So what happened?  Monday, I went to Comcast, exchanged the modem and when I got home, I connected the modem and still had no internet service. My worse nightmare is to have tech support come in and the problem is a unplugged cord. Oh no, they will not walk in and plug in a dangling cord and write “idiot” on my work order and then have me sign it.

I took all the plugs out and put them back, making sure each one was secure, rebooted each time, I reinstalled my router and after several attempts, it was working.  Confident it was fixed, by my own hands (there’s the problem) I canceled my appointment. Dumb! When I got home last night, my connection was gone and the red X was back, temporarily.  I may have to schedule another appointment, but for now, I’m riding this connection because I need it real bad.

While my connection was out I was able to get something done I have been putting off. Yes, I’m brain damaged because of technology.  It took me forever to remember the 800 number for free 411 service (800-FREE-411)?? Then I remembered how to work a phone book.  I also realized that I do not need to check my email everyday, nobody cares. I deleted more stuff than I read.

I also came up with a “We Care Emergency Package” for ISPs and the clients who rely on them for service. Here are some of the perks that come with the package:

1. We will be invited to sit on the board to discuss why internet users should be serviced before cable viewers.  TV watchers can pop in a DVD and still live.  If the internet goes out, we wither away.
2. A promise to keep excellent customer notes on our usage.  If the internet goes out, bloggers and internet  junkies are to be immediately picked up, carried out on a gurney and transported (in this thing) to the nearest Wi-Fi center.  Coffee and donuts will be provided.
3. 2 sessions of professional counseling for any trauma experienced from the outage.
4. An email address and cell number of a customer care person.
5. Free cable and internet service for 6 months.

I think this package is marketable.  Now that I have my connection back, for now, I’m going to step away from my blog and see what you guys are up to.  I have way too many links in this post, sorry.

I had an internet connection when I woke up this morning and right in the middle of working on something, Zap! It was gone. I spent at least 30 minutes trying to fix it myself, took the modem apart and everything. Nothing. So I called my ISP and we spent another half hour on the phone trying to get it working. Nada.

Talk about feeling cut off from the world. Did I mention that I have Vonage, so the home phone doesn’t work either, it relies on…shall we say it together: an internet connection. So, I’m at my sister’s house, but it’s hard for me to blog in “unfamiliar” surroundings, it’s like using a friend’s bathroom. You do just enough to relieve yourself but you never really do get comfortable.

Comcast said they would be able to send someone out on Tuesday, July 1 to fix my connection between 7 and 9 a.m.

“Don’t you have anything earlier than that, I’m up at 5:30.”

“No ma’am.”

“Is there anything else we can help you with?”

“Heeeck no, you didn’t fix the first problem, what makes you think you’re qualified to help me with anything else?” No, I didn’t say that, but I sure thought it.

A computer without internet access is a typewriter and I stopped using those a long time ago. If I can’t use it in its intended purpose, then I shouldn’t have to look at it either.

Yep, that’s my “typewriter”.

They better not charge me for that modem I took apart either, I was trying to save them a trip out to my place by fixing it. I need to go find some Verizon FIOS advertisements and leave them “laying around” the house, just in case.

The Good
Good news! I finally upgraded my computer desktop and no I didn’t buy the one I really wanted, the slimline with the wireless LAN on-board, TV tuner to drool over 500g HD. I bought the one my money said I could have, the CPU that runs on hamster wheel power. Dual core? Two hamster wheels. It’s an improvement though, but next time. It should arrive on Friday. W00t!

The Bad
It comes with Windows Vista. I haven’t heard too many good things about this operating system. Most of the reviews I’ve read from users are negative, they hate it. I just hope I don’t experience any compatibility issues with my older programs, other than that, come what may. Any happy Vista users out there?

The Ugly
I’m in a bad mood this week, my sinuses have me by the nose and my neighbors won’t let me sleep. I’m not quite sure if the people renovating the house are the new neighbors or just the workers, but someone had the radio blaring all night and I couldn’t sleep.

Now, I used to sleep with the radio on so I understand rock-a-bye baby music, but this was piss the block off music and it worked. Certain noises arouse me and amazingly I can sleep through thunder, war and shootings, but drop your weapon and I’ll wake up. If you snore, my chance of smothering you with a pillow is 100%. I’m trained in CPR/AED, so I would revive you…just in the morning, after I wake up. I need quiet to sleep, so in case of disturbances, I keep several types of ear plugs in my night stand drawer.

