How a Foot of Snow Messed With My Technology Life

Yesterday, a foot of snow was dumped on my house. The weather people in Indiana like to call it a blizzard but my Wisconsin blood simply refuses to comply. I simply refer to it as 12″ of snow. Regardless of what you call it, 12″ of snow is enough to wreak some havoc on my technology life.

Technology hurdle #1

For starters my DIRECTV satellite lost its connection. Mind you, the problem wasn’t on DIRECTV’s end—it was on my end. Kind of hard to reach the satellites orbiting the Earth when your satellite dish is completely engulfed in snow.

Normally, this wouldn’t bother me but yesterday was the NFC Wild Card Game starring my beloved Green Bay Packers. I feared missing the game but then remembered I always keep an antenna hooked up to my television so a simple switch to the antenna feed and I was still in business with a crisp and clear high definition view of the game. Too bad the Packers didn’t win.

Technology hurdle #2

Immediately following the Packers game, the Wisconsin men’s basketball team was taking on Iowa on the Big Ten Network. This meant my antenna solution was short-lived as no antenna in the world can pick up the Big Ten Network as it is a cable/satellite channel only. But once again I beat the system by pulling up the Big Ten Network’s app on my iPad and live streaming the game on my iPad. Even better, the Badgers overcame an 11-point deficit at halftime and went on to win the game.

Somehow throughout all of this, my Internet connection and my power managed to stay on. Kudos to Comcast and Duke Energy for this one. If my Internet connection had gone out, I would have missed the Badgers game and if the power went out I would have missed both the Packers and the Badgers.

Bigger things to worry about than technology

Incidentally, I’m not trying to make light of the issues affecting people from a foot of snow. The roads here are terrible and the temperatures and wind chills are now both sub-zero, both of which could potentially be life-threatening. It’s bad out there. Rather, I wanted to share my winter storm experience through a pair of technology eyes.

If you are in the winter storm’s path, how has it affected you? Leave a comment below to let me know.