Off-line

I thought I was going to be isolated tonight. It looked like a night of solitary confinement. Various family members and their friends were having their "turns" on the computers (not that I begrudge them their processor time). As it was nearing 11pm the gigglefest departed and I encouraged the remaining game-freak to save and exit. I rebooted.

I immediately regretted it. The network refused to connect. I tried all the usual combinations of rebooting the cable modem then the PC - all to no avail. I waited. Is it me? Is my PC causing the problem? The game-freak had just been reinstalling an old game. Had something changed to muck with my network connection?

Midnight was approaching. I resigned myself to having to ring the cable support line. This is always daunting. If my super-efficient (add your own layers of sarcasm here) cable company had noted a big problem then ringing the support line would be fast. I'd get a recorded message before having to wait for a service rep. It's when they don't realise their network is down that you need to pack a cut lunch and a thermos of coffee before you start the phone call.

I was lucky. Well, based on the shortness of the phone call I was lucky. Based on the state of the network I was as lucky as a mangy, blind, three-legged, recently castrated dog. The whole of the state was having problems. The precise female voice said the problem was complex enough that they had no idea when it would be fixed. I resigned myself to having no connection at all tonight.

I tried connecting again at about 12:15 and nearly fainted. The network was back!