In the past month, our internet connection experience went down from “satisfactory” to… well… complete lack of thereof. It hit the lowest point, out of all times, on Christmas day: by 10 in the morning the internet connection was dead, which meant no Skype with relatives, no news, no email, just a black hole of a non-digital existence.
For the first time in years, I turned to TV for the latest news. It felt so 1990s. I forgot how annoying commercials could be and how endless number of channels yields nothing more than an endless stream of annoyance. The TV remote control looked menacing with mysterious buttons, which I refuse to decipher. I just wanted to be back on my beloved laptop connected to the world again.
The building management promised that the Internet connection will be restored by noon. By 11:55 we got it back; by 11:58 we lost it again. Next couple hours became a rollercoaster of hope and despair: on – off – on again… I could not give up hope that easily. After all, almost all my plans for the day were in some way relying on the Internet: buying plane tickets, banking, publishing a new article. Nowadays, I even check my snail mail online.
Of course, I could go to a nearby coffee house or cafe and try my internet luck there. However, I hate been online in public places. Yes, VPN helps, but what about somebody just simply watching over my shoulder? Couple years ago while sitting in one of many Starbucks in New York City, I was amused by watching (and listening) 3 or 4 simultaneous startup meetings freely and quite loudly discussing their ideas or know-how. Some things should be done in private.
Meanwhile, we still do not have the internet connection. It’s 2:30 in the morning, I am fed up with TV entertainment, so ranting about been left out of the digital world is the obvious choice. Funnily, nobody can read this post until the internet connection returns.
P.S. This post was published thanks to Personal Hotspot running on iPhone.