Modern Technology and Sleepless Nights

Modern Technology and Sleepless Nights

I am really fond of modern technology, but lately it has been driving me a little bit crazy! You see, we have high-speed Internet and digital phone service through our local cable system. The alarm system to our house and outside storage shed is also tied in to the cable service.

Now here is the conundrum: It is currently 3:00 am in the morning, my heart is pounding in my chest and I am wide awake! A few minutes ago my wife and I were startled when our alarm went off and woke us from a sound sleep. This is not the first time this has happened in the middle of the night, and it is quite annoying!

Here is the scenerio. The loud, piercing siren will go off and I will jump up out of bed. Usually I end up stubbing my toe on the nightstand next to our bed, then I will crash into the dresser in the dark as I rush to check the doors and see if there is an intruder that I have to fight. Meanwhile my wife will say, "What is going on?" I tell her to hush as I switch to my kung-fu mode and sneak through the house ready to pounce on any home invaders that may be lurking about! I peer out the window into the darkness trying to see if anyone is trying to break into our storage shed. Confident that everything looks ok there, I grab my nunchucks that are hanging on our bedpost as I exit the bedroom and tip-toe through the house. (Bruce Lee would be proud of me as I maintain perfect balance and form with each step I take.) I check the front door, everything is secure there. Next I gaze out the front window and look at our cars, they seem to be untouched. Then I peek around the corner into the kitchen and check that door, no problem there either.

I tell my wife it's ok to come out now (of course she didn't stay in the bedroom as instructed and was right behind me anyway.) Then I punch in our secret code to shut off the alarm which has probably awakened the entire neighborhood by now. I take a deep breath and sit down to relax an unwind for a minute, then I notice that the trouble light is still showing on the alarm panel. When I pick up the phone to call the alarm company and ask them how to reset the darn thing there is no dial tone! Then it dawns on me that there was a power surge or something like that which caused the phone to go out. The alarm interpets this as a problem and that's why we were up at 3:00 am unable to go back to sleep.

Well as long as I am up I figure it would be a good time to turn on my computer and get some work done. I have several websites that need to be updated, a blog that needs some new entries and four email accounts that I have to check. Stupid me -- of course I can't do any of that because there is no Internet connection if the digital phone service is out! I grab the cell phone to call the cable company and find out what the problem is, but of course I can't get a decent signal on my cell while I am in the house! Should I get dressed and walk half-way down the block to get a signal or just give it up and go back to bed?

Oh yes, let's not forget that for there is cost for all of this great modern technology that doesn't work! The high-speed Internet connection and digital phone service runs right at $100.00 a month; alarm system costs $32.00 a month; and two cell phones that won't get a signal in our own house cost about $150.00 a month. That's a total of almost $200.00 a month for this GREAT modern technology!

There is more to this story, but I will bore you with those details at another time. It involves an emergency visit to the doctor because of the alarm going off in the middle of the night. Don't get me wrong, I still love modern technology and could not live with out my high speed Internet connection, I just needed to vent a little!

As always, your comments are welcome.