Is This Thing On?

I have internet again! O, happy day, too roo, too lay!

I cannot tell you how annoying it has been these past few weeks to be living without you, my sweet pablum, my exquisite opiate of the masses. How do I live without you? As I was standing on my neighbor’s porch, watching the second cable guy in ten hours balanced precariously on top of a ladder, trying desperately to get our cable working, and explaining to the nice new neighbors that no, we weren’t actually getting TV cable, just cable internet, and watching their eyes go all wide… I realized that my internet addiction is not, perhaps, fully understood by the masses. (However, she did realize that, sans internet, I was spending a lot of time in the Panera Bread — free wifi — down the street.

Seriously, though, I’ve had a list of things to look up once this darn cable was hooked up. Things like:

• Who sings the theme song on this last season of The Wire? (Steve Earle, who plays Bubbles’ NA sponsor)
• What do they call those little entryway pieces of furniture that are like a combination mail/key/and leash holder, coat rack, and mirror? (Hall trees, apparently)
• More eggplant recipes (anyone?)
• Lots of secret stuff for T&G that I obviously cannot discuss here.

So anyway, I have the internet, and SB is celebrating by playing WOW, and Rio is celebrating by napping on the air vents, as per usual:

It was 90 degrees out today. No one gets to say my dog ain’t smart. She’s also a little worn out puppy, as she just came back from her first vet visit, where she was vaccinated (not that she noticed, so intent was my pup on a fingerful of cheese whiz). The vet says, “I can’t promise you anything, but sometimes these shots wear puppies out.” I tried not to get my hopes up. But worn out she is, the little dear. I’m expecting she’ll be right back to Rambunctious Rio by tomorrow.

We’re still settling into the new house. Unpacking a little more every day, starting to think seriously about what furniture we’d like to put where. SB did a lot of work in our office today, and it looks great, though I do want to paint in there eventually, so it may not stay that way. However, things I already love about the house:

• Our new refrigerator has an icemaker. This thrills me to no end. In the apartment, ice was a big deal. We had to remember to refill the little plastic containers, we had to wait for them to freeze, we coudln’t wait too long or they’d either sublimate or get funky freezer-smell. So basically, to put ice in something, you had to think two hours in advance that you wanted ice in something in two hours. We didn’t use ice unless it was strictly necessary for the consumable in question. Like pina coladas. But now I have ice at the press of a button! And so does Rio. Yay for us both!
• The exposed brick wall in my new office. Every time I go in there I am pleased anew. So pretty, and it fulfills all my secret longings of living in an urban loft somewhere. (Or some massively cool reclaimed corner store like the home my cousins-in-law own in Baltimore.)
• The hardwood floors. Come to find out from my neighbor that a former owner of the house was a hardwood floor dealer, which explains the fab floors in my house. I really hope I don’t wreck ’em.
• The sprayer on my new sink. It’s not a divided sink, but it sprays. Great for dish *and* dog-washing.
• And, don’t tell SB, but much as I’ve been bitching and moaning about giving up my gas range, I am really liking the electric *oven* in my new kitchen. I made baked potatoes the other evening, and they took 65 minutes. In our old gas apartment oven, they would have taken approximately four and a half days.

Ah, house. I own a house. And a dog. And you people are bearing the brunt of hearing about both. A college friend who heard about my recent acquisitions was all, “when did everyone I know turn into grown-ups?” which made me laugh because it’s a running theme in T&G, too. Maybe Amy and I have more in common than I thought. We’re both going through a sea change stage of life.