Technology - You Can't Live With It . . .

. . . and you can't live without it. We've had an amazingly ridiculous experience with our tech stuff for the past two weeks. We have a bundled package - cable, internet, and land line phone. It has worked well for a couple of years now. For some reason the t.v. never went out, but we have become very well acquainted with all levels of Comcast guys as the company sent out one techie after another to see if they could figure out what was going on.

It started when I couldn't get my internet to connect. Then I discovered that the phone wasn't working. I sat on my cell phone, with limited minutes, trying to resolve the problem. Little did we know how long this would go on. As it evolved, guys came out and checked out the lines all up and down our neighborhood - finding all sorts of problems which didn't solve ours, but probably prevented some for others.

We got a new modem, thinking that was the issue. We had to use the reset button every time the connection failed. It would work for awhile. Eventually we had to reset both the modem and the router, and it would work for awhile. Then we tried removing one of the wires from the router and plug it in again. Each time the internet would reconnect, the phone would go out.

We had guys here morning, afternoon, evening, Saturday - all frustrated with the inability to figure it out. Finally DC bought a new router and a battery back-up of some sort to prevent surges and ebb and flow of electrical power. We discovered that when we turn on our attic fan, the lights dimmed. So altogether, there were lots of things that went together to create these weird problems.

These tech guys, I have to say, bent over backwards for us. One even gave us his cell phone number so that we could reach him after hours. The final one tried to get my laptop working right, way beyond the call of duty. They helped us with things that weren't their equipment. They didn't charge us. I have to say that, even though it's been very frustrating, we have been treated well. We'll supposedly get a free month's coverage because of our patience. (In the midst of all this, we had another strange thing happening - about 8 times, we got a call from the somebody at the hospital, thinking they were calling a number with just a bit of a different number. Do you know how scary it is to get a call at midnight with the Caller ID saying it's from the hospital?? We never did figure it out, but it stopped, thank goodness).

So, once again, I have to give credit where credit is due. Twice in two months - go figure!!


Friday morning the girls called me just as I got to the gym - on my bike. They wanted me to come over and walk to school with them again. Being the kind of grandma who always tries to make things happen that are do-able, I hopped back on my bike and power pedaled home to hop in the car and rush down to their house, just in time to get to school before the bell rang. I had to catch a shot of them in the other outfits I got them for school - I don't know how much longer they'll be willing to dress alike, so I have to milk it for all it's worth! In fact, Care Bear said, when they got dressed, "Now the teachers will all say how cute we are again."




Saturday I looked over the fence to the yard behind us and saw this gigantic blow-up water slide device. The young mom greeted me over the fence and said they were having a Back to School party for their first grade son, inviting all of his classmates. She asked me to bring the girls over to play and have hot dogs for lunch. So I went down and got them and brought them back here, giving Kristen a bit of a break. It was a super hot day - one of the hottest of the summer - and they had a wonderful time. Care Bear jumped right into the action - it took Feisty a long time to get her courage up to go down a slide, but she finally did and they spent the whole afternoon over there.




Changing the subject drastically -- I found this cartoon the other day and it really gave me a good chuckle. I have had the same hair dresser for years - I have followed her to 12 or 13 different shops. She gives a great perm and we have fun conversations, catching up every few months. But - she never ever cuts the top short enough. I have to go back for a touch-up every time. I think Cathy has the same problem~~~~

(I think you'll have to double click on it to enlarge it, but I hope you can read it!)




Next up: The Patio Project