See the green DSL and Internet lights? No, they only work on weekends.
Has your Internet ever gone out? Yes, of course, at one time or another. Does your Internet go out between 10AM-6PM Monday through Friday? That is what I have been battling with my service with CenturyLink for the past four weeks. I don’t want to go into the fine details of my experience with the poor unreliable service since I have been trying to look on the bright side:
- I get out of the house and visit some really interesting places that have Wi-Fi.
- Start to value elements in my life differently. I admit I took Internet for granted. Now I sure don’t.
- The outage prompted me to create a much more efficient work schedule. What normally took me 6 hours to do at home I do in 2 hours at the library!
With those shiny silvery linings come the cons:
- I love working at home and an unreliable service is preventing me from doing so. What if I was disabled, had an infant, had a salaried job completed remotely that an employer relied on? Yes, I am healthy and able to drive into town for Internet. No, I don’t need child care in order to do this. No, I don’t have an employer relying on me—I have 9 clients who depend on me.
- I have spent 7 total hours on the phone with customer service representatives, service techs, and rearranged my schedule more than once to be home for techs that sometimes do not show up at all.
- Business interruption. I waste drive time to locations with Wi-Fi, pay for gas to get there, and then pay for coffee, lunch and other items so that I am not a freeloader.
Well, I suppose the title of this post is slightly misleading. Yes, I have no Internet at home, so I have had to leave home to find Wi-Fi and write. I am still writing content for the web, just not from my home. I have experienced quite the array of coffee shops, book stores, and libraries around the greater Raleigh area the past four weeks. Here are three spots that I wanted to showcase:
Honeysuckle Tea House in Chapel Hill
This open-air spot is super unique. Beautiful farm fields, a decent outdoor stage and picnic area, plus a little pond. Not many food choices so I was stuck with a vegan handpie. (When I told my love about it later, he pointed out it’s an oxymoron!)
The Honeysuckle Tea House
Their signature tea was sold out, so I opted for the barista’s suggestion and the last scone! Beware: Most of their edible sweet treats were sold out by the time I got there: 1PM.
Outdoor stage backdropped by their picturesque farm field.
Johnny’s Gone Fishing in Carrboro
No pics of this one – click the link above to see photos on their site. This place is super cozy with lots of seating options. Planning an open mic here in October for Living Poetry!
Chatham Library
This one is my favorite. It is so close to home, quiet, and when I am lucky I get my own ‘office’: A private study room all to myself.
Study Room = Office. There is a 2-hour limit per room, so I migrate around the library.
‘BOOKS’ bike rack at the library.
I hope the Internet gods resolve my connection woes soon. For now, I’m all over this beautiful North Carolina Triangle. ::silver lining::
I agree. We depend on the internet. Can be our downfall.
Yes, it should be just as accessible and dedicated as water and electricity.
Here in Michigan. Away from the city. Need generators. Electricity is iffy here in Michigan sometimes.
Hope you have a fireplace in the winter!
A fireplace is useful. Gas is safer than electric. Gas seem to always work.
I have internet at home, but I frequently visit coffee shops for better productivity. But some coffee shops’ internet can be unreliable and slow, due to so many other people constantly being online (including other freelancers). So after pouting a bit, I just got into the habit of doing my offline work when it happened. I had ideas to organize, drafts to work on and e-books to study. Then I realized, I can do even more offline writing-related stuff. I made a list of all these things, and later got published on Freelance Switch (now Tuts+) about it. So going offline has served my productivity and muse well:)
PS Those pictures make me wish I was in North Carolina:)
Wow–none at home?! Have you always been conditioned to that lifestyle or was it a switch for you? Yes, coffee shops’ Internet are unpredictable. Good idea to do offline work–I follow the same model when outages occur once in a blue moon. It wouldn’t have been possible for me to complete my work with the rate of last month’s daily outages. What I like best about YOUR silver lining perspective is that you saw a story in it, and then enjoyed a publishing credit for it. 🙂 Turning sour situations into a by-line = smart.
Thanks for the photo love. North Carolina is a pretty gorgeous place. 🙂
Added to my to-visit list:):)
That’s great that your library has a study room! I would go there often, too, just to get away (though I too WFH, sometimes it’s nice to have a little change in scenery). I’m sorry to hear about your internet issues; I have them all the time here too. You never realize how much you rely on the internet until it craps out for a few hours!