I hate my @*!#?$! dial-up connection! Have a nice day :)

I may just be the last person on earth to have a dial-up connection for my computer. We live in a rural area that doesn't offer it through our phone lines yet. We don't have cable access on our road and we use a satellite dish for our television. There are other alternatives now and we could also get a high speed connection from a satellite but it's quite expensive. Right now it's about triple the cost of what we pay for our service. I just can't pay that. While it's so very, VERY frustrating to have to wait for downloads and to be unable to access certain things like videos, vlogs and a million other things, none of that stuff is a necessity. I can still get email, surf the net, maintain my blog - and when I do need to do more I can take my laptop to town and use the wifi at my library or Dunkin' Donuts. it's just so frustrating!

Of course if I compare it to the good ole' days when we first got a computer this is lightning fast. You could go make a sandwich and unload the dishwasher in the time it took just to get connected. And that noise! I can't even describe it but everyone recognizes it. That squeak squawk computer buzzing sound dragged on and on. Now that squeak squawk computer buzzing sound is much faster. For all we've gained it's worth it though. My kids don't remember a time without a home computer and it's been very valuable for them with school assignments and of course those blessed social networks. (There was a lot of sarcasm behind that comment) It's also been a wonderful tool for us to be able to access so many of our personal accounts like the library, paying bills, etc. My favorite feature has to be email. I've certainly been lacking in my correspondence lately but it has made all of the difference in the world staying in contact with friends and family who live far away. I am still a big fan of sending "real" letters and cards through the mail but having email is convenient. And now with video features like Skype (which I can only use down town) I can stay visit with my cousin in California who is battling cancer. She has always come home every year with her family but because of her illness it's been three long years. My grandparents raised her and her siblings and now that my grandmother is 90 and a widow she can't travel across the country. Skype has made it possible for them to "see" each other and get the reassurance that they both need when they worry about each other.

I'm sure I'm not telling anyone anything they don't already know. In fact, I learn from all of you every single day. I find so many new things that make blogging more fun and interesting. It's just too bad I can't use all of them. If I had a faster connection I would get all of this done faster instead of always waiting, waiting for pages to load. I already spend too much time on here and that makes it even longer. Although if I had access to more things there's a good chance that I would do more things. Hmmm....

I really need to cut back on things and spend less time bonding with my computer, especially the summer months. Instead of waiting for things to happen I need to go outside in that beautiful sunshine and do some yard work and lounge in my hammock with a stack of books. In fact I think I'll go do some of that right now. Then I get to pump up the old frustration level again when I go to the DMV this afternoon. I need to renew my driver's license. In the past I've done it in the mail or online (there's that convenience factor again) but it's been more than six months since my last vision test with a participating provider so I have to go there to have it done. There are so many other topics that I could go off on right now but my fingers are cramping just from the thought of it. For now, I will stick with my complaint about my dial-up connection. And in the grand scheme of things that's a pretty small complaint. I'm going outside now. Enjoy your high-speed, sunshiny day.