Technology?

Yesterday was an interesting picture of our society. A major "trunk" or fiber optic line was cut accidentally by a guy on a backhoe around 1:30 p.m. All of the cell phone service and most of the telephone landlines were immediately wiped out for the entire small city with which we are associated, and all of its surrounding area.

Of course, the reports about where the line was cut were so widespread it is comical, but the guys knew what they did and where they did it. They were able to begin work on the repair pretty quickly. However, it was 8:30 p.m. before service was restored. 7 hours! Wow! And this is only a temporary fix. They will have to be doing massive work to do real repairs by tunneling under part of the river. I bet that guy wishes he could take those few minutes back. At least when I mess up, I don't have all of an entire county knowing about it.

The newspaper reported people flocking to the cell phone stores to learn the cause of the problem. Credit card machines were down. Stores had to go searching for the old-fashioned method of carbon copy imprints. Quotes from store managers were dreading how difficult it would be totaling the drawer at the end of the day. Banks even "resorted to pen and paper". I was laughing as I read the articles.

One source said it took the town back in time by 15 years. I don't think that is quite correct since I have only had a cell phone for the past 3 years and a debit card almost that long. I know I am behind times, but we are on a cash only basis at our house. Yes, I use my debit card at StuffMart, but I HAVE to have that cash available in order to use the debit card. Dave Ramsey has taught my honey and I well. We even pay for our gas and groceries with cash.....real cash.

Of course, all of this fun stuff occurred on the day before my honey got paid. That means our on hand cash was running to the end of the paycheck and I was a little concerned about the automatic deposit. However, things are running smoothly (at least in our limited knowledge) and the check is in the bank.

It was a bit strange to be heading out from the boy's theater class last night and not be able to call Nana to say we were on the way to pick up the girl. We also couldn't call Dad to say we were on the way home. A little strange, but not a big problem.

It did make me thankful that my prayer bill was paid in full and I was not left without the real Helper on which I can call, even when the backhoe strikes.