You know 2019 is going to be an interesting year when this is the first story to hit my inbox on day one! It’s a story made possible only through rural broadband. The Advocate reports…

On Friday, the internet was enthralled by the tribulations of the Ingraham family, whose patriarch Christopher unwittingly unleashed hundreds of insects into their Minnesota home.

Ingraham, a Washington Post journalist, ordered 250 crickets for Holly, the family’s insatiable bearded dragon they adopted for Christmas. When the bugs arrived from Fluker Farms, Ingraham opened the box incorrectly and tried to tape it back up so he could return to a deadline story. It didn’t work out.

Or in a less direct, more subdued, Minnesota way, MPR reports…

Christopher Ingraham, the Washington Post writer who moved to Red Lake County without properly checking the cricket situation a few years ago, is finding that out. The cricket store is pretty far away (North Dakota) when you live out in the parts of the state where you can actually hear crickets, but the investment in rural broadband is really paying off.

So Ingraham used the Internet to order the crickets. The he used Twitter to tell the horrifying story, which is absolutely worth the read. His editor heard about the story via Twitter and asked Ingraham to write a column on it, which he presumably submitted online. (Also worth reading!)

Yup broadband helps you get anything (even more than you bargained for), helps you communicate, opens doors for employment. Broadband makes everything better. And here’s hoping better broadband for everyone in 2019!