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January 30, 2006

Technical Difficulties

Wednesday my landlord and her maintenance crew went to my condo while I was at work and they were doing foundation work outside. In the midst of it all my computer was improperly turned off when the electricity was shut off. I ended up going home for an hour for lunch to turn the damn thing back on so that I could get to my computer from work.

Last night, about 11:50... my monitor started making these shaky squirming lines and noises that it had been doing for about a month. It did it twice and then the screen went completely black. I turned it off and took that as my hint that it was time to go to bed. I woke up this morning and turned it on. It did the same thing, squiggles and then completely black. My monitor died.

Today, I'm sitting at work. I connect to my computer, I can see it fine so I know its the monitor and not the video card. My computer goes off-line again. I call my neighbor but she said she didn't see anyone in my backyard working. I called the landlady and she said they weren't there working. So I guess either the internet connection just dropped or my electricity went off.

I get home Friday night and I figure out that it is indeed the internet that was not working. I call TechSupport after powercycling the modem, router, voip box, phone and computer. They tell me to go to their office and pick up a new modem. The tech support guy is in Canada, he tells me the office closes at 7 and he says he's not allowed to go onto google or anything like that to help me get directions to the place. Well, you know I would be more than happy to get my own directions if the DAMN INTERNET was working. While I was talking to CanadaTech I turned on my monitor, forgetting it had died. Within about 30 seconds I started seeing and smelling smoke. That can't be good. I quickly turned it off, yanked the plug from the powerstrip behind the desk, unplugged it from the back of the computer and tossed it in the backyard.

The CanadaTech guy told me that the office was at the corner of Highway190 and Summit. I am still fairly new to Dallas and I didn't know where Highway190 was. I found out later that Highway190 is the road that I so lovingly call "MonkeyHighway" (otherwise known as President George Bush Tollway.)

I get there at 6:04, after calling the Saturn service department and asking if they could help me find where I was going. They were closed. They were standing in there laughing at me knocking on the door. I walked around the side and waited for someone to come out. A really nice guy came out and I told him what was going on and he gave me a new modem.

On the way home I stopped and bought a new monitor. I went home and installed the montior and then the cable modem. The cable modem still didn't work. I called TechSupport back and they said they would have to send someone out to fix it but of course, it would be Sunday between 5pm - 8pm before they could get there.

Depressed as though I had been cut off from life as a knew it, from civilization, from the outside world, I sat down on my couch to watch TV. Turned on the TV. Guess what? My cable was out too. Now this is me we are talking about. I went from 6pm Friday till 7pm Sunday with no CableTV, Internet or Phone (well, I had my cell.)

Sunday evening finally came around. I was getting sick of solitaire and minesweeper and Lord forbid, cleaning and laundry. The guy walks in and tells me that someone must have switched the wires outside. He swaps the two coaxial cables coming out of the wall and Voila! My TV had pictures instead of static and my cable modem lit up like a runway. The guy left.

I powercycled the cable modem, the wireless router, the voip box, the phone and my computer. The phone worked. I went into my bedroom to the computer and much to my disappointment there was no wireless access. I tried everything I could think of. I finally called DLink TechSupport and told them what had happened. I should have remembered this from Ness(a)Lee's post, but I was basically told they couldn't help me until I directly connected a computer to the router to reset the wireless.

One small problem, unlike Nessa, I don't have a laptop. I have a desktop with a damn case so heavy I can barely pick it up. My condo only has one port for cable and internet and it is in the freaking living room. So, as of right now... I still don't have internet access at home. And I don't know when I will.

Someone shoot me please.

Posted by FutureFoodTVStar at January 30, 2006 11:53 AM

Comments

Posted by: karagape at January 31, 2006 08:02 PM