The Agony and the Ecstasy

The highlight of my day was a visit from my friendly Time Warner installer, who set up my new Roadrunner service. He even was kind enough to set up my wireless router for me, for which I gave him ten dollars. Afterward, I was sorry I hadn't given him much, much more, as I realized that trying to set it up myself would have probably ended in tears, and even more likely, the one-night draining of a box of Franzia white wine.

You see, without any prior warning, the previously free-flowing well that was my wireless connection just suddenly ran dry on Saturday night. I had a good mind to go and bang down the neighbor's door (whose signal I shamefully admit I've been "borrowing" for over a year now)--you know, to demand satisfaction--but it occurred to me that I didn't actually know which neighbor to speak to, and that could make for an awkward confrontation if I got the wrong house. This helplessness led to the immediate development of a nervous tic which caused me to repeatedly check the network availability, in case it "decided to start working again".

I had made it nearly 48 hours before the sheer inconvenience of having to use the Internet only at work or Dunkin' Donuts (which I visited twice during this dismal, lengthy period) before it simply became TOO MUCH TO BEAR. Then I broke down, ratcheted my honesty and character up a notch while I was at it, and ordered my very own internet subscription.

When I thought about the fact that I could not even make it two days without a round-the-clock availability of any email, news, music, video, or whatever else that I wanted, I thought it might be time to reevaluate my life.

But instead, I just got on the Internet and read The Onion for seven hours straight. Ha.