No High-Speed Connection = Paralyses?

It is quite difficult to work at an Online Media Agency when there is no internet connectivity in the office. Apparently, Verizon has had a major malfunction with one of it's "Big Cables" in the general Tribeca area. My office has had no internet connection since Friday afternoon. This is a direct flashback to this time last year when Verizon had an underground fire in Tribeca which knocked out the internet for about 5 days. Luckily 2 of those days were over the weekend. I had to bring my desktop home in a taxi so I could get work done while Ernie worked on both of our computers in the studio. Boy was that fun!

Do you know what this is like? It is like being without electricity. It is like 30 fish out of water. people walking around looking for something to do to be at least a little bit productive. People who are used to sitting in front of a comuter for 8 - 12 hours a day with most of their human interaction limited to email and IMs, trying to talk socially with one another without the aid of alcohol. It is really a bizarre and awkward site to behold.

What have we become? We lose email and web access and all of a sudden the whole world stops. It is literally like being without electricity. I actually called Ernie and asked him if he heard anything about a power outage on Friday because we lost our connection at work. He asked me "do you have lights" and I was all like, "Um, yeah. We have lights." He, "Well, you have power then." Me, "DUH! Wow, of course we do. Have you heard anything on the news about the internet going down in the city?" He, "No, just come home."

Can you believe from that exchange that I am even intelligent enough to find my way home from the City to Brooklyn?

But seriously, we are so reliant on the internet and email that without it we are paralyzed. Helpless. Useless.

So today, I am working from home. The internet is alive and well in Brooklyn. So there is something to be said for this borough other than that it has cool bars and hip restaurants. Maybe those increasing real estate prices are worth it afterall.