Well, I have had an interesting month.

A couple of weeks ago, my cable modem service was out. My roommate and I figured out that we could have one functional computer at a time, but since we were paying for two IPs, this was not an acceptable circumstance. Eventually, I called Shaw (our ISP) and found out that some work had been done in our area right around the time the problems had appeared, and they had added some IPs to the network (or some such.) We had to go through a really complicated process to reset our cable modem (in the past we have simply had to push the "reset" button) and after shutting down our computers, disconnecting the modem from our hub, then disconnecting it from its power supply, then waiting five minutes, we were able to reverse all these disconnections and shutdowns in the opposite order, and everything worked fine again.

OK. It was a little annoying that they did some maintenance that caused us problems, and didn't inform us. It was also kind of annoying that I had to wait on hold on the service line for twenty minutes to fix it. (Did I forget to mention the on-hold waiting? Maybe that's because it was INSIGNIFICANT compared to what happened the next time...)

This week: Wednesday morning, my roommate was on the internet. Around 10:00, he got up and went to have a shower. While in the shower, the dog upstairs barked a lot. CLUE #1: The dog upstairs only barks when there are people at the house-- meaning someone was on the porch upstairs. When he came back from his shower, the internet connection was down. The "cable" light on the modem was off. CLUE #2: The cable light only goes off when something is seriously wrong with the service. On Thursday, he remembered hearing from the neighbours that they were going to get their cable television service cancelled. CLUE #3: He called them and confirmed that they had it cancelled some time Wednesday morning.

OK, we had now pieced together the likely course of events. Cable guy comes; cable guy disconnects cable line; cable guy does not realize that there is a SEPARATE residence also using the cable line for internet service. OK, maybe he didn't realize the place was an up-down duplex. Heck, I had never even HEARD of the concept until I had been living there for a year and called to find out if I could get my own set of parking passes for downstairs. Still, though, don't they check SOMETHING before disconnecting the cable to a home? Anyway, now that we knew the cause, we knew the cure: Call them and have them fix it.

I called. For some reason, I did not get the option of taking a call-back; I merely had to wait on the line. After about five minutes of navigating voice-mail menus, I got to hear the estimated wait for my call to be answered: THIRTY-TWO MINUTES. There go my plans for grocery shopping. The time is now 7:50.

7:55: I have to go to the bathroom. I get my roommate to wait on the line while I go.

8:05: I get back. (What, you think I'm in a HURRY to sit there on hold?)

8:22: I get excited, thinking my call should be answered soon.

8:30: The excitement fades.

8:40: I am now falling asleep. I usually go to sleep at 9:00 anyway...

8:45: I am barely conscious enough to realize that the voice on the other end is NOT the annoying guy who cuts off the elevator music every minute to tell me that my call will be answered shortly.

I managed to tell the guy what the problem was. He tells me that it will be the next morning or the next afternoon before he can get someone out to fix it. He tells me this in a questioning manner, as though asking me to decide which one. I am thinking, "Duh, why would we NOT go with the morning?" Apparently, he seems to think I need to pick a time when someone will be here to let the technician in. Now I'm thinking, "OK, we got cut off without anyone getting into the house-- why would someone need to get into the house to reconnect us?" I tell him this, and eventually, he comes to the same conclusion.

I got an email from my roommate today, so I assume that we are hooked up again. Finally, I can download my banking transactions, enter RinkChat, and check my email from home again... But I thought to myself that first, I should come here and complain to all of you about how awful my life is. Aren't I nice? ;-)

Don