It's after midnight as I write this, some 30 minutes after I usually post a blog article to welcome the new day... but today, for about five hours, my Internet was done - some huge crash.
Now... I didn't know it was a huge crash of some server, rather I thought it was just my own computer being effected, as it has happened a couple of times in the past.
My first reaction after discovering I couldn't go on-line was to reset the modem et al, but that didn't work. Then it was to actually call my Internet company - for whom I used to work for in the their media segment.
And that's when it hit me.
I don't have their phone number.
I would normally use the Internet to look it up, and then make the call. But I can't get on-line to get their number. SNAFU #1.
Then, I thought I would use the Yellow Pages... but, you know what? I don't have a telephone directory in this house, as it's just not as prevalent a commodity as it used to be. Perhaps because some people believe that print is dead. SNAFU #2.
Then, I thought I could my Internet/telephone/television cable bill to get the number, as all three are bundled together. But I can't because that company wants to go paperless, and said it would be easier if they just e-mailed my invoices to me. You know... because print is dead. SNAFU #3.
And so... there I sit. Maybe my wife will call from her night school course and then I can ask her to go on-line with her laptop borrowing the school's Wi-Fi connection, so she can look up the Internet provider's trouble-shooting phone number for me. She comes home, saying she tried to call, but the phones weren't working at our house. SNAFU #4.
You know... I remember when I was in Japan - all those times my telephone or television went down... let's see... in three years it went down exactly... one... two... three... no, waitaminute. It never went down. Ever.
Previously here in Toronto, when I lost all three services, I couldn't even call for help. Why? Because all three are linked to digital networks, rather than a separate phone line or television cable... one single digital network. SNAFU #5.
So I would have to wait until the next morning when I got into work to call for assistance to rectify my issues with the Internet/television and telephone. The nice people at the telecommunications company would ask if I could try a few things at home to solve the issue. But I'm not home I would tell them.I'm at work. Oh... well, could I call back when I'm at home? No, I remind them. My phone is down, too... what with everything linked together on one digital line. Oh, they say... why not call us on my cell phone - that isn't affected. But... I don't have a cell phone. SNAFU #6.
You could hear crickets.
Well, perhaps since you are one of seven people in all of Canada who does not have a cell phone (Rob, Caroline and myself are three of the seven), perhaps you would like to sign up four our wireless service. I can put you through right now... and before I can say that I can't afford a cell phone and that I don't want a cell phone and that no one calls me anyway, I am placed in line to await a service representative who will try and get me to purchase a service I do not wish - or can afford. SNAFU #7.
You know... people ask me how I can survive without a cell phone... because they have their entire life in theirs.
How sad, I think to myself. Life from an electronic device. Why would I want to talk to people who don't call me? But you can use it to do your writing. When, I ask? I'm either at work writing or driving to and from work or writing at home or spending time with my son. You can write then. When? In the car? No... stupid, at home. I have a computer with a large screen - and the only way I am going to go blind is from too much porn on my large screen computer. So... why do I need a cell phone? In case your wife wants you to pick something up before you get home. Can't she wit until I get home to tell me i need to pick something up? Or... can't she tell me before I leave work?
Well, they say... you can organize your work on your phone. Apparently these people are high on drugs. Organize my work? I am organized. It's called a brain. I use it. And I have plenty of brain space for other things, too.
Well... you can use it to go on-line and quickly find out things. I'm in the car... what do I need to find out? I'm not using one of those things while I drive 20 kilometers per hour in rush (several) hour of traffic! If I'm at work or at home, I could use my computer.
Not if your system is down. True... but... even though the wireless telephone is working, I can't get on-line because the Internet is down. And I still can't call for help because I can't get on-line to get the phone number.
Yes... well.. if there's an emergency, it's nice to know that the wireless phone is still working. You could call 9-1-1.
Ah. They had me there. So, I should spend $40 a month or more in case I need to call 9-1-1.
You know... I never called 9-1-1. Even when I had a fire, I screamed for my neighbor to call for me while I went in to rescue my cat.
What's the point of all of this? Well... all of this technological progress makes me yearn for the days when I lived in Japan and when I wrote my stories first on a pad of paper with a pen. There was no Internet back then - or if there was, it had yet to make it to Japan in 1993.
True. People keep calling Japan the leader in the electronics revolution. But by mid 1993, no one I knew had ever heard of the Internet (the modern one... not the messages boards of the 70s and 80s that I had been on as a teenager).
Okay... you got me. It was a thinly veiled excuse to rail at modern technology (while I write it on my computer for my worldwide blog). I don't actually have a real topic at this moment.
