Internet Connection BS

Ok so for three days my high speed modem has refused to line sync. No DSL. So we've gone through the usual Bell Sympatico hell of trying to find someone who doesn't treat you like a complete idiot and will acknowledge that there's something wrong on their end.
"yes I've turned it off and then on again"
"I know it isn't the jack. I tested the jack by plugging a phone into it and it works. It's worked for over two years"
She meanwhile insists that I have to move it to a different jack and try it because without that test she can't escalate the call. I know it isn't the jack and it's a nightmare trying to move the modem because of all the cords behind the computer that I'd have to fish out so I humour her and pretend to move the modem

"you'll call back within a half an hour to an hour while you run line tests? OK" She also tells me I shouldn't make any outgoing calls.
Two and a half hours later no call back so I go to bed.

On day three Irmina freaks out on them and gets someone who thinks it's the modem and wants to send us a new one OK. When I get home that day I look at our current modem. Low and behold it's line synched. Yay! But I still can't logon. I can't even get onto our router. So although the modem is now working there seems to be another problem also.So I call Best Buy to find out what the warranty on the router is. Best Buy's phone system is "option" hell. Press one for this and press two for that. About 5 layers in the phone actually rings only to tell you that the person you need is unavailable. You try a slightly different but almost as valid route through the decision tree only to get the same result. Two more tries later and I'm ready to press any button that is most likely to be answered by a person. I get someone who tells me it's one year (I'm within warranty) and I can get the number on the internet. Ah...no I can't. OK so he actually finds the number for me. Ah...the benefit of having a person. It turns out that Linksys tech support is actually helpful and 10 minutes on the phone with him leaves back in the wonderful world of the internet. Sheesh what a pain.

Day of Busyness and Fade Out

So today it's incredibly busy at work. Meetings and phone calls and many other things to do. Near the end of it I have one of my patented disassociative episodes. I get these now and then especially if I'm a) busy b) tired c) hungry. The best way I can describe them is that I can't feel what day or time it is or where exactly I am. If you ask me and I think carefully about it then I'd be able to tell you but I can't feel it. I know that may not make sense but it's the best way I can describe the feeling. The first few times it happened I panicked a little because I didn't know what was happening. Now, although I still don't know exactly what it is, I at least know that the feeling will fade away in a few hours.

The Misanthrope

Some of you know that I normally walk to work. Well lately I've been taking the streetcar instead and I'm startled by how heavily it affects my physical and mental well being. Although I can't be entirely sure that it's the walking the last couple of weeks that I haven't been doing it my joints are much stiffer and more painful. Moreover, I find that my mood and thoughts are nostalgic (not in a good way), sombre, and distracted. Although I can often be a bit of a misanthrope it's taken on a whole new level. I'm sounding positively decrepit writing this but that's the way it is. Not a kid anymore.