Yesterday morning, my modem died the ultimate death. Dead modems turn out to be dreadfully hard to diagnose, or at least, that’s what I conclude after spending two hours on the phone to tech support trying to determine why my Internet connection was unstable. Add another hour to run out and get a new one (be offline for three days while they mail me a replacement? I don’t think so!) and get it installed, and then discovering that the new one has its own problems (I foresee more tech support in the future), plus something weird with my email delivery that bunched up about ten urgent business emails and another couple of urgent family ones (four from the lawyer, one from the accountant, two from the security service on my Dad’s house…he left the phone off the hook again).
And let’s not even mention the phone calls. Oh, and the three-inch stack of mail Pop forwarded for me to take care of, only some of which has been dealt with as of this writing. Or the mess the cat made in the office. Or the two toilets that have started dripping (one of which adjoins the bedroom. Is there anything more irritating than that drip, drip, drip sound at three in the morning?)
Needless to say, I didn’t get much writing done.
Today, I am taking my laptop to the coffee shop, where the phone, at least, cannot find me (well, except for the security service, because they have my cell number), and where the irregularities of the Internet connection will not be so much of a problem. Isn’t the writing life glamorous and fun?
