FEB 4, 19 .. “CAPTAIN!! THERE WAS NO INTERNET FOR MOST OF YOUR LIFE!! WHAT DID YOU DO THEN?”

Today’s Rhetorical Question : “CAPTAIN!! THERE WAS NO INTERNET FOR MOST OF YOUR LIFE!! WHAT DID YOU DO THEN?”

Exactly. Precisely. Correct.

I have been asking myself this question over and over and over again since I lost my online connection at 0001 hours last Friday, February the 1st.  “CAPTAIN!! THERE WAS NO INTERNET FOR MOST OF YOUR LIFE!! WHAT DID YOU DO THEN?”

With the advent of the new month of February; with the advent of a newborn son arriving into the life of my landlord and his wife last Thursday the 31st of January, he failed to pay his internet service provider his monthly dues and so I, his renter, lost my internet connection.

Late this afternoon, say at 5:50pm, for the umteenth time since losing my connection last Thursday/Friday midnight, I again checked it and voila .. I am now back online.

Today’s Rhetorical Question : “CAPTAIN!! THERE WAS NO INTERNET FOR MOST OF YOUR LIFE!! WHAT DID YOU DO THEN?”

The internet more or less exploded into our world in the late 1980’s. I was in my early 50’s at that time, I had retired, and I was pretty much blissfully unaware of this new phenomenon. Ten years later, in the late summer of 1998, I established for myself and for Patti something I had heard about called ‘e-mail’.

A few of you (Robert 94956) may remember that sometime around year 2002 (don’t hold me to this date) I began to stop handwriting my writings titled, ‘For What It’s Worth’, and sending xerox copies of ‘For What It’s Worth’ by mail to those interested in them, and switched to using e-mail to write and distribute ‘For What It’s Worth’.

So far so good. Using e-mail meant that I was only marginally using the internet.

Then in August of 2011, after meeting Andrej 48073, I asked him to set me up a website. In August of 2011 I also moved into the world of digital photography. Gone forever were rolls and rolls and still more rolls of 35mm film all replaced by tiny digital memory chips.

Then my journey into the online world began to rapidly expand. For the next five years, I was online but I was using library desk top computers 100% of the time and I was not bothered with outages. You have a problem? You ask the friendly librarian. They always have the answers. “Sir. The internet is down. Come back tomorrow.”

In September of 2016 I purchased, and took with me, my very own laptop.

Little did I know, little did I realize, that the noose of internet dependence was now tightening itself around my neck.

It was far easier, it was far more fun, it was far more comfortable to do my writings in my rooms, in hotel lobbies, and do it 24 hours a day (libraries have limited hours and some days of the week they may be closed) on my very own laptop.

With this freedom came the cold-hard-fact that I, and I alone, am responsible for the care and the feeding of my laptop. Here in my room, I can’t look over at a friendly librarian and motion them over to bail-me-out. Worse! Here in Russian Siberia there is no business firm the equal of Best Buy. DNS exists but ( and yes I’ve tried) we can’t communicate because no one speaks English.

In India, in Hong Kong, because each were English colonies, the English language is freely spoken. I happen to have three friends in Mongolia who assist me when I am there. In India and Hong Kong I have a small colony of English speaking friends.

I have one human being here in Russia with whom I can (at best 85%) communicate effectively. He is age 68 years. He has serious health issues. I do not like tasking him with my issues. So I don’t.

I’ve been living, by and large, up in the Interior of Alaska since June of 1998. I’ve done minus -60° and colder. I know what it’s like when the inside walls of your cabin are covered with ice. I know about the cold.

Without an online connection, I can’t even tell the temperature. You may laugh-out-loud but the temperature is a life and death issue. At minus -20°F and colder, one can’t accurately ascertain the level of cold. It can drop to minus -40°F and you can’t tell it. If hypothermia sets in (I started to take off my clothes one night when I was outside at minus -50°F) you’re in for a ride. Death itself has never-ever felt nicer or more welcoming.

So here I was, not having one whit of information about all that is going on in the world around me. No e-mail. No information.

Yesterday was Super Bowl Sunday. Patti and I spoke with 7-minutes left in the game. New England had just scored making it NE 10 – 3 LA.

I assumed that, after the game, Patti was going to call me. Nothing for several hours. Finally I texted Patti and asked if she was OK and to please call me. No reply. Was there another earthquake in Anchorage? Was she crushed in her condo? Did one of our car thieves come by and shoot Patti? They know where we live and have for four or so years. No internet. I couldn’t google Anchorage Alaska Daily News. Had Patti fallen in the condo? What to do? I texted Andrej and Eryn, Patti’s niece. Andrej called Patti and Patti called me.

Thank You So Very Much Andrej!

Had I been online, this mind-created-crisis of mine would not have happened. I coud have brought up Anchorage, Alaska and seen that there was no earthquake there to report.

“CAPTAIN!! THERE WAS NO INTERNET FOR MOST OF YOUR LIFE!! WHAT DID YOU DO THEN?”

Exactly. Precisely. Correct.

BUT there is now internet in my world. And in my world here in Russian Siberia, the internet is my only window into the outside world.

After Patti and I did our goodnight ritual, I was going to lie down and sleep some more. When I am online I am NOT going to sleep! Sleeping is what I’ve been doing for much of the past four days.

This, the mere act of writing, is my catharsis for dealing with my hyper-active inventive mind.

I know. I know. Yes there is an absolute myriad of things that I can do without the internet. Organize my photos for one. I can, and I did, go over to my local library on Saturday. I got online. They are closed Sundays. Today dawned at (I asked Patti to get the temperature here in Irkutsk) -26°F. Sergey said yesterday it was due to be -40°F today. I don’t want to be out and about at colder than -20°F so I did not go back to my local library today. Getting there can be a 30-45 minute trip.

Up in the Interior of Alaska there is a two word name for my condition : Cabin Fever.

Once Patti and I had connected and I knew she was OK, I got out for awhile this afternoon. That helped a lot and then voila, I am back in business.

“Captain! We all enjoyed a break with you off-line.” /sign us/ Your Mind

Friday I fly to Seoul, South Korea. Once Patti is beside me, then and only then will we make our plans. I assume we are going to immediately return here to Irkutsk.

Does The Shadow Know?

If he does, I hope he’ll tell me what my own plans are!

Over and Out this is now ready for Patti to clean up.

Patti and Cap

• ← FEB 3, 19 (Part 1 of 2) – CAP’S FRUSTRATION – NO INTERNET
• FEB 5, 19 .. IT HELPS ME TO KNOW THAT IT IS MINUS -37°F / -38°C OUTSIDE →