OK, it’s been 10 days since our phone company erroneously cancelled our DSL service and it’s taken them exactly that long to inform me that having it restored, without a land line phone, is just not possible in our area.

Yes, they had me swearing like a sailor, but I’m not one to hold grudges. Until “plan B” (anything but dial-up, please!) is implemented, I’ll continue to log trips to our local library and/or Borders to connect as needed. In the meantime, I am getting re-acquainted with the things that I had gotten in the habit of giving up just stay plugged into the world wide web. Watching cartoons and working on puzzles with my younger guys, reading the newspaper front to back, cleaning my house — you know, the little things. I even made 4 loaves of bread. From scratch!

I’m seeing pronounced changes in my older sons as well. They’re getting to bed on time because doing their homework is not superseded by chatting online with friends (if you can call posting status on Facebook “chatting”). Just two weeks ago, they considered having phone conversations with their friends old-fashioned. Now that they know it’s “de riguer”, they don’t give it a second thought.

I’m not sure how much longer we’ll have to rough it. As long as I can still access my calendar and find maps at gas stations, I think I might just have to get used to this new unplugged lifestyle.  I’m even thinking of dusting off my old Smith-Corona, just in case…