Journal - Why conservation doesn’t work
The day started out like any other, if anything there was a very nice sunrise and the light looked wonderful over the clouds:
The clouds this morning – click for viewing full screen
I was planning to take the cable modem back to the store because it gave up the ghost the other day leaving me with very limited Internet. I kept plugging and unplugging the power cord but to no avail and the cable modem sat there blinking its light at me a few times but doing nothing else. It kind of reminded me of the monolith from “2001: A Space Odyssey” and I felt like some type of big ape poking around at it and looking for a bigger hammer.
It had given me some warning signals a few weeks ago when the fan turned on full blast and nothing seemed to be working. Restarting it by power cycling it fixed the issue, after I got over my fear of the, “Do not unplug this,” warning label.
This time when it broke, I talked to technical support about it and they suggested replacing it. Rather than wait for a few days until a technician could come out and service the modem I decided to help out the company and change it out myself. I figured it would be faster for me and cost the company less. I decided to ride my bike down to the store to get the new modem to save some gas. It was around ten miles round trip so I figured it would not be that hard if I went down when it was cooler.
The bike ride down was pretty nice. I got stopped by a street person who had slept in the forest by the bike path and he wanted to sell me a “silver” locket for $10.00. I didn’t have a ten so I gave him a twenty and he really liked that and quickly disappeared with the cash. The locket wasn’t silver but what the heck, I knew that.
The place to get a new modem didn’t open up until 10:00 am and I got there right after it opened. There were already almost a dozen or so people waiting. As time dragged on some people gave up and left, and one person exclaimed, “I’m going to go buy myself some rabbit ear antennas, I’m through with this.”
The monolith that gave up the ghost – click for viewing full screen
It seemed like about an hour by the time I was out of there for what took about 30 seconds for the person serving me to do once I got up to the counter. (Maybe it was faster but you know how time drags when your watching an inefficient process)
By the time I got out of there it was really getting hot, (people around here start to melt if it gets over 80 degrees Fahrenheit, please don’t laugh) and the ride back was less than pleasant.
I plugged the modem in and called the number they told me to call to get things setup. Nothing happened, not even a ring tone. Finally, after a minute I got a message telling me to call back again. After about an hour and six tries later a I got a technician on the line who kind of fixed things enough for me to get my main computer working.
He wouldn’t tell me how to change some of the settings because I, “wasn’t on the account.” I’m holding the freaking modem in my hand as well as documentation with its work order number, plus the last time I checked I’m at least partial owner of the house the modem is currently residing within. (The bank owns most of the house, I’m just the poor peon that pays the mortgage) Plus, I'm calling on a cell phone under the same account that his company bills to the address, which identifies my name and uses biometrics to make sure I'm the only one using it. Anyhow, I figured the conversation wasn't worth pursuing so I fixed the WIFI settings from my memory by myself but my Internet phone still didn’t work. So I had to call back the same number and luckily the automated process fixed the phone for me this time.
Thank goodness for automation - I'm getting to like the monotone messages, it is better than dead silence when you call.
I finally get all this done and my son needed to borrow/use the SUV to drive back down to basically near where I got the cable modem from, to buy a five dollar item that I could have picked up and brought back on my bike. So it ends up costing me $20.00 plus gas to try to conserve a bit of fuel.
Plus I’ve got to pay to fix the brake calipers and change the wheel bearings on the SUV tomorrow for $2200.
My theory is the more your try to conserve anything the worse it gets.
Wonderful sunset tonight and my new cable modem is working great – click for viewing full screen
Sorry about the rant. It is actually good natured and I’m not really very upset about anything in case anyone is worried. It is very nice that the Internet works as well as it does, and most of the time my experiences have been much better. I do wish sometimes we could find a way to have everything that we need without having to go through so many obstacles to get there.
Thanks for reading! I always value your support and comments. The pictures were taken by me with my Galaxy S9+.
Hi brother lightsplasher are you okay but I hope you are fine, I am waiting for the latest post from brother @lightsplasher.
Oh yes my brother wants to enjoy the new one from you. I have a nice phothography today I hope you like my photography.
Thanks brother, I will try to get busy and post something. I've been doing fine, relaxing recently and doing a lot of other things. I hope things are well with you too.
