Computer shortage

Last week, about the time of our pseudo water crisis, my computer screen flashed it's last flash and went dark. When I could not revive it no matter how many times I compulsively pressed the power button, I knew the crash I had anticipated for weeks had finally come.

I thought, "oh well, living without a computer won't be so bad." That lasted about 45 minutes, and then I decided to take my poor dead laptop to the computer store.

They diagnosed the problem as a bad motherboard and offered to replace it for the small sum of $800 US. Just $150 more than what I paid for the computer on sale at Best Buy three years ago.

Naturally, this incident coincided with C.J. purchasing a USMLE question bank and declaring he will do at least 20 online practice questions a day through the end of the semester. This means he is pretty much using his computer every minute when he is at home and is taking it to school with him too.

It's been four solid days without a computer at my fingertips around the clock and I have to say, it's going to be a long two months until we get on that plane back to America.

It seems the only thing worse than being without water is going without my computer. I'd rather wash my face with baby wipes every night than live without that thin, rectangular piece of plastic and metal. I didn't realize how much I rely on it.

In my defence, I don't have a TV, so checking emails and Facebook, reading New York Times, looking up recipes for dinner, paying bills online and updating my blog are my main activities when Liam is sleeping (o.k. and sometimes when he is awake too).

After four days I was, no joke, feeling physical pains of withdrawal. As C.J. was packing up his bag this morning I threw a small tantrum, pouted and shamelessly begged him to leave the computer at home. "Forget your med school, what about my blog?" I whined. He saw the deranged look in my eye and reluctantly left the computer behind.

I'm like a junkie with her latest fix, and I'm loving every minute. I've been surfing the Internet non-stop. Since I know tomorrow will bring more practice questions, I'm squeezing in a second post for the day.

After I'm done with this I'll be looking into starting my own chapter of Internetanonymous. I think maybe I have a problem. Since going computer-free I've noticed Liam now enjoys dropping toys into his toy basket, which is actually a big milestone. Hmmm, does the computer make mommy a little distracted??

So if you don't see me on Skype or get a speedy response to an e-mail, now you know why. I'll be offline most of the time. And I guess that's better than living without water. You can't die without the Internet, right?