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What do you do when the Internet goes out?

The fellows over at Lifehacker have some great ideas on what to do when your Internet goes out. Many of us spend the majority of our workday on the Internet or at least on the company's own network.
Written by Andrew Nusca, Contributor

The fellows over at Lifehacker have some great ideas on what to do when your Internet goes out. Many of us spend the majority of our workday on the Internet or at least on the company's own network. But what to do when there's an outage? (It's already happened several times over the last year.)

Here are some highlights of what Lifehacker editor Kevin Purdy recommends, with some of my own comments added in:

Attack your to-do list

When your 'Net connection's gone down, you finally have an excuse to stop sighing at your to-do list and actually take them to task. "What two-minute tasks are blocked only by your mental hang-ups, and which items could be moved forward with a quick "Whaddya think?" email?" Lifehacker editor Kevin Purdy asks. "What can actually be done, delegated, or deferred in the next week? Are you slavishly labeling things as high-priority that are merely pressing?"

Organize your (computer) files and folders

Remember what computers were like before they could talk to each other all the time? Pretty boring sometimes, no? Use that to your advantage and clean up your messy desktop, start menu, documents folder and anything else you put somewhere in a hurry. "When the firehose is turned off, it's a good time to clean up and sandbag your file space against the next onslaught," Purdy writes. Desktop zen is not out of reach here.

Do some actual work

You know, as in away from your computer. Forget to file your expenses? Take care of those. Needed to ask HR a question? Now's the time (unless your phone is VoIP...but there are ways around that, too). Consider brushing up on info for your upcoming presentation. Purdy writes: "Having the internet constantly one tab away can be the worst kind of productivity killer...far too often provides endless rabbit holes to fall down. Before you know it, it's 4:52pm, and you're still making your way through the Kinks' discography on All Music Guide."

Clean out your desk

For God's sake man, do you really need all those computer innards floating around your desk? "Bin it," as my British friend would say, or put it someplace better than the dust collection area that is your desktop. Consider wiping the grime off your screen. Get rid of any conference freebies floating about (just how many branded ID holders or stress balls do you need?). "You can't feel guilty about making your personal space more tidy and ready for work," Purdy writes.

Go outside and grab a bite

Take a walk and let your skin get a little UV love. The fluorescent tinge isn't flattering anyone.

What do you do when the Internet goes out?

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