Down Router Road

I woke up in the middle of the night feeling overwhelmed thinking about everything I need to do these beautiful (but long and tiring) summer days. Of course that isn't a good way for a busy person to waste an hour of sleep, but try telling your whirling mind to shut off when it decides to torment you at 2 am.  I should have jumped out of bed and practiced Ode to Joy. Some lucky people I know have no problem shrugging off the day and the one to come, rolling over, and going back to sleep. 

But one thing I don't worry about is home technology.  You might have the idea that I'm some sort of technical expert, but actually I'm a fake. I was a good fake when I worked at Microsoft, too.  I'm just lucky to have an IT service department and a personal support person on call.  It is John who keeps our fragile and complicated raft of technology afloat.  Without him, I'd be headed over to McDonald's with my laptop to hook up for free WiFi, and sitting there with talkative senior citizens nursing 99 cent coffee, trying to write my blog. 

Our humble Internet provider is a company called Clear.  I think it basically works like a cell phone signal. I'm really not interested in how these things work unless they stop working, and then I start whining. As you probably know, we don't have cable TV or Direct anything coming in this house.  Clear arrives through thin air in a magic blinking modem on top of a bookshelf in the basement. It looks funky like something you would see on Starship Enterprise in 1966. When the gadget is pointing the right direction, things work pretty well.   For $40 or so a month, we conduct our considerable Internet activities on four computers, an iPhone, and even stream Netflix movies on the television, if the Clear gods are favorable.

Lately our Internet service started drifting on and off and slowed down to exasperating speeds that reminded me of our telephone modem days. We usually like to blame Clear when this happens, but in this case John decided to finally upgrade the old router, and ordered a fancy one from a gizmo company he uses in New York.  A sleek, white tower arrived in the mail. Apple, of course-- we are slowly becoming a Mac shop here. 

There is a special circle in hell reserved for sinners who must install home routers for all eternity.  You plug it in, and of course nothing works.  Then some things work, and others don't. Then everything works, but the next morning the printer decides not to.  This goes on for about 48 hours, but like I say, John is good! I stayed out of the way and supported him with regular meals.  He said at one point he grabbed the Clear modem off the shelf and gave it a good shake, which apparently re-booted it the old fashioned way. 

So it goes...I got out of bed an hour late this morning, poured a strong cup of coffee and shuffled to my computer, which connected to the Internet in the blink of an eye.  No trip to McDonald's today.  Oh, the things we take for granted.