It’s Wednesday, 11:31 am. I’m presently sitting in Starbucks, English Breakfast tea with milk and a lot of sugar at my side. My computer is hooked up to the free wifi.

Why did I choose to work at Starbucks today? Simply put- there is a Spectrum outage in my area, and I am unable to get onto the internet at home.

What’s the takeaway?

I can’t function without the internet.

Here’s how my morning looked:

  1. I normally check the weather and the news when I wake up. Big fat can’t do when there is no internet.
  2. Wordle. WORDLE! How did I ever exist without wordle!
  3. Email? No can do.
  4. Blog? Can’t read comments. Can’t read blogs. Can’t write blog.
  5. Amazon? Can’t download return code for thing I need to return.
  6. Address? Can’t google the address of my daughter’s new dorm, and she’s unreachable because she’s in orientation advisor training
  7. Writing? Can’t get on to Googledocs, because I never did what I needed to do to be able to use it offline
  8. Petsmart? Can’t make grooming appointment for my dog.
  9. Nook? Can’t buy new book
  10. Goodreads? Can’t update the book I finished last night.
  11. Hotels? Can’t book reservations for the two parents weekends at my daughters school
  12. EZPass– I was supposed to figure out how to return my Father’s expired ezpass….have to pass for now

So basically- my to do list sits here, undone.

If you’d asked me a day ago, if I was a slave to the internet, I would have told you NO. But here I sit, my glasses on the scarred brown table, my tote bag on my lap, sipping tea through the little whole at the top of the cup, and pissed off because I can’t get stuff done.

True, for some things I could be at home, using my Verizon 5G- but we don’t have unlimited wireless on our phones. I don’t want to extend into overages if I don’t have to. None of these things are emergencies: they’re just inconveniences. And I really grasp that I don’t like to be inconvenienced…

But now the blog is done. I’m going to answer comments. Then I’m going to tackle the internet related issues of my to do list. And then I’m going to run home and grab an umbrella because it looks like rain…

53 thoughts on “Anything Can Happen Friday: The Internet- Out”

  2. Boy, does that sound like a familiar routine! And whenever the power and/or Internet goes down we are reminded of how completely and utterly reliant we all are on it working. For some of us (you and me, for example), it’s a minor or major inconvenience. For businesses or for people working remotely it’s a major inconvenience or unmitigated disaster. Our reliance on the Internet is staggering when it comes down to it.

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    1. I was glad it was a day where my husband goes into the office. Otherwise…he’d have been in trouble because his company won’t allow the network to run on a public line

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  7. I’ve had similar panic moments when internet is down. A solution if it happens again in the near future is to put your phone on cellular ( where it’s not using WiFi) and then link your computer to it via Bluetooth. Feel free to message me individually if you would like more details!

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  11. LOL, lets look atthe bright side. Gzoing out for a tea, maybe a scone is a treat. As for item #12, I have 2 expired ezpasses. The state has yet to ask for them back. Souveniers or paper weights (remember those?)

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  14. It’s amazing how much we depend on having internet. Living in Florida during the rainy hurricane season causes outages non stop down here. Each time my power or internet goes down it’s a wake up call on how spoiled I am. Lol I feel lost without it. I do everything electronically. If there was a war and we were forced to be without it my bills wouldn’t get paid, my appointment reminders wouldn’t work, and most of my entertainment would be done. It’s the worst. Well, not the absolute worst but pretty close. Hi, My name is Lesley and I’m addicted to technology and the internet. 😳

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  16. We are (some of us…definitely, ME) dependent upon things that can go way beyond our control and when they screw up…creative cursing helps…but only slightly! Glad you have your internet back, my friend! I can’t imagine if I were to go on your blog and YOU DIDN’T HAVE A NEW POST! Holy cow! Because, you know, it’s all about us…your faithful readers! You can tell Spectrum that when they do this kind of….(creative curse word), it doesn’t just impact you. You have people to answer to! 🙂 Hope you have a wonderful weekend! Mona

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  17. Sometimes I spend a morning writing down all the things I want to Google. Just to show myself that it’s procrastination as well as a useful research tool. Like did I really need to look up first thing this morning what Jeff Bezos’ coat of arms looks like?

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  18. Without the internet, I could easily do some things the old analog way, but others would require a phone and still others a long drive in my car. Technology is so intimately integral to our way of life. If it all collapsed, society would, too, I think.

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  20. When we first bought our cabin in the woods 20 years ago, we had it for a year without phone of any kind or Internet. How wonderful to not have those kinds of interruptions, we said. Fast forward to today: we wring our hands over less than stellar Internet and abysmal cell phone service. It seems almost everything we do relies on connectivity. I feel your pain, LA.

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  24. Your post is yet another reminder of my addiction to the internet and all things out there in cyber land. I used to accomplish sooooo much before I had the world at my beck and call in the palm of
    my aching hand. Now that I’m thinking of a writing topic I’d better get to it before I forget what it was. Good luck.

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