Life Online (was AIM)

[Nethilia De Lobo]

> Here in my little community in Central Texas we
> don't have access to 
> DSL.  I do have a separate line for my computer, but
> most of my 
> friends and family who are on line do not.  As a
> matter of fact many 
> of my friends and family don't even own a computer.
> The local server 
> we have is over worked so that many nights we can't
> get on line until 
> after 10:00 PM. Often we are kicked off when the
> traffic is heavy.  I 
> think in larger cities and university towns service
> is probably 
> better, but you take what you can get if you live
> elsewhere.
> 
> Professor Phlash

Well, I guess I'm a little spoiled...Since Bryan is
full of college students and comps everywhere (and
there's that great big clump of buildings over there
called Texas A&M University), I can get online almost
anywhere; the farthest I am from a computer is about a
10 minute drive to campus. At school we have T1 (or
T3, I'm not sure) lines, and I take advantage when I
got to the Neopets site cause that's the only way to
get ANYTHING on that site. (Have any of you ever been
to that site, or am I talking in circles?) When I
lived on campus and didn't have my own comp, (which
was my first year) I used hang out in the computer
lab, I'm such a Net junkie. 

And here we can't get Ma Bell, our phone is Verizon
and the cable is Cox, which both aren't wonderful, but
get the job done. And if I was trying to connect
through the phone line I would be screwed, they only
connect at about 33.6. The main reason I'm shelling
out for cable is that all three of us (me and my two
roomates) have our own computers and trying to use one
phone line with three comps would be a mess (and none
of us really like sharing). At my mom's home I had to
dial up, and couldn't sign on before 9:30 pm or after
4 pm because the phone needed to be open. But I could
sign on almost anytime, because Houston is a great big
city. My boyfriend in Colorado has a dial up, but he
can be online so much because they have two phone
lines. It's still a 56k connection, though.

As for people who don't use comps or don't have them:
I know many people like that, most of my family is
either scared of them or completely confused about
them. They either think all sites are porn or that
there's only horrible things online, or they just hate
technology. I have one cousin who doesn't quite get
that you can't send out e-mails if you don't have your
own e-mail address. 

Of course, I've been enamoured with computers since
the days of Apple IIe. Then I bought a 93 Packard
computer at a pawn shop with internet capabilities,
and it got badly messed up in a storm and left me
upset for five months. I have my current comp because
of a court settlement, and I'm really fussy about it.
It was the only thing I bought with my money; I didn't
want anything else after I got it. My mom loves
computers, so she doesn't mind that I'm on so much and
is proud to say that I am very good with them. 

I'm also better at typing than writing longhand, cause
I type much faster than I write. Lefties also have a
small advantage on a keyboard, because the first hand
you learn is the left hand and a lot of fuctions
require you to be moderately ambidexterous (which a
lot of lefties have to learn to be anyways). Now I've
never typed properly, mind. I don't use my pinkies
because they're messed up and stand out at weird
angles thant make it impossible to type with them, so
I have to look at the keyboard a lot when I type. I
can also type faster using only my left hand rather
than both, go figure. Then again I'm ambidexterous. I
love technology and things like that, I don't know
what I would do without my comp. 

--Neth (I wonder if there's a online Internet Addicts
Anonymous group)

=====
--Nethilia de Lobo--
79% obsessed with Harry Potter
Wand: Dragon Heartstring, Ash, 7 inches
**Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus.**

http://www.geocities.com/spenecial
Spenecial.com. Two girls. One Website. Total Chaos.

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