My internet was out for a few days while I switched providers. If I had known what kind of verbal and almost physical abuse I would take from my family, I would have planned better. This got me thinking about how dependent my family has become on the ability to access the internet from home.

Each member of my 5 person family has their own computer with a shared internet connection. My wife’s computer is in our bedroom, my son’s is in his room, daughter’s in her room, other son’s is down in the basement with mine, my work laptop, and the server. I even have another box with Linux that I was previously using as a web server but currently just collects dust. So, if you’ve counted correctly, that’s 7 computers running around the house.

These computers are not new. They’ve all been around a while, but they still do the trick. Only 2 of them are decent enough to play World of Warcraft or Everquest 2, etc. The rest server their purpose of surfing the web and writing papers.

To some, or perhaps even many, this may seem like an excess amount of computers and a waste of energy. I look at it like this, I don’t have to listen to the bickering over sharing the computer, and I have never been much for hugging trees anyway. Hell, I used to poor my used motor oil down around the fence to kill the grass so I wouldn’t have to use the weed eater on it.

Having defended my family’s abundance of computers, I’d like to move on to my original thought; living without internet for a day. Jeebus, we were all going crazy. It’s like they didn’t know what to do. I do contract work from home so I’m on it all day. I lost money that day. My wife couldn’t download her study materials for her classes, and my son’s couldn’t play their online games. They were disgusted, bored, and I think even slightly angry.

Spoiled. We are spoiled by having this convenience to the point where it’s like a utility such as electricity, cable, water, phone. Can one live without electricity? Yes, but it would totally suck ass. I wonder if when people first started having electricity in their homes and no longer had to read by candlelight they felt spoiled.

Time to surf on over and pay some bills online, order a pizza online, maybe do a little shopping online and download some free Asian porn until the pizza arrives.

Caveman Conclusion: Disguising your penchant for online porn as caring about your child’s education is probably wrong somehow.

More gnarly posts by the Caveman:
• Murphy’s Weekend
• How I Wired A Home Network, Cable TV, Phone
• Hospital Homo Humor
• We Need To Talk, Let’s Shoot For Crazy!
• The Future Of Information Technology