“The sky is falling, the sky is falling!” “The Internet is down, the Internet is down!” “Can you get on the Internet on your computer, or is it just me?” “Come on this is serious I need to get my work done!” “If the Internet is down we may as well go home!” “Does your email work, at least?”
How many times have we heard these things and how much do we depend on our connections to the Internet? The answers are not many and a lot, in that order. These last few days I have been having issues with my phone and Internet connection. They both come in through my cable connection to the same modem, it is a telephony modem and it has served me well, till now. I have been on the phone and the person I am talking to says “do you hear that banging” and then they are gone. I look over at the telephony modem and the lights are not lit as they should be, only two are fully lit and one blinks as though it is winking at me. “Wink, wink, nudge, nudge!” Normally there are seven lights fully lit and one blinking at me. So, when this telephony modem has problems I loose my phone and Internet connection, or my access to my friends and the rest of the world.
I decided I should check to see what else was affected by this telephony modem being down. My shower still worked, so I had water. The overhead lights worked, and surprisingly the Cable TV still worked (less the on demand feature). My bicycle still worked, I could take a ride if I wanted to. My kitchen sink and the sponge I use to wash my dishes performed like a champ. I was able to go out on the porch and talk with some neighbors, so that still works. I checked the book I am currently reading and there were still words on the page, so that is OK. After taking an inventory things, are not so bad!
My cable company was out at my home yesterday to fix this problem but they thought there was nothing wrong, they said maybe they were working on the line between there and here. Today, they are sending another technician out here to look at this “intermittent problem.” Intermittent problems are hard to find, they are illusive. We all know what it is like, you call someone about a problem and when they get there, it doesn’t do it for them. You bring your car to a garage about a noise it makes and it keeps silent for the mechanic, the whole time you are there, and then it does it makes the noise for you as soon as you pull out of the station. I fix computer problems and I have gotten calls about problems that are always happening on the machine, I show up to fix it and it won’t do it for me. I tell the user that the computer is afraid of me, so it won’t do it for me, when I am there. We all need our cars, Internet connections, computers, and senses of humors. Sometimes things just don’t work and then they do. Eventually if there is a problem it will be obvious and not hide from the people who can fix it. In the mean time, we should enjoy the many things in our lives that we can do when these problems are present and being fixed. Read a book, talk to your neighbors, or, as a last resort, do the dishes.
Be well!