Caught in the WEB

               
               Today I realized just how dependent I’ve become on the internet!  Arriving home coming from an appointment, I fully expected to be able to turn on my laptop and log on to the magic that is the world wide web. The bottom right corner of my screen always indicates whether I’m connected and online or not, as well as the number of bars for the wireless connection we have at home. Gray signal bars with a yellow dot on top of it (I’m sure you’re all quite familiar with that icon) was nothing new to me. It only meant a signal was available but the computer wasn’t connected to it.

               So I clicked on it and sure enough, there was a wireless network available, but not ours. So I went downstairs to turn on the modem and the wireless router and went back to my room, expecting to see the proper icon this time. Horror of horrors! That was not the case. I did see that I was connected wirelessly but there was no internet connection. I’m not really what you’d call a tech-savvy person but I had some (not a lot. You’ll see why later.) knowledge of basic networking, enough at least to attempt at fixing the problem.

               I rolled up my sleeves (figuratively speaking) and set to work. It didn’t really involve anything technical; I just plugged and unplugged the devices or restarted them. I got tired of trying to fix it, not from turning it on and off, but rather from the several trips I had to take traipsing up and down the stairs to check if I had internet or not. It never occurred to me to bring my laptop downstairs.

               Adding salt to an open wound, the software for the wireless connection is written in Chinese! This would have been no sweat if I knew Chinese but my knowledge of the language was zero percent. Negative even. It was already quite late, and I was already tired and grumpy and sleepy. (seven dwarfs?) I had to lay down my arms and surrender the battle. For now anyway.

               So here I am writing this as a way to let off steam. I’m not really sure when I’ll be able to upload this post, since you know… How about you? Any frustrating experiences with internet connection? Come on, share them. (to assure myself that I’m not alone in this, muwahahaha!)

Update: Up until now, there is no internet connection at home yet. I'm using the net at a different house.*Sigh*