One Stupid Phone Call

One Stupid Phone Call

It was a dark and stormy night.  Well it wasn’t but I have always wanted to write that.

But it was dark.  Oh no it wasn’t, it was daylight.  But it WAS a stupid phone call.  And I made it.

Usually I do my posts from my iPad because it is convenient and I can do it anywhere, even lying down when gravity gets to be too much.  The inconvenient part is that I can’t post pics on my blog from it.  I am not sure if it is the iPad or my non techy ways.

My lab top died leaving me with my Jurassic Park era PC.   Now wanting to be cool I fired up the beast to do something picturesque.  Something with a little creativity to it.  But I had no Internet. None.  Nada.

I unplugged things and replugged.  I jiggled wires. I broke out in a cold sweat that turned out to be a hot flash.  They never leave entirely.  Did you know that?? Then I repeated all of the above several times.  Then I would leave and return again thinking it would magically start up.

It occurred to me a couple of hours later that I could call my Internet provider.  Normally I avoid any help lines because most of the time is spent on hold. But guess what!  Being a blooming techie I discovered the speaker button so I no longer have to actually hold the phone.  Now if I had called them two hours previously I would have been close to speaking to someone by this time.

Finally a pleasant woman asked what the problem was.
I have no Internet.
Before any solution could be given you must first give your account information.  I assume they want to be sure you are not negligent in your account, which would explain the lack of internet.  I was in good standing.

She asked what color the lights on the thing were.
There are no lights.
Long long pause.
There are no lights.
No there are no lights.
Is your receptacle working?
Of course it’s working.
Well please unplug the cord and plug it into another receptacle.

By now the cold sweat was not a hot flash.  It was the hint of possible embarrassment.  

I unplug and replug.
Nuts it worked.

Then and only then did it occur to me to check the other things plugged into that power bar.  Nothing else worked.  The natural assumption was the power bar had died.  Do they die?  So I got rid of it.

Several hours later I walked past a wall.  A wall with a switch I never use.  Out of the corner of my eye I noticed the switch was down.  It’s always up.

Turns out I remembered brushing against that very wall earlier when I was folding a sheet.

And that is when the full flush of embarrassment hit like a tsunami.  Turns out the receptacle worked.  The power bar worked.  I didn’t.  Times like that I really miss having a man in my life.  Just so I have someone to blame.