No Internet Means No DoodleKisses!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Last week, I was in the process of putting all of our Holiday stuff away and Tuesday, I worked most of the day de-constructing Christmas. In between that tedious task, the dogs and I went for two long walks in frigid temperatures and I even cooked dinner. All in all, a productive day and I was looking forward to kicking back and relaxing after dinner and checking out the happenings on DoodleKisses. Back into our bedroom I went, along with Fudge and Vern, both tired out from their walks and ready for bed, and the night looked so promising until I turned on my computer.  It turns out, somewhere between my husband checking his emails and me walking back to the bedroom, our Internet and phone service had gone down and nothing I did could get it back working and believe me, I tried everything.

 

Whenever this happens, there are a series of steps I follow religiously to try and get the computer working again. First, I scream at the top of my lungs, “I can’t get on my computer!”  I hate living in the country!  We are moving back to wherever stuff doesn’t stop working.  Start working, you “fill in the blank” computer NOW.”  If none of that works and since I have never believed in “suffering in silence,” I repeat all of the above over and over again until someone else in our home yells back,  “For god’s sake, you are giving me a headache. Stop yelling and I will go take a look.”  Unfortunately, I have been unable to train Fudge and Vern to go in search of our modem if the computer goes down when I am home alone.  It was really just happenstance that I realized long ago that loud noises cause faster action than quiet requests for help in our household and it has been my saving grace in many a crisis. 

 

What happens next is someone goes down the basement and fiddles with the modem while I shout encouragement from up above, “it is still not working!....how much longer?...hurry up…this is taking forever….I am trying to get on DoodleKisses….IT IS STILL NOT WORKING!” until someone yells back that silence is golden. Once in awhile, the computer comes back on, but more times than not, I have to call the Internet provider, which is my least favorite thing to do.  I don’t have a lot of patience and in fact, when patience was being passed out, I am sure I missed out because I was trying to find a faster line. So, when my husband came up from the basement to say nothing was working and he couldn’t fix it and I realized I had no Internet for the night and was at the mercy of our provider, according to my family I overreacted. All I said was I was jonesing real bad for DoodleKisses and my husband said I might want to go easy on watching Celebrity Rehab in the future.  My daughter said I was scaring her and she wanted her old mom back, the one she had before DoodleKisses.  I hate when they gang up on me about my Internet activities and I almost told them I was this close to tuning someone up, but then I remembered the last time I told them that, they started calling me Tony Soprano and Big Tuner and that did not go over well with Crazy Laurie, another name they mentioned.

 

Next, I got on the phone to seek help and what began next, was a descent into hell.  For anyone who has ever tried to reach a live person at their cable company, I think you will agree that they have their customer service set up so that most people eventually give up and disconnect the call and decide prayer might be a better option for help. It is like being in a cornfield maze with no way out….push one for this, push two for that, I am sorry I don’t understand responses at that high of decibel level, please try again….until I find myself screaming into the receiver, “LIVE PERSON NEEDED BEFORE I HAVE A HEART ATTACK!” Usually, the automated response back is, “Please continue to hold. We appreciate your business,” and at that point, I start dreaming about what I would like to do to the person who invented the automated operator and since I am sure it was a man, my dream usually involves gloves and me saying, “please press one, if you would like to bend over and cough….please press two, if you would like me to repeat option one.”  I also imagine when I’m done, I would conclude the painful session with, “Are you satisfied with the service you received today?” or “when you are done crying, would you mind taking a brief two minute survey to rate my service?”

 

Luckily, after finally reaching a live person and hearing that the next appointment available was in two days, persistency paid off in the end. In desperation, I made the appointment, but then called back and after being transferred to someplace in New England and then because I used the word idiot and that operator deemed me loco, I am guessing Mexico, because the automated responses were all in Spanish, I hung up and regrouped. I realized in order to get results, I had two options, 1) the squeaky wheel gets the grease or 2) you catch more flies with honey.  They don’t call me Squeakers for nothing and I went with option one. In the end, our service got fixed the next day and the first thing I did when the serviceman left was log on to DoodlesKisses.  Absence really does make the heart grow fonder.

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Nancy, I finally had to replace my old Dell. I tried getting it fixed, but it just was not right.

Lisa, When my service goes down, I immediately call and make them issue me a credit for that day. I bundle too, so I know just what you mean. I can't relate to #3...I am only in my twenties...LOL!!

[Lisa, Daisy & Dexter]

Why is it that we are all bonkers when we get cut off of our provider, I'll tell you why I am.

One: I bundle so everything is on it, internet, phone and tv

Two: I pay for a service and they start out saying 5 days till the next evening appt - hello I work and they still expect me to pay for the 5 days without service, and finally

Three: I need my DK and my phone is too small for my old eyes.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Laurie, I SO feel your pain.  My internet, e-mail browsers = whatever are just not working properly.  I really need to take my computer in, but I'd rather limp along and have the computer than take it in and not have it - dumb.....

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Kathy, I feel the same way and that is why my Internet cannot go down again....LOL!

[Kathy Janes]

You are goofy!  But I admit, I love just looking at the front page slide show at all the adorable doodles!  It would be easy to get addicted!  Good news, good thinking, great people!  Love DK!

[Deanna & Desi & Cori]

FrenchKisses - Ha Ha Ha!!!!

[F, Calla & Luca]

Ha!!! You are correct.

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

F, This site is called DoodleKisses, not FrenchKisses :)

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Donna, I am eligible for a phone upgrade, so maybe I will put that on my wish list too :) Now, you started F up again with that French!

[F, Calla & Luca]

I think you have to make sure you have enough 4G coverage to make it worthwhile.