Lost And Found

Yesterday was one of the most frustrating days I’ve had in a long time. We were awakened by somebody pounding on our door, and when I stumbled my way to it, it was a fellow from our homeowners insurance company telling me he had to take three pictures from the outside of the property for the policy. When we first signed up, the agent told me somebody would be by to do that eventually, so no big problem. The man said he would be doing them all from out in the street and it would take him about two minutes. I wouldn’t even know he was there. My first thought was, well then why did you bother waking me up to let me know you’re here?

Since we were already up, we decided to start our day, and what a day it was. Miss Terry noticed that one of the four red lights on our Verizon extended network device had switched from blue to red. That’s not a good sign because if all of them are not blue, it isn’t working, which means our telephones don’t work.

I did the simple stuff like rebooting it, then unplugging everything and hooking it all back up and rebooting it a second time, with no success. I tried to call Verizon’s technical support but because the device wasn’t working, it was almost impossible to make a call, and usually about the time I finally connected with somebody, it would drop off.

This went on for an hour or so, and then as if by magic all the lights went to blue again. Great, except about that time I noticed that our Linksys wireless router had stopped working. Not so great. I went through all the routines of rebooting and unplugging and yada, yada, yada, and I still couldn’t get it to work. So I called Greg White. If anybody knows how to make this stuff do what it is supposed to do, it’s Greg.

Nope, he tried to work his magic long distance, but no luck. All of our computers and my tablet could see the router, it had an excellent signal, but we couldn’t connect no matter what we did. Greg suggested I plug

my computer directly into the Bright House modem, bypassing the Linksys altogether, and when I did that I could get online. Which meant the modem was working.

So I called Linksys tech support. They, of course, blamed everything on Bright House. And then the red light came back on on my Verizon network extender and I lost the call. So I used the weak signal we have to call Bright House, and after four or five dropped calls, I finally got someone in technical support, who, you guessed it, said the problem was with the Linksys router, not their equipment.

Now, all of this didn’t take place in an hour, or two, or even three. About the time I would get connected to somebody in technical support at Bright House or Linksys, many of whom seemed to have heavy accents I could not understand, my phone signal would drop off and I would be disconnected.

A few times the Verizon network extender did work and I had four pretty blue lights and I could make calls with no problem. But then, about halfway through the call, one or more of the lights would go red again and I would lose the connection. At that point, if I had any hair, I would have pulled it out.

Finally sometime late in the afternoon I gave up and told Bright House to turn on the WiFi signal on their modem so we would have WiFi here in the house and Terry could get online. It was worth the $6 a month they charge to be done with it. That, of course involved two or three more dropped calls. But suddenly the WiFi lights lit up on the modem and technical support said it was up and working. Except none of our computers or devices can see it.

Meanwhile, I had made several calls to Verizon, and the first thing I said when I got a support tech online was to please call me back if the call got dropped, explaining the problem with our phone signal. And each of them promised to call me back if we lost the call, which we did every time. And not one time did any of them call me back.

Finally, sometime a little before 5 PM I got somebody at Verizon who managed to access my account, and the first thing she told me was that the network extender was junk, they have had nothing but problems with them, and that she was going to send me out a return ticket so I can have it out of my life and get credit back for the $250 it cost. Then I lost the call. But wonder of wonders, she immediately called me back and we talked for a few minutes until I lost the call again. And she called me back again! By then I was so frustrated I think I was about ready to cry.

The wonderful lady from Verizon suggested that I try the We Boost signal amplifier that I used in the RV. I told her I had done that before getting the network extender, with no success. She said that I should get it up on a pole someplace to get a better signal, since we are about four miles from the nearest tower. So that’s what I plan to do today. After I try to get in contact with somebody at Bright House and find out why we can’t find our WiFi signal, since I can see every other one in the neighborhood.

It was close to 6 PM by the time I was finished and I had lost an entire day when I would have rather been writing, or helping put things away here in the house, or getting a root canal, or getting my fingernails pulled out one by one with a pair of pliers.

But the day wasn’t a total disaster. Terry made shrimp and grits for breakfast, using the shrimp we netted night before last, and it was delicious. We must do this again, and soon!

And, I found my underwear! As I wrote a while back in a blog titled Going Bland And Commando, somewhere in the move from the motorhome to the house, Terry lost a bunch of the spices she uses for cooking, and I lost all but three pair of my underwear. Yesterday we found the underwear in a box out in the garage. So I guess I won’t go commando after all. As for the spices, they are still MIA.

Over 150 people have already entered our latest Free Drawing, and that doesn’t surprise me. This week’s prize is a set of three books by Master Certified RV service technician Dale Lee Sumner that are excellent introductions to RV 12 volt electrical systems, 120 volt RV electrical systems, and RV appliances. While these books won’t make you a qualified RV tech, they will show you the basics of how your rig’s systems operate, how to get the most out of them, and give you some basic maintenance tips. To enter, all you have to do is click on this Free Drawing link or the tab at the top of this page and enter your name in the comments section at the bottom of that page (not this one). Only one entry per person per drawing please, and you must enter with your real name. To prevent spam or multiple entries, the names of cartoon or movie characters are not allowed. The winner will be drawn Sunday evening.

Thought For The Day – Why do I have to press one for English when you’re just going to transfer me to someone I can’t understand anyway?

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