Rednecks Don't Get High-Speed Internet Access

It's been almost a year since I moved out into the country.

I left behind city life and quite a few of the amenities that come with crowded living, traffic problems and a higher crime rate. One of the perks I left behind was high-speed internet access.

While I'm very happy with my living situation, I was a bit distraught to find out no one serviced the area I moved to. After so many months of being promised service and being told I would have service "soon", I finally broke down and got satellite high-speed internet access.

Goodbye $800, hello "iffy" connections and a backyard eyesore. It's beyond me why no one else in the area has made an aggressive move to get high-speed internet access routed to this area.

The guy next door MUST have a need for high-speed after he finishes setting piles of leaves on fire. I've seen him out in the yard with digital cameras and video cameras, so I know they're not playing fiddle by candlelight for weeknight entertainment.

And I just know the folks on the other side of me MUST have a need for high-speed once they finish cleaning their horse trailers. I know they're not technologically-challenged because I've seen him on his riding mower with a beer in one hand, and an mp3-player in the other. (Don't ask how he was driving.)

I just don't get it. Don't country folks NEED high-speed internet access?!

Time-Out for Grown-Ups

I used to hate to have to drive half an hour to and from work.
Now, it's like the grown-up version of a "time out" that I think we should all take daily.

From home, I have a 30-minute drive that lets me wake up, think about the things I really want to get done at work, and it allows me to start my day fresh, focused and highly-caffeinated.

From work, I get to complain about all the things that went wrong at work, how I'm going to do things differently tomorrow, and how many Rum and Cokes it's going to take to put me to sleep tonight. Not that I'm alcoholic, or anything - I've never been to one of "those" meetings!