Hey everybody! I'm back! I have officially been RESURRECTED!!!! LOL...okay, I'm well aware that's a bit much, but when you've gone for months without Internet at home, you feel so cut off from the rest of the world that it's crazy! But I have survived, have become a stronger individual, (you'd be surprised how dependent you are on your computer when there's not one around) and have new stories to share.
Now, where to start????
For the past several months I have been getting my Internet fix via the free use of the web at my local library. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with going to the library to get online, not at all. For those who don't have access to Internet at home (been there and soooo planning on not going there again!) it's a godsend. But for those who are not aware, there are a few things you need to know in order to make your trip to the public library well spent. There are unknown rules about using the computers there. For those of you blessed enough to have no clue as what I'm talking about, I will share:
Rule #1: PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE!
It's amazing how many grown people can be impatient in this world. And people want to know why kids these days have problems with listening to adults and not getting into fights at school. Probably because they see the impatient people who whine and complain everywhere they go. To use the Internet at the library means you have to first have a library card. If you don't have a library card or your account is temporarily suspended because of excessive library fines, you can ask the librarian for a guest pass. You won't have the chance to be online for an hour like the good people who have library cards and have paid their overdue book fines, but you can at least spend twenty minuets checking your email. Then you have to sign in and wait until the computer you've been assigned to is available. Since each library card holder gets an hour at a time of computer usage, suffice it to say that if all the computers are busy....your waiting for an hour. No matter how much you complain to the librarian or the person sitting across from you who's waiting too, it's not going to change.
Rule #2: KEEP BUSY WHILE YOU WAIT!
Since you're probably going to be waiting for an hour anyway, use you're time wisely. Read a book, you're in the library for crying out loud. If you didn't bring a book from home there's thousands of books to choose from. SO READ!!! I chose to use my time writing. I never set foot in the library without my notebook and a few pens. It's quiet, and you can get some good writing done while observing people go about there everyday lives.
Rule #3: BRING CHANGE AND A USB KEY/JUMP DRIVE!
So, you have research to do, forms to fill out and articles you'd like to read but can't get done in the one hour time frame you're working with. What do you do? If you need a copy you can send your print request to the printer sitting near the librarians work station, but everything isn't free. You need change. You can look at it for free online (for an hour) but if you want to take it home, you must pay. If your really smart you'll have a USB or jump drive so that you can save it immediately for future use at home, you know the place where you're personal computer lives, yet you have no Internet connection.
Rule #4: NOW THAT IT'S YOUR TURN....MULTITASK!
Your one hour wait time has ended, now it's your turn to sit at the keyboard while the other jealous patrons wait their turn. Don't drag your feet checking one email address at a time. Don't read every blog you've signed up for because your hour will be up and you will feel like a complete idiot. This is where the USB/Jump drive comes in handy. Open up every window you can think of online and jump from screen to screen. Sign in, Google the project information, update your Craigslist account, all at the same time. The articles you want to read, save them to the USB, read when you get home. I did that so much that I have a USB full of articles on writing and project research for my kids. The thing is so full I can't even save another picture!
You never know exactly how much time you spend on the Internet until you have to write a to-do-list and struggle to get it all done in an hour. Unless of course you have absolutely nothing else to do with your life and you decide to sign up for another hour of waiting to get back online again when your done.
Now that we have Internet at home again, I have a whole new type of waiting to do. There's no one hour wait times, no issues with trying to get things done before the library closes. At home it's a whole new type of waiting. There are seven people in my home, and we ALL need the Internet. My husband has research to do. My four kids have school projects and class work to submit online to their teachers. My cousin has research and television shows to catch up on. I have house work and writing to do before I get stuck on Facebook instead of looking up the writing articles I want to read. Well, it's better to be stuck in line at home than at the library. The bathrooms are clean and hey, there's always food!
