Various Obstacles

You don't realize how often you use the Internet, until you don't have it. I can't help but hum the Joni Mitchell song "Big Yellow Taxi" as I type this... "Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you got 'til it's gone?"

It is somewhat sad to realize that I am as dependent as everyone else on this constant connection. I wanted to share some of the obstacles that I encountered during what I refer to as the "dark week." Some are common sense issues and others were more surprising to me because I didn't even realize it would be an obstacle because I didn't have to connect to a browser to use them, but alas, I lost the Internet, not my browser.

- Checking my e-mail in the morning to see if any classes are canceled or if there are additional things that I need to factor into my day
-Checking Facebook (we are all creepers, don't even try to deny it!)
- Checking the weather using my weather widget before getting dressed. I was not dressed appropriately for the weather one single day this week!! It is quite hard to predict the entire day's weather based on what it is like in the morning, especially in Western NY where one day it is 65 degrees and the next it is 20 degrees!!
- I was making a CD for my boyfriend and wanted to look up lyrics to one song to see if it was actually appropriate... I ended up not putting the song on the CD just to be safe!
- Researching for a paper
- Researching information for my radio show in order to write the script for this week's show
- Finding an article/blog to use for my Social Media essay
- Looking up a word online (I actually had to use a DICTIONARY!!!)
- Doing additional research for my interview for Northwestern University the following Monday
- Working on my application for Northwestern (because it is all online!)
- Organizing the NYC trip that my boyfriend and I are taking over Thanksgiving break
- Bidding on a Christmas gift for my Mom on eBay (I tried to have my brother do it for me, but by the time he remembered, the bidding was over)
- Talking to my bf. Chris is in Rochester, and neither of us are "phone people," so we tend to do the majority of our communication on AIM and video chat, neither of which are possible without the Internet.
- Google mapping (yes, I did just turn that into a verb...) my way around Chicago
- Coordinating the submission of recommendation letters on the online system

There are so many more obstacles that I encountered, but to be honest, I have tried to block it out of my head.

One thing I found surprising this week was how many people communicate solely via e-mail and Facebook. I would call someone to figure things out and they would let it go to voice mail and then respond via email. I can't say that I am not guilty of it, but I will be rethinking doing that from now on!

I can only hope that when I return home on Tuesday I will be able to launch into that amazing world that I have felt so lost without!!