A Picture Is Worth

Rusty:  Well, yesterday we were going to write a proper post for today, but life happened and now Jan is hopping mad!

Marcus:  Hopping mad?  I haven't seen her hopping.  Creaking and groaning in this too-cold weather, yes, but not hopping.

Sam:  That's just an expression, Marcus.  It means Jan is very upset about something.  She's not actually jumping up and down, red-faced and shouting swear words.

Marcus:  She's not hopping mad because I ripped a hole in the brand new mattress for my crate and pulled out the stuffing while she was gone yesterday, is she? 

Cameron:  Let's just say you are lucky she has something else to concentrate on.  She is very unhappy with you.

Marcus:  So what is she hopping mad about?

Percy:  After she started the computer and downloaded email yesterday, she left the room, came back and our DSL modem was dead.  She did everything to revive it but it had lilies growing out of its chest.  It was that dead!

Marcus:  Why would she be hopping because the modem died.  It wasn't faking, was it?  I mean, when it's your time, it's your time, whether you're a lamp or a modem.

Micah:  Jan knows things die all the time.  Usually when you need them the most, but she's not hopping mad because it died.

Merci:  Ordinarily she would have to order a new modem and wait for it to arrive so we could get back online, but, fortunately, she had a reconditioned backup available.  This one didn't have a software CD with it, so Jan was relieved she wouldn't have to install our Internet Service Provider's (ISP which shall remain nameless for the moment) software like she did in 2005.  It caused her a bunch of problems and she uninstalled it many years ago.

Marcus:  I still don't see what the problem is.  It sounds like everything worked out well.

Buddy:  Jan started to install the modem and decided to call tech support to walk her through it since she didn't have any instructions.  She reached a nice lady who told her that although our ISP  COULD set us up without their software, they won't unless the software won't install.  So Jan was forced to download their software from the internet.

Marcus:  I still don't see the problem.

Cyndi:  It opened IE.  Jan never uses IE, only Firefox and then not only did the software not install, it sent the computer into toxic shock and it went black, gray, had flashing icons in the tray, opened Firefox and Thunderbird, tried to get Jan to take her av bar off IE, etc., etc., etc.

Marcus:  So what happened then?

Percy:  The lady said, "It's locked up your computer.  You're going to have to do a hard shutdown."  (Translation - crash!)   There were problems getting it back up again since it didn't shut down properly.

Buddy:  And after it was up, the lady cheerfully said, "This has never happened before."  Really?  So why do they only do set up from their end when the software won't install?  You guessed it.  She finished the setup (without the software) while Jan checked to be sure the ISP's software was NOT installed on the computer.

Rusty:  Jan is hopping mad because she went through their software problems in 2005 with a different computer.  How up to date is their technology and why do they try to force their software onto customers' computers when it isn't necessary and can wreak such havoc?

Buddy:  Jan won't let us repeat what she said she'd like to do to our ISP for this needless terrifying experience.  But she did say a picture is worth a thousand words.

Note:  Earl and his human mom were featured in Dog's Monthly magazine in May and thus are 1 of 12 entries in the Best Friend contest regarding their special bond and story.  We all know how strong the bond is between a dog and his human.  If you would, please stop by and read his short post and vote for Earl and his human.  All it takes is a one-time short email.  The information is there.  The prize is a 6 month supply of dog food, which he will donate to a dog rescue.  His blog is Earl's World.  (He doesn't know we are adding this to our post, but we think it would be wonderful if he won.)