Reunited...

And it feels so good.

Okay, probably silly but I've been left out in the cold for the past few days. Last week our landline phone went quiet. I know many have opted to live without a landline, relying solely on their cell phone and I suppose if we got reliable reception at home (that would be anything that DIDN'T require heading outdoors in order to make/receive calls) I would consider it.

As it is, we've got not one, but two, dedicated phone lines in our home. A necessity when the kids were at home and pre-cell phones. The first line (the main line) is used for telephones and telephone messages. Our second phone line (which I could technically do without now that the girls have moved out and Chris is tethered to his cell phone and doesn't object too much or too loudly about having to wander around outdoors on the property for hours) handles everything else - the DSL, the tvs, the fax line.

It's been a great situation...until last week that is. First the phone line went dead but fortunately Verizon has 24 hr. service online and I easily placed a repair request. My appointment was for Friday and they gave me an ever-so-convenient time slot - sometime between 8 am and 7 pm and they guaranteed my phone would be fixed.

The technician arrived, unbeknownst to me, and began exploring the problem outside. When that didn't help, he needed to move indoors and check things out there. Anyone who has seen the inside of my house knows that a) there are not terribly many phone jacks (particularly for a house of this size) and b) those few jacks are well hidden...by lots and lots of furniture. It was no easy task to get everything moved for the technician only to be told that he couldn't figure out what had happened but he could get one (and only one) jack to work and that it would serve for both lines.

Yeah...it all worked great...until about 30 minutes after he left (and coincidentally ten minutes after Gerry arrived home).

Then the second line went silent and it wasn't too long before I realized just how dependent I had become on this technology. Not having a phone turned out to be not so much a problem - no phone calls interrupting us watching tv and our not having to deal with every organization currently soliciting phone donations. It was a bit quiet here and really wonderful.

That same pleasure did not extend to the second line going down. NO EMAIL??? Yeah, that's just (truly) not working for me! Transfer money to my son's account? Not happening! Begin ordering gifts for the holiday? HA!

As the disconnect continued on into yesterday, I finally had to resort to packing up my little travel laptop and heading to the closest Starbucks, at a cost of $6.50 ($2.50 for my tea and $4 for a 2 hour connection fee!). I waded through my email, postponing everything I could and dealing with the rest while hoping my battery would hold out.

Today Verizon promised to send a technician out to fix our second line and get my connection to the real world re-established. In anticipation, I empty out our "black hole" closet - the one that holds our coats, our ski clothing and ALL our coats. It is not a small task. But it is the only way to gain access to the crawl space which I was sure was going to be required this time since everything else was moved and checked out the last time.

Suddenly, without warning or any visible aid from a human, the line was once again working. Apparently just moving the crap (I mean priceless belongings) from the closet was sufficient to scare it into operation.

When I get caught up on my email, I'll be in the foyer playing Tetris with our belongings, trying to get it all magically back into the closet. (Chime loudly if you're emailing me!)

~later, tw