As if losing my cat two weeks ago wasn't bad enough, I lost my PC last weekend too. Unlike the cat, who we'd known was failing for about a year now, the PC gave no notice. Just up and died last Friday night. It was fine Thursday when I went to bed, but when I turned it on Friday evening, well, it didn't go on. Everything else on the power strip came on, but not the PC. It was the end of a long week, though, and I wasn't inclined to mess with it much at the moment. My inner Pollyanna told me things would work fine, somehow, the next day.
Saturday dawned, sort of, because it was dark and rainy and there wasn't a long list of chores for me to take care of, so I headed for my PC hoping to get my first fix of the day. I needed to see the news, weather, check out the blogs I don't get to read during the week much anymore. I also intended to look up about a half dozen miscellaneous things I jotted down in my journal during the week. And do some Environmental Commission paperwork. And look up a recipe. And perhaps blog a bit - after a dire, bleak winter with nary an interesting thought in my noggin, bloggy ideas have been bombarding me lately. These, too, are noted in my journal, just waiting for an opportunity to put them to words here.
But Pollyanna was dead wrong. PC wouldn't turn on. And despite the heroic efforts that Sparky undertook to swap out power supplies, and solder wires, and similar efforts to resuscitate the thing, it was not going to be revived. Not without a probable expenditure of about $500, anyway. I nixed any notion of repairing the thing after I remembered I had already spent at least $1000 over the last two years on mending this particular PC after two separate virus attacks and an earlier power system failure. When Sparky told me he had oodles of new or barely-used PCs that I could use, if I could just wait until Saturday evening, I agreed to put off running to Best Buy to buy a new one immediately.
Not a problem, I said. Ten, twelve hours. And it would be free. I could do it - live without the internet for that long, that is. There was always the option of visiting the local library computers for internet action if I really needed it. Or the Internet Cafe. Or I could drop by a friend's or relative's house for a visit and casually ask to use their computer for a few minutes. Like a smoker on the verge of quitting, I had my crutches all lined up.
But I forgot how much, and how often, I depend on the damned computer and internet. Every 5 minutes for the first couple of hours I would have a question, think to go look up the answer on the 'net, and realize with a shock that I couldn't do that today. I couldn't look up directions, upload the pictures from my digital camera, find out who was singing the song I just heard on the radio, check what was on sale at Rite-Aid, look up the phone number for the pizza place, shop for a birthday gift. I couldn't even play a CD, since my PC (with the awesome boom-box bass booster) was my only source of music.
It was agonizing.
I managed, barely, to get the news off the television. And the weather. I remembered where I keep my phone book. But I still had no e-mail. No instant connection to any piece of knowledge or trivia that I felt I needed. I was cut off. Cold turkey. And it sucked.
No, there's no gushy story here about how I learned to enjoy reading a book again. How I slowed down and reconnected with life off-line. How I realized that in the grand scheme of things, the internet is not so important. That just didn't happen.
Instead, I suffered through the day. It wasn't pretty. I grew shaky and paranoid and believed somehow that I wasn't alive without the 'net. By late afternoon, I was salivating at Sparky's promise of connectivity that evening (to the internet, you goobers - I was a technologically desperate woman by now). And - LO AND BEHOLD - I got connected that very night. To a laptop, no less. Hooked it directly to the wireless router and I was in. On. Whatever. It was awesome.
And it gets better. This story has a really happy ending!
Sunday, I purchased a wireless router card thingy. By Sunday evening, not only was I connected to the 'net, but I was doing it from the comfort of my couch in the living room. What a life!
Still getting better . . . last night Sparky delivered a full-fledged tower and installed it at my desk where the former PC used to reside. I now have - get this - two PCs. TWO PCs. One each in the two rooms where I spend most of my time here at home. I never have to be without one! I'm in heaven, I tell you. I can pay bills, read blogs, get e-mail, look up answers, get directions, what have you. I'm connected, and it feels good.
If there's a downside to all of this, it's the fact that my brief withdrawal has resulted in a rebound effect. Whereas one PC - at my desk - was my world before, I'm now seriously considering a Blackberry or Trio, and maybe another laptop. You know, for the kitchen.
Doesn't everyone need a computer in the kitchen?
You mean everyone doesn't have a computer in the kitchen??
No, but seriously... You haven't fully rebounded until you a Mac to your line up of puters. I suggest a nice little iBook or mac mini to round out your collection. ;-)
Posted by: CNL | Friday, April 28, 2006 at 07:21 AM
Holy Moses, woman! I need a Sparky! My laptop is FAR from wireless, and I sit on the floor, with my laptop sitting on a storage tote full of candles. (At least it smells pretty here!)
Posted by: scorpy | Friday, April 28, 2006 at 09:12 AM
How I realized that in the grand scheme of things, the internet is not so important.
Of course you didn't realize that, silly girl, the internet IS SO IMPORTANT.
Posted by: Bekah | Tuesday, May 02, 2006 at 10:35 AM