Status Update: I'm Alive, the Internet's Dead

The only interesting thing about this half-week's news is that the first thunderstorm of the year zapped the Internet in an unusual way. I'd closed and covered the laptop when lightning appeared to be striking a tree up in the woods; the hot-air fan wasn't running but I'd pulled a blanket up around my face and made a bid for some sleep at a normal time of night, about 4:30 a.m. Minutes later, when I'd got deep enough into slumberland to think "Whatever" instead of bolting up in shock, lightning appeared to strike something closer than the woods. Either it went down with a loud, lasting rumble or it was close enough that the thunder and lightning occurred at the same time. 

Then I peeked out from under the blanket and saw the surprising thing. The laptop's little running lights were steady red, one staying on and one blinking in rhythm--not blinking fast to tell me the flow of electricity had been disrupted. Not even by the computer's draining and recharging the battery, as Microsoft's sinister machinations have finally got it doing. The electricity was on! Nothing had been touched, on the screen porch, by this near miss with The Storm and Its Fury. 

But the Internet was completely dead. No "emergency only" connection was available. Not on Monday morning. Not this morning, either. So I packed up the laptop and came into town, where I find even McDonald's connection limping along on "emergency only" wireless hardware. Apparently the storm took out all of the regular Internet connection-ware. I e-mailed the company to report the outage and then noticed that, funnily enough, their web site wasn't working properly either.

So this web site is in for another hiatus. How long this one will last, or how much private Internet connection owners' rates will increase as a result of it, I have no idea. I'm taking it as another reminder that we're all better off with just a few public-access computer centers, all connected up to the teeth with multiple servers and generators and all, instead of private connections that take so much more wiring and repairing. 

I had written the blather for this week's Petfinder post. I don't know whether I'll be able to find current Petfinder links on Friday. So this week's Petfinder post should appear, if McDonald's emergency connection lasts, this evening. A few more thought pieces and butterfly posts will appear on schedule. The next Status Update will let you know when I'm online again.