It's good to be back online. We lost our Internet connection at home on Tuesday, and it has only come back on for a few minutes sporadically ever since then, just enough time to send a quick email before it vanishes again. Making sure goos got published in time wasn't easy.

It's no fun feeling dumb when you call tech support. The first thing we did when we lost the Internet connection was to turn off the cable modem, wait for it to reset, and try it again, then repeat with the router. No luck after several tries. So of course when I finally get tech support on the line, they tell me to do just that, and I do, and the connection comes right back up, and I get a short educational lecture about how that helps. Five minutes after I hang up, the connection disappears again. Thanks.

The technician today finally determined that the jack in the wall was failing, so we switched to another and it's fine now... just in time for us to spend the evening and all day tomorrow out with friends. I need to spend less time online anyway. I thought Internet addiction was a joke until I had to face it for a few days.


Four Replies to Jacked

Scott Hardie | November 21, 2009
This ended abruptly. I should explain that Internet withdrawal made me very cranky, very stressed out, unable to relax for days. I didn't feel liberated; I felt like my nerves were frayed and my patience was gone. I need to cultivate more offline hobbies, and by extension I mean hobbies that don't require sitting in front of any kind of screen.

Justin Conner | November 21, 2009
I have had the same feeling when disconnected from my video games. I think it is because I use them as an escapism technique to destress myself. After using this escapism for a long time I came to depend on it. It got to the point where I was addicted to video games and didn't know how to destress without them.

Amy Austin | November 21, 2009
Internet addiction... it's no joke!!!

Jackie Mason | November 21, 2009
[hidden by author request]


Logical Operator

The creator of Funeratic, Scott Hardie, blogs about running this site, losing weight, and other passions including his wife Kelly, his friends, movies, gaming, and Florida. Read more »

Screw Delta (Gotta Rant)

When I flew to Fargo a while back for Denise's wedding, I woke up at 2am to be out the door by 3am to get to Tampa by 4am to check in by 5am for a 6am flight. I stepped into the long Delta check-in line an hour and fifteen minutes before my flight, but I was concerned at the signs all over the place saying I would be turned away if I arrived less than an hour before the flight. Sure enough, it took me half an hour to get through the line, and the rude Delta clerk refused to let me on the plane even though I could easily make it to the gate in time. Go »

Twit

Have you heard of Twitter? It's this great new web site where you report to your friends exactly what you're doing at that moment in time. Neat stuff! Go »

Things I Learned About Disc Golf Today

- There are different kinds of Frisbees, like heavy ones for putting and thin ones for long drives. - There's no sweeter sound than the jangle of those chains when your disc drops in. - Yelling "fore!" Go »

The Phoenix

This is the last of four weekly blog posts about diagnoses that have completely changed my life since the pandemic started, after The Dragon, The Tiger, and The Serpent. I saved the lightest one for last. Many people who discover later in life that they're neurodivergent have reported spending years aware of the symptoms and signs of their condition without ever considering that the description might apply to them, and when they do finally realize, it's as if a thousand mysteries are solved at once: Things that never made sense are all suddenly explained. Go »

Help Needed

Our friend Bill used to work USF tech support in the early nineties, the days of Windows 3.1 and 28.8k modems. Go »

House Hunted

I'm not superstitious, or I wouldn't say this until the closing next month: Kelly and I are buying a house. It's a great house, too, with a guest bedroom and a pool, and the neighbor training horses in the back yard every day, and plenty of room for just about whatever we'd want to do with it, at a lower price than similar houses around here. It's not a hundred percent perfect but damn if it ain't close. Go »