This post was sponsored by Linksys and the new Linksys E4200v2 router. For more information on sponsored posts, read the bottom of our About Page.
Of the three DadWagoners I am by far the least technically proficient. I had to be told, in fact, what a router is. I don’t know overly much about my computer, other than she works generally, makes occasional ominous beeping sounds, and houses all of the most important documents in my life. I know how to use my cellphone only marginally better than my mother. I do not think that Matt should break out his iPad in restaurants in Italy, although I would undoubtedly do the same if I owned an iPad and was fancy enough as a writer to travel to Italy. I don’t fear or loathe technology; I would simply prefer that it function without my having to notice it.
And yet where would I be without our new age toys? Consider my daily habits: I am an avid use of Twitter and Facebook; I have a Linkedin account, although I should find time to have someone explain to me why; I would use Pinterest and Google+ if the thought of having to get up to speed on a new form of social media didn’t make me faint with exhaustion; I don’t get foursquare and I never will. I have a blog, and in other writerly modes, I believe I have written, by this stage, more online than off. I am in the process of building a new website from which I will pimp the sale of my forthcoming book on strange Jews (myself included among them).
This blog, in particular, exemplifies the value I see in technology, which I tend to consider in its personal context. Despite the gracious ministrations of our current corporate sponsor, DadWagon has yet to prove even moderately lucrative venture for Matt, Nathan, and I. It is a hobby, one that at least I do as a way to make and maintain friendships with my co-bloggers. Matt and I were friends before we began this venture, but we are much better friends now. Writing for the site gives us a reason to be around each other, to hang out, to get to know each other’s offspring. I hadn’t met Nathan before DadWagon, and wouldn’t likely have if not for it–and I feel lucky that I did. Our electronic friendship has become a tangible one.
In my world, which is so tightly bounded by the demands of work and parenting, making connections to new, good people is nothing to take for granted, and since most of my contact with Nathan and Matt is of the router-mediated kind, then thank you router, whatever you are.
A router is a very handy rotary power tool that you can use for cutting, gouging, rounding, grooving, and so forth.
At my home, a router is that literal black box that when our Internet connection is down, we unplug, wait 30 seconds, then plug back in. It’s the “Internet resetter.”