Monday, February 18, 2008

WHEW!

A late post today. Thanks to everyone who stopped by earlier, and sorry your clicks were in vain. I worked my butt off from 7 in the morning until around 2 this afternoon, making sense of the sanding-and-spackle-induced chaos on the first floor. All the living room furniture is now in the den, all the drywall dust is removed from every conceivable surface (downstairs, anyway), and we're ready for the next coat of primer. There will be another mess after the weekend, but it'll never compare to the one I cleaned up today. Meanwhile, for the rest of the week, things should be as normal as they ever are around here.

I came here to the computer to do some visiting and it died. So did the phone. Comcast crashed on me. It just came back up, and now there's no time to tell any decent story.

It is simply amazing to me how completely dependent we have become on this machine I am sitting at. How did we ever manage without it? What was life like, anyway???

More tomorrow, I promise.

7 comments:

Ravel said...

Say, we were doing other things! We didn't know better, then...
I was reading more and seeing at least 5 or 6 movies a week.
Now, if I can't connect on Internet, I'm totally lost! It IS an addiction.
But a nice one.

Ralph said...

Right. We were reading and listening more to the radio, and some were watching a lot more TV, I guess. And talking on the phone. And writing letters on paper.

You've talked before about "virtual" communication. It may be "virtual" but it feels real to me and it adds to our toolbox for reaching out.

Kat said...

Ralph,
I did miss you yesterday and didn't check back until this morning. I just figured you were far too tired, and I didn't blame you. That room looked impossible.

I love the internet. It fills any little spaces in my memory drawers.

Anonymous said...

Ralph,

I am glad you reminded me... we are (hopefully) going to be moving soon. In new location, we, for reception, will need cable. I have been against the idea of having cable, 'net and phone all with one provider. As to time on the 'net... for the past few months, I've been trying to cut back. Yet, something new detracts and I'm off - usually a link on a blog takes me into many other links etc. etc.

Before the 'net, I read a lot. I read more than I ever watched tv - now with the 'net and the amount of data absorbed - I find tv a way to "shut off the mind".

Linda

PS - I vote for the sand - as much as I would love the brown - neutral, as it is comes with little expectations from buyers. They know they have to paint - they know they want what they want with the least amount of work to them.

Ralph said...

Kat, after all that work yesterday it really was such a bummer for the computer to die flat right when I really wanted it. I had been able to take little breaks through the day, but when I wanted to sit down and create something it was gone.

I hope and pray that we have made all the mistakes we're going to make on this project and therefore learned what we need to learn. We still have the dining room, a hall, both bedrooms and the upstairs bathroom to do. It'll mean moving furniture around but I hope not another huge cleanup. We're also using this move-the-furniture time to put things away that we won't need until we move. Mostly decorative bowls and vases we had out on glass shelves. I'll be packing most of them away, cleaning the shelves, etc. Easy stuff.

Ralph said...

Hi, Linda. On connectivity, I agree in principle about not having everything with one carrier, and since our carrier is Comcast, I really had trouble with idea of casting my plight with them. But practicality won out over principle in this case--it's so easy to pay everything to one provider, and there's no question we save money with VOIP phone service. We're not sure what route we'll take when we move to Delaware, though there, too, is an uncaring, monopolistic bureaucracy at least as bad as Comcast. We may decide to go with it, having already tasted that bullet....

Keep us posted on how your own move goes. Will you have to put your house on the market? You're here in the DC area, right? It'll be a great lesson for us as you progress.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for sharing thoughts on the net. I have given thought to the ease of one payment, one bill etc. - yet, a friend, who lives in a not so rural area has the problem of when the system goes out, it is for a day or two.

Living right now in SE PA in an apartment - will be relo'ing to another apartment in NJ.

Linda