blob right now. I did, however, purchase green yarn on sale at Hobby Lobby yesterday, which I'll photograph tomorrow, when, hopefully, I won't have to spend three hours of my day trying to get online.

Sometimes I ask Paul, "What did we do before the Internet?" I'm still not quite sure -- but I think it involved a lot less espresso...

BTW -- I had an article on review writing published today. If you're interested, you can check it out at AbsoluteWrite.