Early in the month, a storm with high-speed winds blew through (heh), taking out power for several hours and knocking down several tree limbs, some of which snagged or pinned down wires strung across the back yard. I've been through this before, so I spent the next few days cutting wood and freeing up the lines. Unfortunately this time, the freed lines didn't spring back into place, instead laying slack a few inches off the ground, or even on the ground. While looking bad, it wasn't much of an issue yet (kinda fun to see the dogs vaulting over the wires while running around). That night the stress proved too much for the cable, and the internet and cable TV was lost. I called the cable company to get somebody out to fix things, but no one was available to come out for three days. (what with the aforementioned storms causing similar problems all over the place.)

I didn't find myself bothered by the situation as much as I thought I might, coping a bit better than previous times I've been cable&net-free for extended periods. I did borrow a cup of internets from  shoulung to make sure the FAD update went up without incident, but otherwise went back to my memories of the first two-thirds of my life, before infinite net-based distraction, and mostly just getting things done. I probably did the work I'd normally take at least a full week to do in those three days. I wasn't totally without distraction and entertainment. I scavenged a 1970s-grade antenna so the TV could get local programming (I should mention I really miss the days when shitty reception just gave you static, as opposed to MPEG artifact freak-outs) and plowed through some of my backlog of unwatched DVR and the Toy Story 3 Blu-Ray, along with music, games, and old magazines. Time away from the internet was kinda relaxing in that context. Anyway, I'm back, along with the downside of dealing with the buildup of three days of mails, messages, and FA submissions.