A Lost Puppy

I was a lost puppy, a very old lost puppy, today. I know not why, but I lost everything that could entertain me this day, except, of course, housework. My wife has chosen to work a parttime job to keep her busy. I reject the idea that she might just be trying to get away from me. We are both retired, except only I practice retirement full time.

We have a television set that is about 15 years old. It is neither digital nor high definition (HD) and doesn’t have the capability of either. We do have cable television so we aren’t being forced to buy a new TV when the analog system in use today ends next year. But I have a friend who has been telling me about his HDTV for quite a while now and has me longing for one. The problem is I’m rather stingy and can’t find a reason to buy a new one.

A couple of days ago MGD told me she was hearing a funny noise from the TV and it has been that way for about a week. I wear two hearing aids so that gives you a hint of my ability to hear. I didn’t hear any noises from the TV. This morning, shortly after my wife headed out, I was watching the TV when it suddenly went “Pfffft” and the screen went black. I hate to admit that my first reaction was, “Oh, great. Here comes my new HDTV.”

I immediately grabbed my laptop to send an e-mail to my friend that I’d be getting a new TV soon and to ask for suggestions. Shucks! I had no internet connection. You see, I have a “package” from my cable provider. TV, Internet, telephone. Now, no TV, no internet. I think a tear was forming in my eye as I picked up the phone to test it. No dial tone. Whatever had happened, and even now I know not what happened, I had lost all my communications. Well, not quite all. I still had my cell phone in case of an emergency.

But with those other three methods of communication out, I had nothing to do. Sure I could have listened to the radio or my old fashioned stereo unit. I could have read. I could have gone for a walk since our rain ended about noontime. I could have done some housework to make life easier for my bride of 46+ years as I occasionally do so she doesn’t have to. There are many things I could have done. But, I had no communications. All I could really do was stew over that.

I can easily live with no TV. There’s really precious little being offered that “requires” watching. During a weekday daytime, there’s not much sports on. Sports is my main TV fare when MGD isn’t also watching. I think I’ve seen every episode of Walker and Law and Order a gazillion times. So the loss of TV wasn’t a big deal.

But the loss of the internet and e-mail was disastrous. My life wouldn’t change if I couldn’t read my local political forum a hundred times a day. Or ESPN. Or even my daily round of newspapers on line. But when one can’t connect, he just absolutely knows he’s missing something. I missed nothing today. I did miss my daily plethora of emails telling me how much cheaper prescriptions are in Canada, how I can expand my manly elements, how I can qualify for loans regardless of my credit, and all those other offers that pour in daily. Thankfully, I have a wonderful program on my computers that screen these first so I’m not usually bothered.

I did miss the occasional communications with my friends in Florida.

Whatever happened to my connection got company corrected during the day. I’m obviously back on line and the TV is blazing away with the news. And I did complete the laundry for MGD, but other than that, it’s been a frustrating day. But this very lost puppy isn’t lost anymore.

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I apparently have some problems with my Blogspot and readers haven’t been able to post. I apologize for any problems and will work on correcting the situation tomorrow.

G.D.