Technology Is Making Me Weird

And I’m pretty sure the Internet has ruined my life.*

I have to talk on the phone frequently for work - conference calls. And even though one of the regular participants is a friend that I am very comfortable with, I hate talking on the phone. I hate it. I’m pretty sure I burned up all of my phone conversation abilities when I was 14. I talked on the phone a lot when I was 14. A LOT. Then again, I doubt I carried on conversations worth repeating, so, you know -- no pressure. Apparently, my brain/social skills had no roll over minutes.
But even the thought of having to call the power company to change my service address sent me into a panic. Why can’t I do that online?

My DAD called me the other day and I had to take a breath before I answered.

My mom makes fun of me because she’ll send me a text. I’ll answer. She’ll call five minutes later and I won’t answer.

A phone book was dropped off on my door step the other day. I threw it away. What a waste of trees. (Ok, I probably could have recycled it if I’m going to be complaining about the waste of resources). I don’t get paper cuts and dry skin from Google though.

I think texting and email and chat programs are fab-u-lous! I can not only THINK about what I want to say, I have a lot better chance at editing my thoughts. That’s not to say I don’t post stupid or regrettable things (or that everyone exercises their right to use these options), but for ME it works.

I buy diapers online. I buy some groceries online. I pay most of my bills online. I do leave the house occasionally. I’ve yet to figure out how to get wine tastings to come to my house.

*I was absolutely kidding and those of you - and you know who you are - know why. :-)

My Puppy Hates My Blog

She's determined that I won't fulfill my self-promise to post at least three times a week. (Shoot, did I just post that out loud?)

All was going along smoothly, until she bit my laptop cooling fan cord. In half. Now, I honestly don't think that that single event is what led to my hard drive dying, but I do believe it's what led to that whole final straw thing. It had been coming. I knew it. I was in denial. It was showing the signs. But, much as I had ignored it, let's not dwell on such unpleasant things here and just say this: I didn't have to yell at any Geeks - my warranty was honored. My lifeline...er, laptop is undergoing a transplant at the moment. And $99 was a small price to pay for the hard drive recovery that I was oh-so-happy to hear that Mr. Geek Squad was going to be able to do for me.

I've now managed to do to the following things : Fall terribly behind on the project mentioned in my "Hubris" blog post; Alienate my husband with my mocking of his choice of Internet browser (as I quickly downloaded *my* far superior choice of browser :-); frighten the Schwann's delivery man when I told him that if he sold garbage bags I wouldn't have to leave the house today; and have a long talk with the puppy when the UPS man brought me, of all things, my new laptop cooling fan.