Sorry.
Cheers
Andrew Joseph
Now... I didn't know it was a huge crash of some server, rather I thought it was just my own computer being effected, as it has happened a couple of times in the past.
My first reaction after discovering I couldn't go on-line was to reset the modem et al, but that didn't work. Then it was to actually call my Internet company - for whom I used to work for in the their media segment.
And that's when it hit me.
I don't have their phone number.
I would normally use the Internet to look it up, and then make the call. But I can't get on-line to get their number. SNAFU #1.
Then, I thought I would use the Yellow Pages... but, you know what? I don't have a telephone directory in this house, as it's just not as prevalent a commodity as it used to be. Perhaps because some people believe that print is dead. SNAFU #2.
Then, I thought I could my Internet/telephone/television cable bill to get the number, as all three are bundled together. But I can't because that company wants to go paperless, and said it would be easier if they just e-mailed my invoices to me. You know... because print is dead. SNAFU #3.
And so... there I sit. Maybe my wife will call from her night school course and then I can ask her to go on-line with her laptop borrowing the school's Wi-Fi connection, so she can look up the Internet provider's trouble-shooting phone number for me. She comes home, saying she tried to call, but the phones weren't working at our house. SNAFU #4.
You know... I remember when I was in Japan - all those times my telephone or television went down... let's see... in three years it went down exactly... one... two... three... no, waitaminute. It never went down. Ever.
Previously here in Toronto, when I lost all three services, I couldn't even call for help. Why? Because all three are linked to digital networks, rather than a separate phone line or television cable... one single digital network. SNAFU #5.
So I would have to wait until the next morning when I got into work to call for assistance to rectify my issues with the Internet/television and telephone. The nice people at the telecommunications company would ask if I could try a few things at home to solve the issue. But I'm not home I would tell them.I'm at work. Oh... well, could I call back when I'm at home? No, I remind them. My phone is down, too... what with everything linked together on one digital line. Oh, they say... why not call us on my cell phone - that isn't affected. But... I don't have a cell phone. SNAFU #6.
You could hear crickets.
Well, perhaps since you are one of seven people in all of Canada who does not have a cell phone (Rob, Caroline and myself are three of the seven), perhaps you would like to sign up four our wireless service. I can put you through right now... and before I can say that I can't afford a cell phone and that I don't want a cell phone and that no one calls me anyway, I am placed in line to await a service representative who will try and get me to purchase a service I do not wish - or can afford. SNAFU #7.
You know... people ask me how I can survive without a cell phone... because they have their entire life in theirs.
How sad, I think to myself. Life from an electronic device. Why would I want to talk to people who don't call me? But you can use it to do your writing. When, I ask? I'm either at work writing or driving to and from work or writing at home or spending time with my son. You can write then. When? In the car? No... stupid, at home. I have a computer with a large screen - and the only way I am going to go blind is from too much porn on my large screen computer. So... why do I need a cell phone? In case your wife wants you to pick something up before you get home. Can't she wit until I get home to tell me i need to pick something up? Or... can't she tell me before I leave work?
Well, they say... you can organize your work on your phone. Apparently these people are high on drugs. Organize my work? I am organized. It's called a brain. I use it. And I have plenty of brain space for other things, too.
Well... you can use it to go on-line and quickly find out things. I'm in the car... what do I need to find out? I'm not using one of those things while I drive 20 kilometers per hour in rush (several) hour of traffic! If I'm at work or at home, I could use my computer.
Not if your system is down. True... but... even though the wireless telephone is working, I can't get on-line because the Internet is down. And I still can't call for help because I can't get on-line to get the phone number.
Yes... well.. if there's an emergency, it's nice to know that the wireless phone is still working. You could call 9-1-1.
Ah. They had me there. So, I should spend $40 a month or more in case I need to call 9-1-1.
You know... I never called 9-1-1. Even when I had a fire, I screamed for my neighbor to call for me while I went in to rescue my cat.
What's the point of all of this? Well... all of this technological progress makes me yearn for the days when I lived in Japan and when I wrote my stories first on a pad of paper with a pen. There was no Internet back then - or if there was, it had yet to make it to Japan in 1993.
True. People keep calling Japan the leader in the electronics revolution. But by mid 1993, no one I knew had ever heard of the Internet (the modern one... not the messages boards of the 70s and 80s that I had been on as a teenager).
Okay... you got me. It was a thinly veiled excuse to rail at modern technology (while I write it on my computer for my worldwide blog). I don't actually have a real topic at this moment.
Sorry.
Cheers
Andrew Joseph
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