The recent winter ice and snow storms have been no fun, except for the insane folks who actually hope for the freezing weather. I would like these people deported to Antarctica so they get their bellies’ full of the misery. The bad weather did provide some perspective on the way we go about daily life in 2015. Many people have had to deal with no electricity, no internet, and no TV for a few days. Things we take for granted become very noticeable once they are no longer there.
Luckily for me, my household only lost power for about an hour. My dad had no electricity for about 72 hours, then once the power came back on they had to deal with some frozen water pipes the next day! We only had to suffer through about three days of no internet and no TV. No television was OK with me since there is not much on anyway. Unless I want to see some drummed up reality TV drama, I knew I would be fine without television. The few shows I enjoy, with real actors and writers, could be watched online once I got my internet connection back. Waiting for that connection to be reestablished was a bit harsh for me.
Many people were able to use their phone service as a way to hop online. Unfortunately we didn’t have that ability as our cell service was very limited. We found out how much our Sprint service was relying on wifi beforehand. The roads were clear in our area so we could at least travel safely. That meant actually leaving the house to get online. Oh the horror! It was actually a good thing and made me appreciate the blessing of being able to get online from home in normal circumstances. And I discovered that the library, within walking distance from my home, is a quieter place to work from than my home.
The fact that I had to leave my property to get online made me use it more efficiently too. When I used a friend’s connection outside his business from my truck, I didn’t hang around aimlessly on Twitter. I checked my email and responded to important messages and carried on with no wasted browsing. While using the library, I caught a couple of TV shows that I write recaps for and wrote the posts very efficiently. Knowing the library closed at a certain time made me hustle and focus a bit more.
I hate cold weather and even more so when it involves ice and modern conveniences like power and internet going down. So I don’t want these events to happen ever. But when they do, I sure take note of how easy the online world makes my life. It also makes me consider how much time I waste on the web because it is so easy to get to normally.
