At least I have electricity!

  Over the course of the past month I have had to adjust to big and little things such as: the reality that getting any decent red meat on the island is a fantasy or that the Cable guy drives up in his daily driver wearing street clothes and pops his trunk to install the modem and VOIP service at 5:30-7pm.  I will never get used to the inconsistent Internet service on the island.  After a while I got used to the lulls, at 5pm when ALL 700 students are on the Internet talking to family and checking email, and the highs, at 6am when everyone is getting ready for class and no one but ME is sending a "Good Morning" email to their significant other.  I was able to cope with the inconsistencies of the Internet at home knowing that at least I was a five minute walk from campus and they always (so it seemed) had perfect Internet service and plenty of computers to go around (or you just bring your laptop and hook up wirelessly).
  For those of you that I have Skyped and even talked to recently, you know that my home Internet capabilities have been rough because of the consistent wave of rain storms that have since blown through. 

Well....Then I got this message from the IT department in my Ross email box:

Dear Valued Customer

There is a transmission outage which is impacting the Internet services for all islands (except Jamaica, Cayman & Turks).  This is as a result of a failure on the Global Caribbean Network (GCN) fibre system caused by a submarine cable break on the New York end.  Due to this submarine cable break on a fibre system in New York, you would experience slow Internet browsing.

A subsequent update would be  given as we endeavour to restore service as soon as possible.

We sincerely regret the inconvenience caused.

Sincerely

Lime. Better Business Everyday!

  Okay, so now I know ALL the factors that can are involved with getting Internet to this island and how if any of those fail or are disturbed I am F#@*&^%.  Well, my home Internet service isn't through LIME it is through The Cable (original name) but there are very few routes that are possible to retrieve Internet from a hard line and I am guessing that both services are attached to this "submarine cable break" at some point. 

Moral of the story is...I AM stranded on an island...I am a little better off than Gilligan and his crew...

  For all of you that are jealous of me living on an island and getting a tan let this little (but frequent) Internet experience SQUISH your dreams of EVER living on an island.  Unless the point of you coming to the island is to escape the world (VERY POSSIBLE) then by all means I understand why people vacation here.  It takes a certain kind of person to live here for their lives and I have to admit it is not for me.  Thank goodness for breaks!  

  Because I have to cope to island life to make it through the two and a half years that I am here (minus the breaks) I have to laugh and think that at least I have electricity! 

  It just goes to show how fortunate and unaware I was in the states with prompt customer service and the luxury of a big, juicy, grain fed steak straight from the butcher or just being able to walk on a side walk.  Be thankful friends because like the saying goes you don't know what you had until you have lost it.