I just switched from VERY SLOW dial-up to high-speed Internet connection four days ago and have discovered a hazard I didn't know I'd be encountering.

I CAN'T GET ANY HOUSEWORK DONE! My connection used to be so slow that while I was waiting for webpages to unfold on my screen, I could get up and move the clothes from the washer to the dryer, or fold underwear, even iron a few tea-towels (hubby's quirk, not mine). Somedays, when it was really slow, I even had time to go upstairs and make myself a cup of tea.

No more. I'm having a hard time adjusting. I've been here most of the day and have managed to get a few Christmas gifts wrapped, and microwaved something obscure for my lunch, but that's it. Now I'm glued to my screen, no more waiting, no more motivation to go and get a wee bit of work done while waiting.

This will take some getting used to. I'm just going to have to learn how to willingly put down the mouse and leave the keyboard.

I've never been addicted to anything in my entire life. I don't mind this one, though. So what if the tea-towels don't get ironed today!

[ November 15, 2005, 05:15 PM: Message edited by: Eagle Heart ]

Eagle, welcome to the dark side!!

Ha ha ha ha ha . Ahhhh ha ha ha ha ha ....
Oh my...
Been there...still there...er here.

Glued...like that guy to the toilet seat!

chick

when I got my own computer last summer with DSL, it was like stepping out from under a rock and seeing sunlight. Before, I shared a slooooooow-moving computer on dial-up with my husband. I brought my junk mail, crossword puzzles, and sometimes even bead projects to the computer and attended to them while waiting for the gears to turn.

When I got my own new computer & dsl, I couldn't surf or research enough because it was SO QUICK!! And there was SO MUCH information out there, available in seconds!!

It took me several months to unglue.

Now I have to limit my time online so I can get some work done.

Don't you feel like SuperWoman? Able to leap tall buildings...

I know what you mean about the addiction. LOL. I could never go back to dial-up. I do have dial-up at my weekend home and it is so paiiiinnnful! The area we are in does not have broadband or even DSL and I am sure that neither will be available in my lifetime.

When we switched, we took what the cable company called the "Bundle"...Internet, TV and phone all in one package. So over the past few days I've been tweaking everything, running into annoying problems with the VCR (I can no longer get it to record one program while watching another...and I have blisters on my thumbs from switching the cables around in every possible configuration!). And I have to change my website URL, and it's annoying too because I can't find a way to "alias" it to match the old URL...GRRR.

So it's been very frustrating, annoying, painful (hard to type with blisters on your thumbs). But when I momentarily considered switching back to our old ISP this morning, right away I knew I could never willingly go back to slow dial-up. I've seen the light. I've leapt tall buildings. I uploaded updates to my website in mere seconds, rather than the hour it used to take.

So I'll forego taping Martha Stewart while watching Lost. And I'll lose a lot of traffic because of the URL change. But no way am I giving up high speed now that I've had a taste of it.

[ November 16, 2005, 12:14 PM: Message edited by: Eagle Heart ]

I just love newfangled stuff. I wish it/they came with instant easy to read instructions. Better yet, plug it in and a voice tells you what to do next. I bet I have a dozen things that I don't know about on both my TV and Computer. For instance, I went under View...text size and clicked large/largest and now I don't need my reading glasses. Geesh, so much to learn...so little time.
chick

[ November 16, 2005, 03:57 PM: Message edited by: chickadee ]

Not only do I have my own computer and high-speed access, but now I have a wireless LAPTOP. I've been putting off getting one for years. I finally decided it was time back in August. My rationale was the long trip to Vermont and after all, my 12 yo would be so much happier watching DVDs on a laptop on that 23 hour drive!

Now I don't even get out of bed to check my email. This is bad. I'm upset some mornings because I have to get up and go all the way downstairs to the kitchen to make my cup of tea. The bed gets cold while I'm gone! sheesh. I'm thinking of bringing the electric teakettle into the room, but then I'd still have to get up to get water. I guess I could fill it up before I go to bed at night.

I LOVE my laptop. I take it with me when I travel. It gives me a reason to go to Panera and eat good food (free wi-fi). It's petite, and not gray. It has white accents. It's fast. It keeps me warm in the wintertime and sits on the patio with me in the summertime. It makes my kitchen more enjoyable. The cats don't think they can fit on the keyboard, so they don't try anymore. It doesn't block my view of the television from the recliner when I'm watching The Apprentice and The West Wing.

I just love my laptop! I highly recommend it.

NMY

But the sink will hold only so many unwashed dishes (I guess I could resort to paper plates - but then I'd have to take out more garbage.) And my overflowing laundry basket isn't smelling so pretty lately...and I can't afford disposable clothes. And these errands I have to do this morning that aren't getting done...

I'd love a wireless laptop, but I don't think I could handle the mile-high dust bunnies that hubby would have to come home to. I'm finding it hard enough to pull myself away from this place.

Still, everyone's bugging me to put something "good" on my Christmas list this year...hmmmm, and the winters ARE long and cold here. And dust bunnies are kind of cute, especially if you throw some sparkle glue on them.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...