Not that I mind that my days are pretty repetitive. I mean, there’s something comforting about having a routine and knowing more or less what each day is going to look like. But it does make it a little difficult to write about my day every single day. When most days are made up of the same familiar things, it can feel like I’m just rewriting yesterday’s entry with a few small changes.

There usually isn’t some big event or exciting adventure happening that gives me something completely new to talk about. It’s more the little things… a different thought I had, something I watched, what I cooked for dinner, the weather, or just something that happened to catch my attention that day. I suppose those small differences are what make each day its own, even when the overall routine stays pretty much the same.

Most of my day is spent on cybersecurity and I’m not sure about how many different ways I can talk about that. Right now I’m learning about network device placements in the different zones: LAN (Local Area Network/Trusted Zone), Demilitarized Zone (between the trusted and untrusted network), and the WAN (Wide Aread Network/Untrusted Zone). The internet is a Wide Area Network.

It’s crazy to think about what the internet is now compared to what it was when I first started using it. In the beginning, there were hardly any websites. The internet felt like this tiny, strange little corner of the world, and somehow that made it more exciting.

Back then, getting online was an event. You’d hear the computer making all those weird dial-up noises while it connected, and you’d sit there hoping nobody picked up the phone and knocked you offline. And once you were finally connected, you had to be patient. You could practically make a sandwich and dance around the kitchen while a page loaded.

I remember sitting at the computer and just exploring. There wasn’t really a plan. I’d start on one website, click a link, then another, and suddenly I’d discover something completely different. It was like wandering around a huge library where every door led somewhere unexpected.

And finding a new website felt like discovering a little treasure. Personal homepages, fan sites, message boards, chat rooms, goofy animated GIFs, guestbooks… everything felt homemade and personal. People put pieces of themselves online because they wanted to share something, not because they were trying to build a brand or become an influencer.

I remember how exciting it was the first time I realized I could actually talk to people online. And i’m not one for talking either, but to have a connection to a person in a totally different area was surreal. Someone could be sitting at a computer on the other side of the country, or even the other side of the world, and suddenly you could have a conversation with them. That seemed almost unbelievable at the time.

I think that’s one of the things I miss most about the early internet: the feeling of discovery. There was no algorithm constantly telling you what you should look at. You found things yourself. You could stumble onto a website that had absolutely nothing to do with what you originally went online to find, and somehow spend an hour there.

But sometimes I think we gained convenience and lost a little bit of the magic.

Back then, you went online. You sat down at the computer, heard that familiar dial-up connection, and entered this strange new world for a while.

Now the internet follows us everywhere. It’s in our phones, our cars, our homes, our watches, and practically every part of our daily lives.

But to watch the internet grow from a weird little experiment into something that completely changed the world. That’s a pretty special thing to have witnessed.

The beginning of the internet always makes me think of Germany. That’s because the first time I ever really went online was when I was living there. It’s funny how certain memories get tied to a place, even when the thing itself has nothing to do with the place. For me, the early internet will always be connected to Germany, rainy days, little routines, and the feeling of being far away from home.

One of my favorite things to do when Kevin was out in the fields was to stop by this little gyro stand outside the base after work. I’d bring my food home, take a shower, change into my pajamas, and then settle down at the computer with my gyro and steak fries while playing SimCity. It was such a simple little routine, but I remember really enjoying it. There was something comforting about being freshly showered, dressed in pajamas, eating dinner, and building my little cities on the computer while Kevin was still out working.

Every once in a while, I would even be social. I had a friend who lived just one floor below me, so sometimes I would go down to her apartment and hang out. Apparently, I did occasionally leave the computer and interact with actual humans.

We didn’t go online very much at home, though. It was just too expensive. The internet was still new enough that it felt like something you used deliberately rather than something that was simply there all the time. If we wanted to spend any real time online, we would go to the library or an internet café. I remember internet cafés being a normal part of life in Germany, and now that I think about it, I don’t remember seeing many of them in the States after we moved back. Maybe they were around, and I just wasn’t looking for them. Or maybe they simply weren’t as much a part of everyday life where we lived.

Back then, having a computer and internet at home wasn’t a given, either. Only a select number of my friends or family had both. When I came back to the States, the library was still where I would go if I needed to use the internet. My parents didn’t even get a computer and internet at home until after I had Karissa.

Coming back to the States after living in Germany for three years was weird, to say the least. I had gotten used to a completely different rhythm of life, and suddenly everything felt familiar and unfamiliar at the same time.

I remember Kevin’s cousin telling me that we were going to Starbucks, and I had absolutely no idea what she was talking about. I had never heard of Starbucks. Now, of course, Starbucks feels like one of those places that has always existed. My first Starbucks drink was an iced caramel macchiato, which seems like a pretty appropriate introduction.

I think one of the things that bothered me the most about coming home was the persistent sunshine. That sounds ridiculous, but I had gotten so used to Germany’s weather. It seemed like it was always raining, cloudy, gray, or some combination of all three. I had complained about the rain plenty of times while I was there, but once I got back to California, I discovered that I had apparently become accustomed to it.

Suddenly, it was sunny and hot all the time. There was so much light! I actually had trouble getting used to it. I remember thinking that the weather in California was almost too much after Germany.

And then there was the jet lag. That was no joke. I was trying so hard to force myself to sleep at night and stay awake during the day because I knew I needed to get back onto a normal schedule. My body, however, had apparently decided that time zones were merely a suggestion. I was exhausted at all the wrong times and wide awake when I desperately wanted to sleep.

Anyway… I went off on a tangent again. Today, though, I studied. I rode the bike since it was bike day, and I texted Alexis. She’s planning on going to an anthropology conference in November with her professor and some of the other students. It’s going to be in St. Louis, and I think that would be such a fun experience for her. Getting to travel somewhere for a conference, especially with people from school who share her interests, seems like a really good opportunity.

I also bugged Karissa, just because I can. That is one of the privileges of being a mom, I suppose.

And, of course, I checked on the dogs periodically. They seem to think I’m completely ridiculous. Every time I check on them, they look at me like, “Why are you here again? We’re fine.” Then they go right back to whatever important dog business they were doing, usually running around and playing.

I’m going to look for some dinner now. I’m thinking of soup. There’s a can of pot roast soup in the pantry. Either that or what we had last night for dinner. Tommy has band practice tonight so everyone is fending for themselves. I’m thinking of playing Final Fantasy XIV tonight. They have a new job: Beastmaster. You go around and try to capture monsters to befriend you. I can see how far I can level the job tonight. They are also having the Moogle challenge, where you do different tasks to earn Moogle tomestones. You can use these tomestones to get different rewards.

But first, dinner and some hot tea.