I did not mean to abandon you my blog friends but I've been the victim of a complete technological breakdown over the last couple of weeks. It began with an aging laptop that decided it had been abused and overused and refused to boot up or preform its expected duties. Once it was apparent that it wasn't going to cooperate without a complete overhaul I broke down and bought a new desktop PC.
All was well for a few days until our cable Internet crashed. After navigating the treacherous audio phone interview system with the local cable co we were told that there had been several outages in our area but it had not been confirmed as a hardware problem yet. We would have to call the next day to see if it had been declared and then they would be able to schedule a service call. Sound ridiculous? Yes!!
Day 2: Endured the 1/2 hour phone interview again required to reach a technician to see if there was indeed a cable crisis in my neighborhood. I was told that there was no such event! Miraculously they had found the problem. They had decided to randomly discontinue the signal to my particular model of cable modem which has been functioning quite well for a few years now. Why? I have no idea. Could it be they wanted me to plop down the $50 bucks for a new one even though mine worked just fine? No!!!! Why could they have not told me this on day 1?
I'm beginning to start jonesing for my MSN homepage. No email, no blog, no face book. Would I survive. Told the hubby to go get me a new modem, stat!
Day 3: My husband in his infinite technological wisdom decided he would go buy his own wireless modem in case our now aging wireless router also decided to take a dive. He was assured by the cable geek at the end of the endless electronic phone call that this is ok and he would have no problem hooking it up. He made the sojourn to Best Buy and bought a shiny new Motorolo modem which promised to have me up and running again in no time.
By now I'm practically frothing at the mouth and having hot and cold flashes ( no not those kind) I had no idea how integral the Internet had become in my daily life. It seemed like every function I had to preform was somehow tied to the web. I had important stuff going on: last minute book edits before my printing deadline next week, changes in fabric samples for the Window Fashions Expo, Blog stalking, etc.
Day 4: The hubby hooks up the new modem and makes yet another techno call to the cable co. He endures the 1/2 hour set up interview and finally gets to a live human. They say they have done everything they can do on their end and there must be a hardware problem on our end. My husbands head is about to explode!!!! He reins in his furor and asks them to schedule an appointment ASAP noting that we had already been without cable for an unacceptable four days. They said the earliest possible appointment was in four days. A few expletives later and the appointment was set.
Four days - how could I go another four days? I thought of my pal Joni trapped last year in Houston after the hurricane for days with no Internet hunkered in her car listening to the radio for any kind of information. Would it come to that for me? How would I survive?
Day 5: Decided to take the laptop which was gasping for it's last breath to the Coffee Bean my hubby's home away from home and hook up to their wi-fi. I got it fired up, logged on and the damn thing crashed immediately. After several tries it was clear that this was not going to happen. Had to take the laptop to Best Buy, home of the non-functioning brand new modem for a diagnostic to see what the heck was wrong with it.
Had to make actual phone calls to people and talk to them voice to voice to let them know that I had not been kidnapped by South American terrorists, I had just lost my Internet connection. They all gave me that, oh-I understand, response that makes you feel like you just told your third grade teacher that your dog ate your homework. Much fun!!!
Fast forward Day 7: I am awaiting the cable man with all of the anticipation of an addict looking to score some crystal meth. Every time the dogs bark I run to the front door only to be disappointed. Finally 3:38 he arrives - my hero - here to free me from the prison of electronic solitude. He fiddles around with the equipment outside - he fiddles around with equipment inside - he calls someone on the phone and says " I don't know what the problem is here, it must be on your end. A bitter battle ensues between service technician and phone operator. It's your fault - no it's your fault. The grand conclusion - we can't hook up your new modem. We don't know why but we just can't.
My response - I don't care what you do, I don't care what it costs, I just want my freaking. &***%*#(#***$*$**%*%* cable working NOW!!!!!!!!! The solution - they sold me their $50 cable modem that is the exact same model as the one the hubby bought except for the fact that it is not wireless. Miraculously he plugged that thing in and the little row of lights that had remained blinking on the other modem all week lit up like a Christmas tree on this one.
My husband is now looking forward to yet another trip to Best Buy to try to return his modem purchase. Perhaps he can pick up my laptop which has supposedly been repaired after $385.00 labor charge and a brand spanking new hard drive. What are my chances that it will actually work?
By the way - Hope you enjoyed the preview of some of my new fabrics. I'm making progress and they should be ready to launch in July!!! We are previewing samples at the Window Fashions Expo and Quilt Inc show this month - I'm so excited !
Sorry for the crappy photography but I am having camera issues as well!
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