You Don’t Know What You Have ‘Till It’s Gone

Whew!  **Slides into chair**  Back online!  We’ve had phone and DSL internet problems since Wednesday, Feb. 3rd and hopefully we are back up and running for good. I live in an older part of town with regards to the infrastructure. Most of it dates back to 1954 with updates in the early 1970s. (When the DSL part was added, I haven’t a clue. 1990s sometime?) The city is starting the process of moving old water lines from the alleys to new water lines under the streets in front of our houses. Combine this with the rain we’ve had lately, the 1970s era phone lines and what a mess is had by all. I find it hard to believe we are the only customers complaining.

Actually, I’m writing this offline to make myself feel better. As I type, the phone repair dude is waiting for something to be brought in from the yard. I didn’t catch what it was, but my guess is an industrial-size hair dryer. Whatever. But I’m frustrated, because I wanted to look up the age of our DSL technology and couldn’t.

So, it is amazing how much I’ve become dependent upon the internet. No email. No blogs. No research at the drop of a question. I can’t even check the weather. (Why do radio stations decide you don’t need weather reports on the weekend?) My hubby couldn’t take it anymore so last night he packed up his laptop and, daughter in tow, headed for Peter Piper Pizza where they offer free wi-fi.

I stayed in and read my overdue library book. But I kept forgetting that we had no internet. I’d come to something in the book that I wanted to follow up on and I’d slip my finger in to hold my place and trotted over to my computer. After the fourth or fifth time I finally let myself sink into the story and forget the world. It’s been too long since I allowed myself to do that. What bliss when I turned the last page and felt that moment of “rats, the story is over.”

When was the last time you let go of the world to sink into a good book?

To Do:

I’m sure you do them, too. “To Do” lists. I was told at a Franklin Covey workshop that we experience a positive psychological reaction when we can put that check mark in front of a task. Yep.

Today I was able to check off:

• Laundry
• Front yard cleanup
• Specialty Society minutes
• And a laptop “fix” that I needed to try. 

And the day is only 2/3 done! I can now goof off without guilt.

Okay, I can goof off with minimal guilt.

Okay, the guilt is here, but I’m goofing off anyway. So there.

Lunacy

I stood outside tonight waiting for my little dog to pee. It was chilly and unusually quiet. The moon, full and exceptionally bright, lit up the back yard with a glow of peace. A few brave stars were visible through the light pollution of the city and I squinted to see them more clearly.

It was a moment before I tuned in to the public address system at the light rail station that lies half a block away. The voice was giving a detailed description of a man. Not wanting to know any more, I shrugged deeper into my jacket and dashed back into the house.

My dad was a highway patrolman in rural Minnesota for 25 years. Even he believed in the influence of a full moon. He swore that a full moon on a payday weekend spelled trouble and even offered to show me some of his field notes to back it up. Apparently, for tonight anyway, it proves him right.