Today didn’t go as planned, not that I’m good at making plans, but the mental plan I had fixed in my head got scrambled along the way.
The script for today was set yesterday. Let me explain.
I woke up yesterday morning feeling better than I have for a week (think: colds, flu, whatever it is that winter throws at us). I didn’t need to make a list of the chores that needed doing; they were blatantly obvious, and I felt good enough to tackle them all.
I had to
- deal with an overflowing laundry basket
- vacuum floors
- dispose of the clothes and linen that didn’t fit back into the cupboard I’d reorganised the night before (and no, not into landfill)
- finish my blog post for UBC
- make a new batch of laundry detergent
- deal with the usual calls, texts, and emails
- work on the coding course I’m doing
And if that wasn’t enough to fill a day, somewhere in my non-existent logic, I figured it would be a good time to put fresh sheets on my bed. What was I thinking??
In the busy mayhem of the day, I moved the modem (router) to a different spot, and everything went downhill after that. Alexa Spot and Alexa Dot stopped talking to me (one in the living area and one in the bedroom), and you can’t easily turn lamps on manually when they’re set up automatically through Alexa. I know, I could have just unplugged the Smart Switch and put the lamp plug into the outlet, but I was sure there must be a better (not necessarily easier) way, and there was. It worked.
Without the Internet, you can’t work on your website, so blogging didn’t happen. Normally, I would phone my Internet Service Provider (ISP) and sort the WiFi problem out, but it was Sunday, and they’re not there on Sundays.
I tell you what, going a whole night without Internet makes me appreciate technology so much more. Sure, I had my iPhone, but the signal is almost non-existent in my little apartment, so Internet is hit-and-miss (more miss than hit) on my phone. And because of the low signal, I couldn’t even hotspot the WiFi from my phone to my laptop. It just wouldn’t work. And that’s why I’m now behind on the Blog Challenge.
Last night was a very quiet night in my little part of the world. I figured there was nothing much to stay up late for, so I went to bed early (before 9 pm) – not to sleep, but to read. About the only thing to do that didn’t involve the Internet was to read a book on my Kindle.
So, what does yesterday have to do with how today turned out?
Everything!!!
I woke up early, only to have to wait for my ISP to open their phone-lines at 9am. Luckily, the Internet on my phone worked enough to find the number for support, and luckily, my ISP support is excellent. When they answered, I was second in line, so I didn’t have to wait hours for my call to be attended to.
It didn’t take long to explain my dilemma to the very understanding support person. And yes, I had turned the modem off and back on many times since the Internet blackout had happened.
“Press the button on the top of the modem”, the support person said.
“I can’t find a button on the top of the modem”, I explained.
With the patience of a saint, she directed me to a little bump on the right-hand side of where the WiFi lights should have been lit (but weren’t). Who would have thought! There’s actually a switch on the top of the modem. One press of that little bump switch and the modem lit up like a Christmas tree. Problem solved! Obviously, I had ‘bumped’ that switch when I moved the modem yesterday.
Today’s critical agenda, apart from fixing the WiFi, was a meeting scheduled for 11 am, in a neighbouring town, a twenty-minute drive from here. I was still in my pyjamas, hadn’t had a coffee or anything else, and my phone didn’t stop ringing from the moment the modem’s lights all flashed on. I flew out the door at 10.30, allowing an extra ten minutes in case of traffic.
Luckily, the traffic wasn’t hectic and I had an easy run to my appointment, found a parking spot right in front of the place I needed to be, and arrived with five minutes to spare. Phew!
But from the minute I arrived home, about 1.30, and made a quick sandwich (brunch), the phone calls started again in earnest. So here I am at the end of the day; it’s 9 pm, and my mental list of things I wanted to achieve didn’t happen. In fact, I don’t have a lot to show for today, except for five beautiful green lights on the modem.
Oh well, there’s always tomorrow. And besides, now I can add one more skill to my repertoire; I know about the little switch on top of the modem, so the day wasn’t completely lost.
