A boring crisis

This morning, I was chatting with a computer repair-guy on the telephone when he did not reply. So I uttered another sentence and when he remained silent, I realized he was no longer on the line. I clicked the phone off, figuring he’d call back. But he did not.

After I took the kids to school and showered, I checked the phone to see if anyone had left a message. The only message was the digital display saying, “No line.” No line? The last time that happened, the boys had unplugged the phone modem while playing video games. But the plug was still stuck into the wall. The modem, however, did not flash its happy green lights.

Something was wrong. I checked my computer and discovered that I had no Internet connection, either. So I unplugged and reset and unplugged again. Then I had the bright idea of calling Comcast on my cell phone.

My “area” was experiencing an outage. And no, they didn’t know how long it would be out, though it had started at 8:24 a.m. At this point, it was after 10:00 a.m. and I was scheduled to work at 11 a.m.

I just could not believe that the Internet and telephones would not spontaneously recover in another minute or two and that’s why I lingered at home until 10:45 a.m. At that point, I drove to the library to use their free wi-fi.

I had no idea the library had become so popular. The parking lot was full and every single computer terminal occupied. I found a desk for my laptop and got to work. (It was really strange to be surrounded by people, real live people. Perhaps I should get out more.) After two hours, my home Internet was still down–but I went home anyway because my daughter was home from kindergarten and I worried that she’d be upset to find me gone. (She was home alone with her brothers for an hour.) Plus, I realized (duh!) that they had no phone at home.

Wouldn’t you know it? Just as I packed up, my son called my cell phone to tell me that the Internet and phones were back. I ended up missing forty-five minutes of my shift.

Oh my goodness, what a boring story I just told!

Anyway, I was stressed out by the absence of something that I take for granted and something I could not have imagined twenty years ago. All told, we had no Internet for almost five hours. Five hours!

Oh, and I still have marks on my laptop screen. They’re far to the right, so I’m not overly distracted by them and I don’t want to start scrubbing with Ajax or something and ruin the screen completely. I’m inclined to try the rubbing alcohol first, but I’m not sure if I have any. And she didn’t intend to make the marks–she was on my desk chair, reaching behind the laptop to get some paper out of the printer–and just happened to be holding a Sharpie-marker in her hand. She’s all about writing, all the time.

And now I will stop talking and thus, stop boring you!

(CHRISTMAS IS A MONTH FROM NOW! ACK!)