THE AGONY CONTINUES

This is a possible, or perhaps probable, continuation of my previous post.

I was so intensely overjoyed when I finally got connected to the Internet again, that I almost did an interpretative Dance of Elation - but it would have destroyed my bad back and probably put me in traction.

Good thing I didn't dance. My joy was short-lived. 

My Internet connection lasted less than 24 hours.

I was doing work on my laptop, in bed, late at night, during a horrendous thunderstorm. An urgent weather alert warned me that the storm was severe and I should seek shelter immediately.

Shelter? Where? Under the bed? In the neighboring forest?

The deafening thunder encouraged my cat Bosco to take shelter under the bed covers.
I watched the lightning from the bedroom window in awestruck amazement.

Then it happened:

A massive lightning bolt zapped down with atomic power and struck the front of my property. It hit with the force of a bomb and seemed to be streaked with fire, like the hand of God.

The most incredibly amazing part of this incident is that the EXACT thing happened nearly two years ago, in July, 2020. A lightning bolt struck my property almost in the same place!! (I wrote a blog post about it, which lurks somewhere in the archives).

Needless to say, there was a power outage - and my computer and landline phone were dead.

I think it happened on Thursday night. Friday was a useless day, because I knew I'd have to wait through the weekend before anyone from my Internet customer service brigade could come out and survey the problem.

I called today (via cell phone). The service guy came surprisingly fast and restored my computer and landline phone.

With the luxury of having Internet access again, I immediately got online and paid all my monthly bills.
Who knows when the next storm will blow in with another Biblical lightning bolt?

I just realized that I haven't recently been posting any photos on my blog.
Well, hell, I'm interesting even without photos
(he says with a wry smile)

Here are some breathtakingly amazing photos of my bedroom window - from which I saw the lightning bolt.
I always love looking out the window from my bed - even at night. Even during storms.

 

 

A view from my bed.

I now have blinds on the windows, but seldom use them.

NOTE:

I'm still having enormous problems with Blogger. I am generally forced to comment anonymously on some blogs - - and on other blogs I'm unable to comment at all. Apologies to Myra and Kim - - I can no longer leave comments on your blogs. The comment "icon" doesn't work!!

DISCONNECTED

Disconnected? Me?? Heck, no.

My computer. Disconnected from the Internet. For nearly two days. Which is  an eternity for someone like me, who depends on the computer as my lifeline to the outside world.

I only threw in "lifeline" to add colorful dramatization to the situation.

I tried every possible ploy to remedy the problem - which isn't easy for a complete technical dullard as myself.

Since both of my computers were Internetless (new word made up by me), I went to the assumed source of connection: the intricate maze of tangled wires and plugs nestled behind my desktop computer. 

To my myopic and technically untrained eyes, everything seemed to be connected and in working order.

But still no Internet.

I tried to get various methods of off-line help - which included talking (via phone) to numerous clueless and unhelpful experts.

My long telephone quest for assistance eventually took me to a small town somewhere in India called WeloveDacows.

(ponder that carefully for awhile - it will eventually get funny). 

After several agonizingly long minutes  - during which I strained my aural capacities to understand an accent that was heavier than a lead doorstop - I was ready to hang up.

Being blessedly patient, however, I decided to stay on the line and wait for the East Indian diagnosis of my rural Tennessee problem. 

"Da poblum seeeem to be U disconeeected frum eenternit."

Translation:
"The problem seems to be that you're disconnected from the Internet." 

I went all the way to friggin' India for that???

I politely thanked the computer helpline assistant, while debating about calling the suicide helpline.

Note: I think I should have said suicide "HOTLINE", not "helpline"

Then, I summoned all of my masculine macho courage (which was packed away somewhere with my copy of Oscar Wilde's De Profundis).

I decided to tackle the root of the problem by going to the main source:  The Russians!

Oops. Sorry. 
I mean the mysterious modem box. The life source of my computers, which is stashed away on the floor in my bedroom - behind my desktop computer (I keep my laptop in the kitchen).

I messed with the modem box for several long minutes - pondering, contemplating, examining. 
Finally, I poked some sort of a reset button. Or something. 

EUREKA!

I was miraculously connected again. To the Internet.

A satisfactory explanation to this puzzling (but entertaining) post is in order. And it all has to do with my cat Bosco.

As incredible as it sounds, my cat Bosco has gotten into the habit of crawling in a corner of my bedroom floor and sleeping on the modem.

I swear to Gawd, I'm not making this up.

The modem feels warm and makes a low, soothing, humming sound. Bosco loves it. 
He must have inadvertently pressed one of the modem buttons with his ample ass.

So, Bosco was the source of my disconnection problems.

Case solved.

Jon, you're damn good. It's impossible to understand why those little Internet trolls hate you.