However, two summers ago, the previous neighbors played music all the time until 2 a.m. and one night I was lying in bed plotting how to kill them. I wasn’t going to go through with it, I was just thinking about it. Really my target was to smash the radio. Instead I called the cops and a few minutes later my doorbell rings and two policemen are on my step. I thought they were supposed to protect and serve, not tattle and tell.

“Are you the one who called about the noise.” I gave them my name and address on the phone, they know I’m the one, why are you HERE. (I’m thinking you have got to be kidding me, you #@#! @$$@$, you’re going to get me killed).

“Yes it was me, don’t you hear the music. It’s the house NEXT DOOR!” Get off my step before someone sees you.

“Okay ma’am, we’ll take care of it” and then they left. What? No police protection tonight.

Fast forward, I’m a little nervous about who may be moving in next door. I’ve been enjoying the quieter summers and would hate to bother the police again. I love music, but at that hour they have to be breaking some town ordinance. Yet, I’m the one who gets a warning ticket for “recycling wrong.” Only on Hysteria Lane!

I thought about putting my speakers in the window and waking them up at 5:30 in the morning, but their music was still on. Yep, and I was late for work the next day, I overslept. Maybe I should report them to Rotten Neighbor. Hey, do you have a rotten neighbor story, something that will make my neighbors look like a convent?

By the Way

Just for once, I would actually like to get the advertised picture of food that’s on the outside of the box, inside the box. I bought a Weight Watchers snack a few weeks ago and on the outside of the box, the cake (with icing) said “buy me”, so I did. I opened it and something the length of a miniature sized 3 Musketeer falls out of the box. It was so small I was almost too ashamed to eat it. I guess I shouldn’t expect too much enjoyment and size from something that equals 1 point? I get excited when I see chocolate and snacks like that should come with a warning label: Magnified to show detail. The snack inside you could enjoy, if you don’t swallow it, will be 50% smaller. Don’t get excited!

Same thing with Burger King. The Whopper looks great on TV, all dressed up making ME crave meat, but when I got there it was a different story. My whopper looked like a Super Smash Brother with tire marks.

“Hi welcome to Burger King, may I take your order?”

“Yes, I’d like the Whopper I saw on TV last night.”

“I’m sorry, could you repeat that?”

If you’ve noticed the time associated with your comments is an hour off, it’s because WordPress does not recognize Daylight Savings Time (DST). If your state participates in DST and you want to fix this, download this plugin, if it doesn’t bother you, do nothing. If you are on the east coast, instead of typing in EST, type in EDT for the correct time.

Oh wait, if it doesn’t bother you, maybe you’ll enjoy this post:

101 Top WordPress Plugins That You May Not Have Known About

Don’t forget to back up your blog before installing any plugin. Oooh, I don’t even want to think about it…unless you want to talk about it.

I’m new to Word Press and have come across some really great plug-ins I’ve seen on other blogs. The video tutorial below will show you how to change your permanent links (from this ?p=144 to this: word-press-quick-tip) in Word Press. The title of your post makes for a better description than ?p=144. Don’t use the categories text as suggested, instead use postname. The video shows you how: Options, Permalink, Custom field and paste this in /%postname%/ instead. I’m passing this along, and a few other links below, just in case anyone else feels like me, the last to know.

Add custom smilies to your posts and comment box. This plugin was first released in 2005 and it is now updated to be compatible with WordPress 2.3.2.

I love this plug-in! How many times do you wish you could go back and edit your comment because of an error? Well Edit Comments XT makes it possible. Edit Comments XT is a simple WordPress plugin that allows commenters to edit their own comments. The edits required to make this plugin work are fairly extensive, so if you don’t know what you are doing, I wouldn’t bother.

Custom Comments. This is really cool. Instead of saying “18 comments” you can customized it to say “18 Great Thinkers Said”. Compatible with WordPress 2.1.

And lastly, if you upgraded to WordPress 2.3.1 and have noticed that you have not been receiving notification of comments on your blog, here’s how to fix it!

These are just four of my favorites for now. Hope you find them useful. If you have one you want to share, drop a link. That’s all folks!