We Had No Internet.
We cut the cord.
No, no, not the umbilical cord – the cable cord. Technically speaking, we got rid of Fios, which is apparently something different – and we really liked Fios more than cable, too.
But…
I discovered YouTube TV with its unlimited DVR, and all the channels I love except one – plus a slew of other channels I didn’t know existed – and I just had to have YouTube TV. And we love it.
Getting YouTube TV was easy – but Bill (who is the only tech geek in the family) said that we needed ethernet instead of whatever we used to have, in order to download stuff and stream faster. YouTube TV seemed to be working absolutely fine without ethernet, but I told him I didn’t think we needed a gigabyte, whatever that is – so he settled on ethernet as a compromise.
Here is what I know about ethernet: a guy has to come and install it, or we won’t get it.
So, one morning, a guy come to our house shortly after 8 a.m. Marvin was great. He was friendly and professional and asked all the questions that Bill told me I’d have to answer, so I figured he knew what he was doing.
Marvin encountered a problem with running some wire thing through something else – “and there was even a pull-string!” he told me, recognizing the value of a pull-string. I didn’t know what he was talking about, but I could tell instantly that this guy was going to do whatever it took to run whatever-wire-thing through the whatever-else. And he did.
Meanwhile, though, we had no internet. I couldn’t check my email. I couldn’t surf the web. I couldn’t watch TV. I couldn’t look up the answers to the plethora of questions that pop up in my head and normally send me to the internet.
The problem could take hours to fix! So what on earth was I going to do?
Well, I packed for a trip. Conveniently, I had a trip in my immediate future – although I was actually already packed. But I put in toiletries and books for the plane ride and even chose my snacks for any time I might get hungry in the rental car.
I also did laundry. I cleaned up some stuff. Then I cleaned up some more stuff. I put stuff away that had been sitting out for days – maybe months – and I reorganized stuff that was already organized sufficiently.
I ate breakfast. I played with the dog. I fed the birds and the squirrels, who were very happy. I also fed the dog. Twice.
I texted people – just because I could – and talked to Bill, who kept calling to see if the guy was done installing our ethernet.
Then I started studying the Senior Outdoor Adventures in Recreation booklet. This meant I could read about all kinds of day trips for seniors – like myself – to take in the spring. Registration opens soon, so I gave every option serious consideration, making marks in my booklet so that I could discuss these options with the other seniors I know.
Then I gave up trying to be productive and wrote a blog post. Then I considered taking a nap – but failed.
Life without online activity is far more boring than I remembered. Whatever ethernet is, it’s going to be wildly worthwhile.