May 02, 2006
Here we are again!
You know, considering that this line connects us to the world, to newspapers, blogs, email, to friends and relatives, to facts and trivial stuff, to music, videos and online kids' games -- for all that, it's a remarkably unremarkable cable. It's thin. It sneaks in over the roof and through the window into the study. Thin, black, a little twisted. But it's a DSL line and the force is great with that one! Yohoo!
Well. Excuse me. It's important to us.
When I was born, the internet didn't exist. I know this will come as a shock to you, youthful looking that I am and so forth. But really, I wasn't introduced to email until my late twenties (stop calculating right now!) It did change my life, literally so. I met my husband online. In real life, we'd probably never have met by chance - he lived on the other side of the globe by then. That's one good reason to be addicted to the Internet.
There used to be a time when I looked facts up in encyclopedias. Now, I google whatever I want to know. Basic pie crust recipe with clear descriptions and pictures? Martha Stewart. Death rate of infants after DTP shot? ... Weather Forecast for the weekend? ... The latest pictures of my goddaughter? (Sorry, that site requires a password and you cannot have it.) A video of a snail devouring an earthworm? It's right there, at the tip of a finger.
Or not.
And then it hurts. It's amazing how much you miss it. How cut off from the world you feel. How you have this sense of urgency - there could be an important email waiting on the server, waiting for you to reply! And how amazing that there almost never actually is such an email. But there could be, right? It's possible. The world doesn't miss you nearly as much as you miss it, that's the sad fact.
But we're back online and because it's my blog, I can yell now:
Hello World! We are back!
[cough] Thank you. We now return to our usual mix of trivia, history and kids' pictures.
Posted by claudia at May 2, 2006 02:18 PM
Flowers in the front yard
My little school of seeds...
Alan and nanny Karine in the back yard, weeding
Too true. I think the impact on everyday life (where it is available) tends to be badly underestimated.
Welcome back, how is the new computer adjusting to life in Armenia?
Posted by: larry at May 2, 2006 05:13 PMIt's a bit shell shocked but quite well, considering... :-)
BTW, our DSL line keep dropping every other minute or so. Very annoying when you try to download something. Supposedly the phone connector box out on the street also has a crappy connection. I'm not surprised - after all, our phone has been dead for five days now.
They say they are going to fix it. I hope so!
Oh, and did I say thank you for all those recovered pix and videos? Thank you, thank you!
I'll write you later, btw. Banking matters... [sigh, the bills, they never end]
Posted by: claudia at May 2, 2006 05:21 PMHooray! DSL! DSL! DSL!
If it weren't for the Internet, I would never have met Doug or Claudia. (Okay, I might have met Doug.) So it's a wonderful thing.
(I will pass over the multitude of stalkers and anti-fans I have acquired via the Internet.)
Posted by: Carlos at May 2, 2006 05:21 PM(I will pass over the multitude of stalkers and anti-fans I have acquired via the Internet.)
Like they're a negative! Feature, not a bug.
Posted by: Bernard Guerrero at May 2, 2006 08:42 PMSorry for the unrelated comment (which can be deleted), but I'm a friend of Doug's who is going to be in Georgia in a few days (arriving May 6) and if it would be convenient for me to stop by in Yerevan that would be great. If not, no problem. I evidently don't have a good contact email address for the family. Doug has my gmail address, which is also with this comment.
Glad to hear all is well.
Joseph Eros
Posted by: Joseph Eros at May 2, 2006 09:01 PMI agree -- yahoo! I wouldn't have met husband or best friend without the internet. I wouldn't have rather nice daughter, cute godson, and three potential sons-in-law.
However, I would get more done in less time at the office... For whatever that's worth!
Natalie -- where are your consumables now?
Posted by: Natalie at May 2, 2006 09:07 PMBernard, the problem is, having stalkers doesn't pay. I want _cash_, dammit. I mean, who else on the Internet has _two_ Canadian stalkers?
There's gotta be a way to market this.
Posted by: Carlos at May 2, 2006 11:52 PMI want _cash_, dammit.
Advertising! I'm pretty damned sure B*ssior or Cleven would sit through a full five minute streaming commercial if they got the chance to insult you at the end. Just contact Google, post something nasty about neo-Confederates or how crappy Kamloops is or some such, and let the good times roll!
Posted by: Bernard Guerrero at May 3, 2006 05:32 PMHow'd you get two?!
I lived there 90% of my life and I only ever had at best, one, very easily discouraged stalker.
Posted by: James Bodi at May 6, 2006 03:00 AM