Sunday and I finally have an Internet Connection...

On Friday it snowed like a mother here in CT and I didn't have to go to work that night and I thought I would do some fish hunting online because I usually don't get home close to 11 pm and I only get to play few hands before I pass out and have to hit the hay. So, I get the call at 3pm that I get to stay home and all the freaks that would risk their lives to workout at the Y would have to what for another day. The munchkin was taking a nap and I fire up PokerStars for some O8. I get some hands in and then I lose my connection and the computer can't find renew my IP address. I run downstairs to the router and reset it and drag the network cable up to bypass my wireless connection to the lap top. Some more tinkering and then I am up and running bypassing the wireless router. My wife's lap top can't connect but she finds one of our neighbors unsecured network to piggie back on, it's slow but she can get things she need to finish up business for the night.

Saturday morning I dig the cars out from the awful job the plowers did, who by the way aren't getting paid because I never signed the contract and the still seem to come even though I would rather they didn't. I go to my instructor's karate tournament and help judge some young kids just starting out in the Tang Soo Do experience, and then head over to Staples to get a new router. I went with the Linksys and got a new network card to match. Drop just over $100 and head home with the expectation that I can handle this. How hard can it be? They give you a CD and you just click away.

Well...things didn't go as expected. I plug everything in and follow all of the directions and nothing was working, even worst I think I screw things up even more. I call the helpline and I am on hold for what seems like forever. I luckly poured a beer before I called and the longer I wait the more I feel like opening up the whiskey I save for cool summer nights with a nice cigar on the porch, but now I am just looking to numb the pain. I finally get someone on the line and he talks me through a couple of things and then says I should use the easy install disc which he is not allowed to talk me through. I get a case number and a more direct line in case this doesn't work. I get jammed up in the same spot and call them back just like I knew I would. I get another guy who has me pinging sites and reconfiguring the admin setting and going back and forth from screen to screen and then low and behold I have a connection and everything is working right and I thanked him for the hour of work he did with me. I enter the kitchen with lap top in hand and announce my victory over the machine and sit down to check my mail. Well needles to say it was the shortest lived victory that I have ever experienced when I lost my connection again. I just shut the laptop and headed to bed because it was worth it and I was beat.

This morning I fired up the laptop and I had a connection and everything seemed to be working great and I was online all morning and then all of a sudden it crapped out again. I decide that I more than likely it's the actually cable modem and head over to COMPUsa which is going out of business, atleast the one in our town, and get one of the last modems they at 30% off. I hold my breath as I plug it in becuase all sales there are final and low and behold everything is working.

I feel I am rather smart and know a little bit about a bunch of stuff but when it comes to computer techie stuff I understand most of the concepts but I just don't know what to do in the practical sense. I also think you should get an actually tech to come to you house and assist you in the installation process, it is probably cheaper in the long run then training a bunch of tech types in India to speak with and American accent.