Day 4 - 148 -- Seemingly Fully Connected

It must be time for the rest of the story. I had mentioned a couple of days ago, the difficulty I'd had with my internet service provider when trying to get the new cell phone to connect to the home wifi. After that 45 minute call that continually went backwards, I was hesitant to call again. There wasn't really an option, so I took a deep breath and made the call. This time I tried to get at the solution from the wifi side rather than the mobility side.  The first person I spoke to seemed to know what was what. He checked the settings on the home system, added a faster, higher quality wifi address (so we now have two), and checked with the system techs a couple of times. He chose to reboot the system after some changes, warning me that the wifi signal and tv would be lost briefly. In mid-sentence I heard a loud beep in my ear, then dead air followed by a busy signal. I believe a cursed rather loudly at this point..

Being disconnected was frustrating, but I waited to see if he'd call back. After less than a minute, I realized that the home phone service was part of the larger fibre op system, so would be down, too. After a few minutes to feel a bit calmer, with my cell phone I called the general number again making my way through the multiple menu levels. When a human answered the phone, I began at the end with the fact that I'd been on the phone with someone when the phone went dead. Before I finished this sentence, the fellow on the other end said my name in a surprised way. He wondered what had happened -- why the call dropped. I explained it was the landline that I called from first, so the line went dead -- it wasn't a dropped call. He couldn't see what had happened from his end and told me the techs would get to it within 2-5 hours and would call me back on the cell phone. If that didn't work, he'd have someone to the house the next morning to fix it.  As I was bemoaning this disruption to my weekend routine, I heard someone shouting and looked out the window to see what was up. Then I realized the voice was from inside the house -- the TV was back on as if nothing had happened. It seemed to have been a reboot. We changed the password for the wifi and retried with the cell phone and each shouted 'woo hoo' when the thing finally connected.  This whole process took an hour. I spoke to so many people each of the five days since purchase that I didn't add up the full time, but if I could charge them for my professional time for the 4ish hours this all took, it might pay the bill for a few months. <grin>  The important thing is that it is working now.

This week I have thought through the smartphone world a lot -- not just the phone but the other devices that 'connect' us to the world outside our windows. I'm still wondering about those that leave phones on 24/7, checking texts and such into their work and sleep hours. The concept of being unable to disengage from devices has been studied by social scientists. To me these are all tools that I can use to connect as I feel the need to people and organizations I know. I have no desire to be available to the world every moment of every day <smile> -- 'me' time is important as are real conversations face to face with others. All of this pondering brought many musical selections to mind. The one I'm choosing to share today notes some of the simple joys of living that don't happen through electronic means, but notes that technology can be useful. While I agree with much of what is said in this song, the food choice noted would not be my fave -- but there are other foods from my past that I could easily substitute. The video presents the song with humour, which meshes with my now being able to see the absurdity in the past week of technological difficulties. Enjoy!

I Still like Bologna -- Alan Jackson