Cafe Wifi Refugee

So my ISP doesn't have service in my area, and I've been without DSL at home for over a week.

Have you ever wondered whether you'd really miss having Internet access at home? I have.

The answer is a resounding yes. TV I think I can truly live without, but I really use the 'Net.

Sure, I have Internet access at work, but I do just way too much crap online to take care of it at work. They also monitor Internet use at will, and I'm not keen on that invasion of privacy.

So a brief note as I sit here in the local cafe, drinking a decaf mocha at 9:15 pm and using their WiFi with all the other laptop geeks here.

I'm moved in, I love my place, I'm finally getting a handle on unpacking. I'm exhausted.

Spent today doing some work at The Talking Farm in Evanston, first dismantling my composter at the old place with the help of a fellow TTF member, and transporting it and the compost to the farm (it's actually a model farm in a large section of a community garden; the long-term plan is to establish an urban working farm on some land that's being negotiated in another part of Evanston.)

Spent the day digging up muddy mats of mint that had taken over a section of the land, then mixing sand with the very clay-ey soil. It;s been wet weather, and Illinois farmers have been unable to plant, which is disturbing. I worked with a guy who dreams of having a homestead with yurts on the land to rent out. Of course he's married, and his wife isn't as enthused about the idea (WHY don't they wait until they meet ME?!?!?) Saw another woman who's a fellow permaculture fanatic; told her I was going to the 4-day intensive (all my pocketbook and schedule will allow). May have convinced her to come along...tempted her with carpooling and setting up our tents together. Would be a blast.

Some student TV group was doing a piece on the farm, and they did a lot of filming of me digging up mats, plopping them into a wheelbarrow, pulling out worms. We did a couple of takes. the farm attracts a lot of attention for some reason.

Another, private, plot nearby was being weeded and tended by a group of young women who are at that highly idealistic feminist/perhaps lesbian phase of their lives,and they were adorable. One had brought along her rabbit, Simone de Bunny. They were really fun to listen to, and I wish I had had that kind of crowd to hang with when I was their age.

Worked until I gave out, came home, took a bath and passed out on the couch after eating a pint of ice cream. Woke to find a college news station on TV doing a piece on people biking, and saw a woman I know being interviewed.

Outside the apartment the other day bumped int my downstairs neighbor, Cop Guy, who gave me the lowdown on the neighborhood:

"Lots of shootings. Not on this street, but north on Howard. That house there has a lot of drug dealing going on, It was raided and it calmed down, but it;s creeping back in. That car there is owned by a guy who's been in four times for armed robbery; stay away from him. I work 4-midnight, so if you ever get home late and have to park far away, I'll give you my cell, you call it and I'll send a squad car over."

He then asked whether I had pepper spray. I said I didn't, but couldn't I pick some up at the drugstore?

"Well, yeah, but that's not the good kind. I'll get you the good kind."

I guess this is the modern-day Welcome Wagon.

So I'm tired and heading home (on my bike, since I have the laptop). But I'm alive and well and will touch base soon.