Skip to main content

Internet

It’s funny how reliant we are on the Internet. There are entire parts of my job that I haven’t bothered to memorize, because I simply don’t need to. Rather than memorizing which C# class lets me parse file names correctly, I can search for that sort of thing. Sure, there are some that I’ve learned through sheer repetition, but for the most part, I don't bother with information that I can find via Google.

I say that because I found myself in an interesting predicament earlier today. I had a couple of hours to myself at a coffee shop, with the full intent of writing some blog posts and a story or two. Normally, I would dig through my email and my text messages for inspiration, since that tends to be a good source of humor.

Alas, it was not meant to be this time around. I was at a coffee shop I’d never been to before, so I didn’t know what the protocol was for the Internet. I paid with a credit card, but the person behind the counter made no effort to give me any kind of receipt. So, I assumed that I could just join the network. In hindsight, this was a bad assumption.

Once I sat down and realized that I would need a password, I weighed my options, and, on a whim, I decided that I would try the high wire act sans (inter)net. I could have gone back to the counter and asked for a password, especially since I’d just put in my order. It’s not like they wouldn’t recognize me.

On this particular day, however, I felt like doing things a little bit differently. I didn’t need the Internet, thank you very much. I was going to live dangerously; rebels without a cause are a thing in our household, after all. Besides, my task involved writing, and I had a perfectly good laptop in front of me. In the absolute worst case, I could use my phone to look up things on Internet.


Ultimately, I managed to get my writing done, and things worked themselves out for the best. Still, I couldn’t help but feel a little bit like a Luddite in the process. So there you have it, kids: ask about the Internet before you sit down. Otherwise, you might end up with an inadvertent throwback day and end up laughing at yourself far more than you expected to.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

New York City Trip (Day 3)

By the third day of the trip, I was tired enough from the previous day's adventures/subway rides that I felt like sleeping in. And sleep in I did. I think I woke up at something like 11:30 or noon. Of course, that meant that a later start to the day, which started the vicious cycle all over again. By the time we rolled into Manhattan, it was about two in the afternoon. I had tentatively set aside Sunday to see something on Broadway, so we headed over to the tkts booth for discount tickets. There were actually various 3PM options, and after mulling our options, we figured it'd be a good idea to catch one of those. We settled on The Toxic Avenger , which was actually an off-Broadway option. However, we hadn't eaten yet, and the show started about 15 minutes after we got our tickets. Enter the food carts. There happened to be one right outside the theater, and the guy charged a little bit of a premium for the convenience. Still, I was hungry, and I had yet to try...
1 comment
Read more

Moment of Truth

I forget where I first heard it (I think it might have been Descartes), but I have long been a fan of the notion that certain things just have a " ring of truth " to them. If you've never heard the idiom before, the basic idea is that some things are super-true. They are not just true, but they are so obviously true, that as soon as you hear them, you recognize the truthiness inherent in them. I usually get excited when I hear one of these, since it means that I am a tiny bit less ignorant from that moment forward. For the first time in memory, though, I experienced the ring of truth. First, let me paint the scene with a little bit of background. I'd made plans to have dinner with my friend, but we'd agreed to play it by ear. The end result was that we ended up settling on a pretty late dinner in a local spot. That worked out just fine, since we weren't shooting for gourmet, we just wanted to grab some food and catch up in the process. So, we headed out to ...
Post a Comment
Read more

All Good Things ...

August 8, 2009. Over twelve years ago, I started blogging with this simple post . I didn't really have a great reason for starting the blog, other than I wanted to try it out. I wanted to try writing and putting it where others could read it. I don't know, it just seemed like a new adventure to try. Along the way, there have been all sorts of posts and all sorts of life events, but through it all, I kept writing. It just became a part of what I do at some point. It wasn't a matter of whether I was going to write a blog post, it was a matter of when. The Mild Wife has described it as a "writing practice," and it was one of the reasons why I kept writing. Honestly, it's good practice, and it gives me an opportunity to hone my craft. I'm no professional author, but we all have to write stuff in our everyday lives. Why not give yourself reps to get better at it? However, I think it's time for that practice to change. My weekly anecdotes sure kept me amused...
Post a Comment
Read more