Thursday, December 9, 2010

Cold Turkey is a Bitch

The saga continued. I went to Mishka's. There were no seats to be had, so I stood for about 20 minutes waiting for someone to finish. I got my laptop plugged in, set up, and turned on and IT WOULDN'T CONNECT TO THE INTERNET EITHER! It kept telling me that a network was unplugged...but I was going wireless and I never do anything special at Mishka's but just start the computer.

I ran a damn diagnostic check a bazillion times and it kept telling me to see my network provider. But there IS no network provider. It's a wifi hot spot and the damn place was filled with people using the wifi.

The final straw was that I was going to send an update to Facebook expressing my frustration and the iTouch wouldn't connect either!!! This is the place where I pause briefly outside on the sidewalk to borrow their wifi connection to download a book that I've bought to my iTouch and I couldn't get to the internet by any means at all.

I finally asked one of the clerks if they had changed the route to their wifi and she said that no, nothing had changed and that all you had to do was to start your computer and it should connect automatically.

Well...not me. I am so damn frustrated even the dogs are afraid to be near me. The worst part is that I don't even know where to start solving the problem(s). (And of course nobody can offer me any suggestions because I can't get any e-mail!)


I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't get back to sleep, as I frequently do. I watched the end of The Martian Child for the hundredth time (they seem to run it frequently on Cable at 2 a.m., I think), even though the ending is my least favorite part. I still couldn't get to sleep and there was no internet. I sometimes sit on the computer for a bit at times like this until I finally get sleepy. Not last night.

I finally fell asleep watching a doo-wop special on PBS and dreamed I was on a cruise ship looking, unsuccessfully, for internet access. I typed a messasge to Twitter, knowing that it would be posted to Facebook (of course, the way things are going, it might not get posted either!). But I haven't been able to receive a message, now, for 3 days.


I decided to go back to Mishka's in a calmer frame of mind and try to solve my problem more rationally. I had fiddled with the computer here at home but didn't seem to change any thing.

It was raining and I bundled up and headed back to Mishka's, not really expecting anything. But, miracle of miracles, I plugged in the computer, started it up, and was connected to the internet! I couldn't get to DCN mail, but I could get to G-mail and to Facebook, and get my journal entry posted.

I also checked on the Yolo County Library and learned that it had finally reopened and was open until 10 p.m. each night, so I will be able to go back later today and post this entry (I hope). No coffee or croissants, but hopefully wifi access.

I also figured out that the reason I couldn't get DCN mail was that I had changed my password, but I didn't remember that. I came home and put the important passwords into my iTouch (in code, so nobody would know what the passwords are even if they find the password file) so I will have them when in a situation like this again!

I am slowly working around the fact that no help will be available for the deskop until Friday...or Monday...or later. I'm feeling calmer, finally. I don't want to kick dogs any more. Well, at least not because of computer frustration.

And, as I said, tomorrow is Cousins Day, so it's anybody's guess when the next entry will be posted. But it will, eventually, be posted, by hook or by crook.


Final note from the library. I am in love with this library. Internet connection is lightning fast. It's a tad inconvenient, but heck, at these speeds, who cares?

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