A Sad Commentary on Our Times

So all last week we were having problems with our internet connection. Really weird problems too. It was kind of slower than normal, and every evening at around seven it would just disappear. Nothing. Wireless completely gone, and the wired was hit and miss. But then, just like clockwork, between nine and ten it would come back. And work just fine until the next day at seven. Weirdest Internet problem ever. Sunday it went out at 7:30, and never came back. No Internet all day yesterday. I spent a good chunk of my afternoon trying to get it back up . . . one of the "perks" of being the maintenance people for the summer - one call to the manager and I got the customer service number for Qwest and the account number for the complex. Sadly the guy I ended up talking was no help. Grr. On the plus side, when Luke got home from Convergys training he went down to take a look at it, and apparently the problem was exactly what he'd learned about at work. How convenient is that?! So he fiddled around for a bit and pushed buttons and played with cords and wires and . . . yeah. I have no idea what he did. And when he tried to explain the problem it went completely over my head. As if the phrase "it's all Greek to me" was coined solely and expressly for our conversation last night. However, obviously, it worked, and we are back online. Woot. The wireless is still acting really funking and tempramental, but the wired is fine . . . and as long as one of them's working, I'm perfectly content.

Which brings me to my point. I thought I was going to go nuts yesterday. Well, yesterday afternoon anyway. I spent most of the morning doing errands. Since the a/c in my car doesn't work I try to be home for the day by about one. Anyway, all afternoon - when I was't on the phone with Qwest - I had to fight the urge to try "just one more time" to get connected. Granted, I have plenty of books to keep me occupied, and I probably read about 600 more pages than I would have otherwise, and I do appreciate the fact that while I'm not getting paid and sometimes get bored, having such extensive uninterrupted time for reading is a treat that can't last forever. But yesterday I wanted my internet. Undoubtedly mostly because it wasn't there, like most other people would be feeling I imagine. I wanted to read the comics I get emailed to me every day (how could I survive without my Pearls Before Swine?! Oh the humanity!!). I wanted to waste time mindlessly combing through cake wrecks, and some of the other blogs I've found this summer. And holy crap, I was dying to start some fights on Sorority Life. That game has really sucked me in!! (What? You have your Mafia Wars or Vampire Wars or whatever. So I chose the pink one. Don't judge me!)

Is this what it's come to? I do nothing of significant importance online, and yet, when I don't have access to it, I go crazy. I remember being sent outside during the summer when we lived in IF and told not to come back in until dinnertime. I usually took a book out with me - and sometimes it got tough trying to sneak back in to switch books - and there was other stuff to do . . . mostly the trampoline and occasionally we'd have water fights. I'll admit I was bored a lot back then - one can only throw a bucket of water at Ashli so many times before it gets old. A lot of times, don't get me wrong. But that too, eventually gets old. One can only jump on the tramp for so long - no matter what kind of shape you're in - before one is too out of breath to keep going. And as I've mentioned before, things like dishes and vacuuming and such only take so long. I've actually started doing dishes every other day just so that it takes longer when I do wash them. But have I really become such a boring/uncreative person that one day without the interet leaves me climbing up the walls? That's . . . kinda pathetic, not gonna lie. And the cray thing is, now that the internet is back, I've spent more of my time reading than online. Please, tell me I'm not the only person out there who's this contrary!

On another note, I was at familysearch Sunday when the internet went down, just exploring a little because we'd talked a little about family history at church. And I was remembering how much I enjoyed it my senior year of college when I took that family history class and was starting to learn how to do everything. I want to try and start that up again - especially considering how much free time I have for it right now. The only problem is, I have no idea what to do or where to start or how to find anything. Especially considering on line I was following backward (just to see how far I coud go) went all the way back to the 1300s! How am I supposed to pick that up and go forward with it? Or any of the others even? Any tips/help would be great, at least to get me started . . .



P. ost S. cript
Another cutesy one. Team Jayla showed us this one about a month ago, and I got a kick out of it. Shay and I can both do the voice . . . although it is a bit of a strain on the vocal chords . . .