Social Life Online?

Social life these days for me is the Internet. Rob and I don’t really go out that much, because there’s really not much to do. Basketball games are not our thing; we are not sports fans. There aren’t that many restaurants either. Shopping is best whenever we venture out of the mountains, either to Charleston or Lexington. The church is keeping Rob busy, and it’s keeping me busy, too. Also, finding a deaf community has been proven difficult. So for me, I relax by emailing my family, blogging and uploading pictures, and chatting with family and friends online and on videophone.

Recently, my brother and sister in law has joined Facebook. Through that, we stay in touch. This is so much better than emails or phones, because it’s a direct, live conversation between us.

Last week at a school, I met a deaf adult finally since the move. He lives in the area. (I don’t count the Sorenson videophone consultants who came twice to set up the phone.) He and I exchanged information, and via emails, he kept me informed about state meetings and events. The other night, I chatted with an old friend back in Virginia who informed me about the deaf community across the Kentucky/Virginia border. It’s a little far, but it’s a start. Hopefully, I’ll be able to get involved with the local deaf community in some form.

Online tonight, I was tagged by another set of two friends one new and one old. Both of them reached out to me sharing their recent struggles and asking for advice. Through online, I was there for them. I hope I was able to help them.

I guess socialization online isn’t a bad thing, as long it is done in moderation. Right?

Connected to the World Again

I don’t know if you want the long or the short version of why we weren’t online for two weeks. I’ll try to my best to be concise.

First of all, we moved here on August 6th, which is almost two weeks ago. The church asked us what we wanted for Internet. We agreed on AT&T DSL services, because the Internet node is right next to the church.  So the church made the arrangements for the phone and Internet. For a week, we didn’t have a phone except for our cell phones. AT&T showed up a week after we arrived. Because the manse is a new residence, new phone connection had to be set up from the telephone pole. AT&T also put in a phone connection box outside the house, but the technician was not able to make the connection from the phone box to the phone jacks under the house without charging high fees ($100 plus $25 per hour). So, the technician left the instructions with me. Rob was at the office unpacking and dealing with other details. I relayed the instructions to Rob when he came home, and he then passed it on to our neighbor. He is also our go-to guy for these kinds of things. He then contacted two guys to do the permanent connection for us, and on that day, they hooked up by putting a phone line through the window temporarily. Permanent connection didn’t happen until four days later. On Monday, all the phones are hooked up to the jacks. That night, Rob then tried to get online via DSL modem, which wasn’t successful. So, he called AT&T. It turned out that the node wasn’t connected correctly. Today, AT&T came by and turned it on.

When we made the first online connection, I was exhilarated. Now, I can talk on the phone and stay fully connected with family and friends. Internet access is extremely important to me compared to other folks, especially because I’m deaf. For two weeks, my Sidekick was my “buddy”. It was good for what it can do: email and texting, but it’s so limited in many ways. I couldn’t access to banking information, couldn’t read New York Times, and couldn’t even update our blog.

In the end, Rob and I are connected. We will update our blog with pictures and stories from the ordination and about our new home soon.