These are random musings of my life journey, the people, animals, places, and events which have woven, and continue to weave, a tapestry that is me. We all know there is no real destination, only the ongoing experiences which blend together, creating the trail. Each step gives a glimpse of what is to come, without allowing me to see the end result. It is exciting. I have a home base that is mine, that gives me a place to rest. This is it. This is where my heart is, no matter where I journey...................

Thursday, October 25, 2007

I'm Unwired, er, uh, Wireless!!

I'm wireless again!! I know that most of you didn't know about it, but I've been held captive to the cords and cables that connect us to the Internet for some time now.

I bought a laptop in December 2005 after my husband died and I knew I was going to be traveling around the country for some undetermined period of time. That was pre-blog for me, but I was writing long news email to friends and family about where I was going and how my life was progressing. I had started that during Glenn's illness to keep everyone informed, just changing the focus to my adventures later on.

I found the joys of turning it on in motels and *zing*zap*whoosh* there was the Internet! Then at my daughter's home in Florida there was wireless. Many times it was rather comical as we sat in a row, Kirk in his chair, Terri in hers, me on the couch, all with laptops doing whatever!

I returned to KC where I was again wired to the wall. It was OK in many respects. I had no comfortable furniture to lounge in anyway, so sitting at the little computer desk was fine.

In May 2006, my dear son in law disconnected me. He came to help me paint the house, and since his business is totally computerized and he had to have access, he brought an unused wireless router and set it up for me. I have to admit, it was nice to be able to take the computer to the deck and sit in the porch swing to compute!

Then in October 2006, I arrived in NM to stay at Allan's home for a while. He connected the router, and after a couple coding changes I was again able to sit wherever I wished in the house and use the Internet. The router ceased to work for some reason, and we couldn't figure out why, so I ordered a new one in December, an Airport Extreme from Apple since it is configured to work with Macs. However, when we plugged it in, it didn't just "take off" as I expected. I shelved it temporarily while I went to Albuquerque for Christmas. Terry and Kirk came back to Allan's home with me for a few days, and Kirk again rescued me by getting the Airport working. He had to play a little with it, changing some settings, etc. He knows what he is doing because Computer Science is one of his degrees and it is a big part of his business to know such things. We blamed the difficulty on the local telephone server which is, uh, less than ideal at times.

When I moved into this house in March 2007, I unplugged the router, carried it about 7 miles and plugged it back in. Nothing. I played with it as far as my knowledge goes, but it wasn't going to work for me, no matter how many cables I tried. I followed the instructions of both the router and the phone company setup guide. Nothing. I called the phone company, and they walked me through some steps to set it up, then when they realized I was on a Mac, they just stopped and told me to call Apple for the codes. Huh? "You're the service provider," I said. The reply is greatly paraphrased here by me ... "Apple won't share the codes with us, you have to call them and have them help you." I said something kind, like "what a worthless IT department you are," and hung up.

Well, as I tend to do, I got busy, and I never did call Apple. Then a computer guy came into the gallery recently to help with some changes, and I asked him to come help me with it. Never mind that I hadn't called Apple yet. Never mind that he is a PC person, albeit, having some experience on Macs. He futzed with the components of the wireless system for an hour with no results, although he now knew that it seemed there was something in the router that was not working as prescribed. Then we called Apple.

After an hour on the phone and going through multiple steps, the Apple people were as puzzled as we were. A supervisor joined the mix, and within a few minutes determined that ... viola! ... the WAN port was not functioning! They advised that a new Airport Extreme would be sent to me and I was to return the old one for analysis! Yay!

Late last week the new one arrived. I didn't immediately get into it because my company was arriving and I didn't want to be in tears!!! Yes, I'd lost faith in technology, I admit!!

Sunday after everyone left I warily entered the office and began plugging in cables and cords. Finally the moment of truth arrived. I was half expecting to be making a call to the phone company and/or Apple next. With a big breath I completed the last step, simply telling the system to "do your thing, baby!!" IT WORKED!!! Not only that, but it worked like an Apple product should ... immediately! No adjusting codes or cables or tweaking anything at all!

Which makes me think that it was possibly defective when I first got it, but dear, sweet and ever-so-smart Kirk was able to bypass the problem and make it go for that time! Geez, if only I'd known!! Plug and play, just like I had expected in the beginning! I'm not sure whether to tell him or not. Should I let him gloat in his superior abilities in the computer-knowledge world or will it frustrate him with the fact that he spent all that time for naught!?!?!? No, I'll tell him. He'll be glad he was smart enough to out-think an Apple, not that his PC mouth will ever admit it!!

Damn, Apple is good. And being wireless is marvelous!! From now on, you'll never know if I'm writing you from the efficiency of the office, from the comfort of the couch, from the open perspective of the deck, or from the privacy of my bed (wink, wink!!)!!


Life is beautiful!!!

11 comments:

  1. Geez I wish Kirk could help me figure out why my Dell won't power up properly (while plugged in so I know it's not a battery issue).

    Glad you got your problems straightened out though!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I LOVE being wireless!!!! It makes me terribly happy!!! (especially in the summertime, when i can be out on the deck!)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Once you go wireless it is VERY, VERY hard to go back. Trust me...I know. :)

    Glad it is all working.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm unwired (no more underwire bras for me!!) but I am not yet wireless...the day is fast approaching. We need a new computer and I'm thinking this is the way to go...you are convincing me..and I'm so glad all worked when you had the "right" parts!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Patti - I'm sure he could, but you'd have to go to Melbourne. OH! You're going to be doing just that!!! :)(:

    Cheryl - I'm with you! I've already been out on the deck a couple afternoons. Love, love, love it!

    Caroline - Oh, don't I know it, too!! It seems to simplify life, somehow.

    Sherry - LOL!! I love wireless and laptops! I still use the desktop and wired connection for bill paying, checking the bank balance, and such, and at times the mouse is still preferable when I'm working on something graphic. But otherwise ... gimme the walk-around stuff!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I look forward to the day when I can once again "unplug" you...this time for good! ;)

    By the way, in case your Mac brain didn't get it, I'm not talking about the router. I'm talking about what ever machines they have you hooked up to keeping you alive and prolonging my misery.

    Just kidding...or am I?

    Love Ya!!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I love my laptop and I love being able to go sit on the patio with the laptop.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Kirk, dahrlin', I hope you have a lot of patience, 'cause I plan to be around, sans machines, until I'm 100!!

    Love ya back!!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Daisy - I hear that! Just kick back and read the email!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I love being wireless in the house, and at work!

    Now I just need someone to figure out why my desktop sounds like it's about to achieve liftoff.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Sassy - There is a peculiar freedom about wireless, isn't there? And the desktop noise??? I think I'd want a remote control to turn it on ... just in case!!

    ReplyDelete

If you have something to say about it, just stick out your thumb, and I'll slow down so you can hop aboard! But hang on, 'cause I'm movin' on down the road!!! No time to waste!!!