I Love...Modern Technology...OR The Power Went Out Yesterday and I Almost Went Crazy

Yesterday after I got home from picking up Joshua, some bad weather blew through and knocked the power out for almost three hours.  Three.  Hours.  Now, I live in the south and am familiar with the aftermath of hurricanes where we have been left without power for weeks.  I also lived in the country for a while before we moved here and the power went out on a regular basis there, most of the time for no apparent reason.  So no electricity is not that big of a deal to me.  However, I've never had the experience with both boys being the ages they are now, or Joshua being so aware of his surroundings that Toy Story being abruptly shut off is an unforgivable offense.  Power outages and Autism do not mix.

On top of the electricity being out, AT&T's service was acting screwy and my phone battery was near death.  Bobby heard that the traffic was backed up for miles and miles so he decided to stay at work so he could be making money while he waited instead of sitting in his car screaming at all the morons.  He ended up staying two and a half hours later than he would have so it was just me and the small children.  There may or may not have been an argument about how long it took him to get home because I may or may not have been about to pull all my hair out.  Speaking of which, I'm realizing that if I actually pulled my hair out all the times that I feel like doing it, I would be crazy-Britney-Spears bald.

So anyway, there we are, in the near dark.  Joshua throwing a tantrum every so often because I still haven't turned his movie back on, Caleb taking the opportunity to get into everything I don't normally let him get into, and me...channeling my Hunger Games persona, going over in my head what furniture might make good fire wood or how long the food in the house might last us before I would have to resort to hunting the birds in the back yard.  I would die almost immediately in The Hunger Games, by the way.  Then, finally, the power beeped back on and it felt a little to me like the end of Lord of the Flies when they're all rescued.  All of a sudden the exaggerated drama dissipates, and life returns to normal, minus a decent dinner and baths because by now it was eight o'clock.

At any rate, this little episode inspired me to bring back the "I Love..." posts.  I know it's not Monday, but really, who cares?  Today I'm thinking of all of life's modern technologies I love and am thankful for.  I know people have survived centuries without them and many still do, but instead of feeling spoiled for enjoying them, I'll just feel blessed and appreciative.

• Electricity.  And everything that is powered by it.  Lights, refrigerators, ovens, central A/C, etc.
• Indoor plumbing.  We take it for granted, but how many of us could handle going outside in an outhouse, or worse, a hole in the ground?
• DVR.  It's one of those things most of us lived without most of our life, but now I would never be able to watch TV without it.  Which actually probably wouldn't be the worst thing ever.
• Internet.  It is a huge time-waster, but it has become invaluable to me in the past year or so.  Especially since we've moved, it's one of the main ways I keep in touch with people and it would be really hard to be without it for too long.  Not to mention I've got at least one really good friend I wouldn't even know was it not for the ability to connect over Facebook and blogs.  Plus, you can literally type in a word or question in a search engine and find everything you ever wanted to know about it.  That's pretty ridiculous and awesome.
• Smart phones.  I hated them for so long and now I'm one of those people that drives me nuts.  Mostly though, I love text messaging.  Another way I keep in touch with everyone.  What would I do with myself if I couldn't text song lyrics or random thoughts to Joy all day long?
• Digital music.  Seriously, so convenient.
• Modern appliances.  The dishwasher, washer and dryer, coffee pot, vacuum cleaner, slow cooker, etc.  I would say microwave...which I use...but I think they probably are horrible machines.  To quote Ellen, "I blame the microwave for most of our problems.  Anything that gets that hot without fire...that's from the devil."
• NFL Sunday Ticket.  Directv makes me so mad, but they've got us attached to the Sunday Ticket.  I mean, EVERY football game EVERY week??  How do you turn that down?
• The iPad.  Another thing I hated in the beginning but now love.  I never would have bought one if not for Joshua and it has been the best investment for him.  Not to mention, it helped save my sanity for a while yesterday when the power was out.

What are some of the modern technologies you love?