No Internet, No Problem

Internet free since Tuesday,  April 21!

Well, it certainly hasn't been by choice...just circumstance.

What do we miss the most when we don't have internet?  Surprise:It's not Facebook or email.  Nope, not even close.

What we miss most is watching weather.  Being without internet really brought home how much we depend on watching upcoming weather patterns.  It's not just in our DNA..we actually plan our activities based on whatever weather may be in store.  (More on that later.)

The Next Big Thing we miss is research.  We truly reply on being able to ask a question and get an answer online.  Being internet free helped us realize just how dependent we have become on the research capabilities of cyberspace.   (More on that later.)

Third on the list of what we miss most is The World Of E-Commerce, including Craigs List, Banking, online shopping, etc.  Craigs List is truly a mainstay of our lives and we are quite literally lost without it.

Finally, we miss the news.  We enjoy being a voracious news reader.  Contrary to what someof our Facebook Friends may thing, the bulk of our time online is spent reading news and feature articles.  Luckily, we have home newspaper delivery here in Idaho Falls so that helped soften the total lack of online news.

Now about Facebook and email.  Both of those internet stalwarts are at the bottom of the list for what we miss most about being internet free.  Both are informative and entertaining, to be sure.  However, neither is essential to our daily "quality of life."

As you well know, Facebook can be (and often is) the quintessential "time waster."  Frankly, being Facebook-free the past few days has helped me get a lot of Real World Stuff done here at our Idahome.

Over the past couple of years, we've come to realize that very, VERY few of our inbox messages are truly important. In other words, they can wait.  It matters not that I check my email every day...or even every week for that matter.  In the social media whirled, email is becoming increasingly irrelevant.

So, why would be miss watching weather so much, especially right now?  Simple.  We're hoping to squeeze in a bicycle trip to The Grand Tetons and we have had no clue what the weather will be like there between now and April 30---the last day the Jenny Lake Road is open to bicycles only.  Also, we're already planning a Road Trip in early May.  We truly have an actual NEED to understanding Big Picture weather patterns for the next couple of weeks.

And let's take up that high-sounding word "research."  What on earth would we need to research?  Well, right now it's a very mundane but important-to-us topic:  a top rack for Marvie.

We left Annie and her awesome ladder rack in Arizona.  As you know, the ladder rack helped us carry our canoe hither and yon.  Marvie's not capable of carrying the canoe without a top rack. The Magic of The Internet would have long since helped me understand our options for such a rack.  Without the internet, all we can do is stand around the truck scratching our head and pondering the possibilities.

And so there you have it.