I am made of win!

[girlyswot]

So, I took my parents to the station this morning for the start of their holiday.  When I got home, I found that the internet connection was running incredibly slowly (which does happen when you live in the country).  I tried restarting the computer, and fiddling with the phone line, to no avail.  A call to my brother yielded the useful suggestion of disconnecting the router.  When I reconnected it, it died. 

So, a quick trip to PC World for a wonderful replacement router WITH WIRELESS (so I can finally get the internet on my laptop).  Half an hour fiddling with cables and connections.  Ten minutes searching for a torch so that I can have a chance of seeing what I'm doing behind the built-in computer desk.  Five minutes following the setup instructions on the installation CD.  Only to be foiled by the need for the ISP, user id and password.

But I am not daunted by such things!  I know my mother well enough to be sure that somewhere in her office there will be a piece of paper entitled 'Passwords' which will have all the required information for any identity theft you could imagine.  Not just one piece of paper, it turns out.  A whole file.

The best part of an hour spent in huge frustration.  There are a range of possible id's and passwords and it's not even completely clear which ISP is in use at the moment.  Finally, the all important letter from the ISP with an arrow pointing at the password and a note from my mother saying, 'letter l'.  Great.  On the password list, it definitely says 1.  I'm clearly not cut out for a career in identity theft.  ;)

However, I am now online and feeling a ridiculous sense of pride in this achievement.

ETA: And for my next trick I chased eight very stupid sheep* out of the garden.  Just call me Wonder Woman and be done with it.

*How hard is it to remember that the way back into the field is under the gate, not through the wire mesh?  Though it is very funny watching them fling themselves into the mesh (just about wide enough for them to get a head through) and then have to extract themselves.  Plus I like to collect the wool they inevitably leave behind in this exercise.

Comments

[daksian.livejournal.com]

Hee hee! I'm with you! I'm one of those who has just enough techie know-how to get himself into trouble...so when I do pull something off, I tend to punch the air in victory! :D Congratulations on your own victory! *cheers*

[girlyswot.livejournal.com]

Thank you! *takes bow*

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

You are obviously quite, quite brilliant. I have a cupboard full of cables and connectors and I've no idea what they're for.

[girlyswot.livejournal.com]

Well, I seem to have a very large number of left over cables and other bits just from this one operation. But *cross fingers* it seems to be working just fine without them.

[megan29.livejournal.com]

You're the woman! Everyone knows that cable modems were invented to make us destroy our computers (by fiddling with the settings until we manage to crash them and render them useless). There is a secret agreement between cable companies and Microsoft. It is called "Ten Easy Steps to drive your customer crazy". It turns out, most people only need 3 steps to lose it. Then they call for help from "specialists" who come and scratch their heads and tell them that the only way to solve the problem is to: A) buy a new computer (pre-loaded with Microsoft crap); B) buy a new modem; C) wait a couple of weeks until the cable company flips a switch; and D) when all else fails, buy a new house and move to an area with better cable service.

Honey, you're way ahead of the game. :-)

PS Both hubby and I work in IT, and yet we need just about as much time to set up a home office from scratch - two computers, a phone adapter for voip, and a wireless router. Should be easy, but something always gets screwed up.

[zia-montrose.livejournal.com]

You're very funny. But I think you should know that it makes the Americans on your flist very uncomfortable when you speak of wielding torches around in small, enclosed residential spaces. : )

[girlyswot.livejournal.com]

LOL! There were no exposed flames, I promise.

[tdu000.livejournal.com]

What is a torch in American?

[rdprice29.livejournal.com]

I am pretty sure a torch is the UK equivalent of our flashlight.

*has learned something useful from HP fanfiction, apparrently*

[tdu000.livejournal.com]

I'm English (living in Australia) so what I want to know is what the American meaning of torch is!

[zia-montrose.livejournal.com]

Yeah, for us a torch is something with an open flame--like the torches in brackets at Hogwarts or the Olympic torch. Or the sort of hand held torch one might have grabbed back in the day to head down into the catacombs.

As said, the British 'torch' is equivalent to our 'flashlight'.

I've heard many a British climber call their headlamps 'headtorches', but it still sounds funny. : )

[rdprice29.livejournal.com]

Yep, as someone who's unfortunately only spent a week in the UK, I agree with zia's explanation as to what a torch is. A stick with pitch on the end, with open flames ablaze, that an Indiana Jones type figure lights to light his way to his certain doom. XD

Or a flashlight, in US terms. ;p

[tdu000.livejournal.com]

The open flame ones are called torches too - we tell what is meant from the context.

I know what you mean about things sounding funny. Here in Oz, thongs are a sort of footwear (what we call flip-flops). In the UK it's another name for a dodgy sort of G-string (at least when it's something being worn). Even after 15 years here, I still giggle when people talk about wearing thongs!

[zia-montrose.livejournal.com]

Funny you should mention that example. My husband and I ran into a bike tourer from Oz over here once, and being enthusiastic about bike culture, we were conversing and checking out her paniers. Husband asked "So, what's the one thing you couldn't have lived without on your trip?" She responded enthusiastically, "thongs!" We thought that was pretty candid of her--until she pulled out a pair with a smiling face. LOL!

[tdu000.livejournal.com]

My first contact with the term was a footballer reminiscing in a chat show about his mother. He said she would keep him and his brothers in order by throwing a thong at them! Fortunately my husband, who had spent more time in Australia than me, was able to translate because I thought it was very odd of a woman to throw her underwear at her sons.

[girlyswot.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I am certainly the woman today!!

[tdu000.livejournal.com]

Congratulations! When my computer died, I didn't dare touch anything and waited for Dave to get home and fix it. Mind you, if I'd stuffed it up I would have been in an awful lot of trouble and would have been an object of ridicule (fom Little Tyke) for years to come.

[rdprice29.livejournal.com]

*hugs!* Poor you!

That's why I love having Verizon as my ISP. They have 24 hour free technical support for all computer issues, as long as you use them for your ISP. I bow down to them in thanks, believe me. XD

*I think sheep are slightly behind cocker spaniels in lack of intelligence levels. snickers*

[mrflyingfingers.livejournal.com]

LOL.

"By day, a mild mannered computer repairperson. By night, Super Sheep Herder."

*dum dum DUUUUMMMMMM*