Tech that

Hello viewers

Yesterday I had a long day. It was an okay day. At work I sat in front of my computer most of the day. That is pretty rare for me, usually I am running around the building. I spent the majority of yesterday working with a file for a mailing. I hope to be finished with it today so I can work on another large mailing.

While I am work, Wendy calls and says her dad received a new modem for DSL service her parents ordered. Wendy's parents updated their phone service, went to a satellite, and now have DSL. The only problem was that her dad was unable to get the Internet working properly. To calm her dad down and be a good daughter Wendy agrees to go visit her parents to see if she can get the modem working. Wendy is pretty good at figuring out those technical problems. Her dad was getting pretty frustrated at his inability to get on the Internet.

So after work we ride over to her parents' house. We stopped to see her nephew, Ryan, who turned one yesterday. Once we arrived at her parents' house we investigate why the modem does not work. Everything looks plugged in correctly and the lights are functioning. However, the Internet is not working. It does not seem to be communicating. We fiddle with the cords, we try to do a reinstall, but nothing. While Wendy and I are trying to figure out the modem, her parents are flipping through over 150 new channels.

After getting no connection, I decide to call for tech support. Her dad had tried to call tech support earlier, but did not get anywhere with them. I call the tech support number and am on hold for over ten minutes. I realize I am off to a bad start. Finally someone answers. It sounds like a nice young woman. I was surprised that she did not have foreign accent, like so many of the tech support operators. She walks me through a manual install of the modem. It takes a few visits to a website and we were riding the Information Superhighway. I have been on tech support calls for hours, instead of the ten minutes I was on there.

Wendy spends some time with her father tutoring him on the essentials. She sets him up a e-mail address, shows him how to visit websites, and how to save his favorite websites. I imagine she might get a phone call or two today from her father about something he wants to do online.

Lookout world, Wendy's parents are connected and watching.