I grew up outside of a small town in a more rural, agricultural part of the nation. My ride to school took me past cow pastures, corn and cotton fields, and tabacco farms. Nights were so dark and clear that meteor showers were truly special vents. My main source of entertainment was the county library.
We had four tv stations, ABC, NBC, CBS, and PBS. Two ABC affiliates receivable in the living room. A fifth station appeared when a Fox affiliate arrived just on the edge of reception. Cable didn't reach out that far, and those small little DSL
satellites didn't appear until I was a teenager. Not that we ever had one.
We were on 28.8 when most people could hit 56kb. Affordable portable phones, affordable for us anyway, could finally fit inside a cd-case-sized bag. Couldn't get news or up-to-the-minute scores on them though.
That's what it feels like now. Not so much an information freeze, but more like drips from a torturously slow-melting piece of ice. And so much of this doesn't add up. Kinda eating at the back of my mind, but I didn't spend much time thinking about it today.
Since I haven't heard back from any of my friends on here, I decided this afternoon would be a good day to make sure everyone I know in the region was alright. Roads were sparsely populated, though there's certainly no shortage of police. Got pulled for speeding, though I was only five over the limit. What's funny was how oddly comforting it was. The sky's falling, but order's still being kept.
Of course, it helps that I only got a warning.
Left home around 5, figuring it was a work day and all. I REALLY need to get on finding a job...anyway, visited Andy at his house, caught him a few minutes after he had gotten back. We talked a bit, relieved to see each other alright, though really neither of us had any reason to be out in any of the affected areas. Was just nice to have some contact with friends. I asked him if he'd had a chance to speak with anybody else we knew; fortunately everybody was accounted for, at least in the area.
I asked him if he'd heard anything about Dan, though that was kinda a silly question. Andy's sarcastic smirk was answer enough.
"Is this getting old for you yet?" he asked. "This info shutdown. I'm fine with it, but I know how much you like to be connected."
And I admitted, yeah, it was starting to chafe. Not quite fat-thighs-in-summer levels of chafing, but still pretty bad.
He chuckled. "Well, you're free to drop by anytime. Have you heard from your family? Yeah, me neither. I wonder why that is."
I asked him what he meant.
"Well, think about it. It's understandable that cable's down. If the accounts are true. Web connectivity is still a bit strange, but I can accept that it can be selectively crippled due to varying server locations. But think about it. Satellites. The terrorists couldn't have attacked THOSE, could they?"
"How would satellite...wait, I see where you're going with this..."
"Yah, cell phones. Why do we no longer 'get signal?'"
"Er, maybe they rely on some land-based communications hub?"
"I guess. I don't know. It just feels strange, yah? So...perfect."
Just the next step in sophistication beyond 9/11, I argue.
"Maybe. Maybe."
I asked if land lines were up, and he said they were out at his office. "Which could get bad quickly," he pointed out. "IT companies don't work very well when there's no information to technologize."
"Well," I throw in, "at least drop by my blog sometime and let me know you're still alive, ok?"
"How can I? It's down for me."
Huh? I mean, I obviously can reach it, and I point out as much to him.
"Nope, nothing, yah? I still have access to a few random pages, but yours isn't one of them. And that's another thing. What would cause this network behavior? It makes just as much sense as everything else right now."
It's a crazy time in general, I guess.
When I got home, just before I logged in tonight, I wondered briefly what the point was of keeping this up when, for all I know, nobody else is reading this. The answer, though, was immediately obvious. These ARE crazy times, and though I'm sure
I'm not the only one, someone has to record them, to describe them.
Besides, maybe it'll make for interesting reading for my grandkids one day.
Hopefully.
