Withdrawal

There could be only one reason why I was at Mishka's at 8:30 a.m. on a Saturday morning: I had no internet connection at home.

It had gone out the night before. We had gone to see Acme Theatre Company's fun production of The Three Musketeers and when we got home, I went to check e-mail, but there was none.

Aside: Funny incident at the show. As I was getting to my seat, I passed by a man who asked if I was Bev Sykes. When I said I was, he introduced himself as someone that I knew from Facebook and said that, coincidentally, he had been sitting there writing something to me on Facebook!

The strange things about the Internet! The other day I posted a video to YouTube of the musicians playing at the Sibelius monument in Helsinki and got a note from the trombone player of the group thanking me for posting the video!

But I digress...

I logged onto the Internet and was able to see my e-mail on the Davis Community Network mail portal, but I couldn't get any other web site and when I went back to check e-mail again, I couldn't get that web site either.

I assumed something had gone wrong at Davis Community Network, so I sent Walt upstairs to see if he could pick up his mail. He reported that he could get e-mail and he could also get web pages on the internet (but he is still on dial-up, which might have made a difference). This was starting to sound bad. I was glad that I had posted my journal entry before going to the theatre.

Losing internet connection is reminiscent of the old days of childbirth. When I was birthin' babies there were no such things as "birthing rooms." You were put on a gurney, your hands were strapped down and you were wheeled into a delivery room where you pushed the baby out, lying flat on your back. Thank goodness things are better for women giving birth now. But the one thing that happened to me every single time when they straped me to that gurney was that my nose began to itch. The nurse was there to give support for delivering the baby and I always ended up having to ask her to scratch my nose for me.

Once the internet connection was gone, I thought of lots of things that I needed to do right now. E-mails I hadn't sent, research I hadn't done, Facebook status updates I hadn't checked. Nothing earth-shattering, but it took on much greater importance and urgency just because I couldn't do it. I was sitting in the family room trying not to think of the word "elephant."

I decided to try attaching my laptop to my DSL modem, which I've done before, but that didn't work either so I was beginning to think that there was a problem with my modem.

I did, however, notice that a neighbor had a wifi network that I could connect to (don't tell him he should password protect it, OK?) so I got on line long enough to post something to Facebook about not having a connection. I also posted the mirror entry for Funny the World to Blogger, so at least I didn't have anything about this journal hanging over my head ('cause we all know that I'm compulsive about it, right?)

In the morning, I got up, hoping against hope that somehow the shoemaker's elves had come in in the night and fixed the problem, 'cause I didn't know if I'd be able to connect to a technician on the weekend. But no, still no internet connection.

However, I am nothing if not resourceful. I packed everything up and went to Mishka's where I got French Roast coffee, a croissant for breakfast, and an hour and a half of internet connection (actually it's unlimited time, but I stayed an hour and a half). Just seeing all those familiar pages popping up so quickly was like six hours at the seaside.

I left knowing that if I couldn't connect at home for the weekend, Mishka's would be there so I could post my journal entries and check e-mail. There was also a bonus in that I have a lot of work to do today and I would not have the distraction of the internet calling to me. I also got the idea that I should come home and unplug the modem and see if that kind of "kick start" would work.

I got home and unplugged the modem and then sat down at my computer--to see a screen full of e-mails. Apparently the problem was NOT with my computer, but with the server after all, and it was back. I plugged the modem back in again and everything worked.

I am embarrassed to admit to how much calmer I became knowing that I had internet connection again! But I'm very grateful that we have come to a point in the electronic age where we do have work-around resources for when things to sour, something that is only recent. If I didn't have a laptop that could connect wirelessly, I would have been tearing my hair out all night long. Fortunately, I not only have back-up plans, but have also set up my laptop to be more or less identical to the desktop, so I don't even have to adjust much when switching from one to the other.