Yeah I understand brother @lightsplasher hopefully with brother is also good, oh yes my brother have new phothography hope you can enjoy it
Greet the spirit of brother
Yes the view of the cloud was very bright indeed my brother was glad to be able to enjoy the clouds that brothers photo and look so bright. But I think walking by bicycle is very good for fitness and health of your body sometimes in the morning I also often enjoy my trip by bicycle.
I have never seen a Monolit tool that handed a ghost might it look me very LOL 😁
But I believe your day is very nice thanks brother @lightsplasher have shared stories about your life today, hopefully your life far away will be better.
Thank you brother - a very funny comment on the ghost in the monolith machine. LOL.
I really enjoy riding my bike and used to commute to work on it almost every day. I still like to ride it a lot, but the roads and weather around here is not as friendly to bikes. It is very nice exercise and if I'm not riding my bike I at least like to walk the dog. The dog is getting so old now that he can't walk that far anymore though.
You are welcome brother,
I think the ghosts on the machine were indeed very LOL.
I also often ride a bike, but if the cold weather is also very good to maintain health, I also often jog with a bicycle.
Oh yes brother @lightsplasher I have two flowers in my new post I hope you like my flowers.
Photography is so remarkable,really a very good work my friend,@lightsplasher
Ha! Yes it does look like the 2001 monolith. That is one of my fave movies. It was ahead of its time in many ways and of course the brilliant framing by Kubrick is a lesson for any aspiring photographer! The man had an eye for symmetry.
In my opinion the take away from your ordeal is: one should try to conserve where you can, but not to the point of excessive worry. I cannot express it well, but the whole ying and yang of it...balance being key.
I really liked that movie and book too. Reading the book really helped me understand what was happing in the movie. Great stuff, I'm a big sci-fi fan.
Balance is really a key but tough for me to do. So many things are changing so rapidly it is tough to stay focused and balanced at times.
I like it a lot too. The book did help to clear up the movie somewhat. In fact I saw this elevator button while I was on vacation and had to take a pic. It reminded me of the HAL 9000 lol.
I just need to crop it in. LOL
Cool photo, nice job!
Haha! I really enjoyed the story, especially the conservation play on words and l ready for a nature post but, got a modem rant instead. Well, it was nature in a way, a good-natured rant.
Seems like the younger generation isn't as concerned with conserving because we are doing it for them. LOL I have been down that rabbit hole with the cable company and have used youtube to fix it.
I youtube almost everything nowadays
Thank you for the laugh this morning! Happy Monday! I am three days late and a tip short! I'm taking this home with me. Have a great week!
Thanks for your comment it made me laugh and smile! :)
Youtube is my go to place for video entertainment now too. It is so much better than the other alternatives. You still need a reasonable Internet connection to use it though.
Yes you feel really pathetic if your Modem is out of order or internet line line is dead. A lot of incident happened to you while fixing your modem. The end result is good that atleast you will fix the modem. so your part of the world 80 F is consider to be high temperature. In our region during summer days temperatures reach upto 120 F. Different region different problems.
I agree with your theory. In my 2 cents opinion the more you concious about any thing it becomes worse. Any way every people have different thinking approach. Pics are amazing as well as your post. keep sharing @lightsplasher
Thank you. I do like the fact that it does not get that hot around here. Sometimes we visit hotter areas and it is very difficult to go from a more moderate climate to a very hot one. I've lived other places with more extreme hot and cold weather too, but like this climate here better even though it is very rainy and cloudy a lot. When you live in hotter places I think you get more used to it and your body can handle the heat better.
Here I use LTE modem with a sim card @lightsplasher. I bought the postpaid SIM in a black market because I do not have any sufficient requirements to get it, it comes with a cellphone SIM card for calling and texting though. I have an outdoor MiMo antenna for it so I can get a better signal.
I am sorry for your fake silver locket purchase LOL, but I hope you helped the guy a lot, maybe he needs the money to buy food, God bless him and you.
I have thought about using LTE myself but it is a more costly alternative for the amount of data I typically use. If I were living in my camper it would be very tempting to do. I think I would need to figure out some other way to mint my proof of stake coins though.
Actually I'm pretty happy with the silver locket purchase. (I see there could perhaps actually be some silver plating on it upon close inspection) Maybe someday if I am really down and out I can trade it back for a meal, LOL.
Thank you, and God bless you too.
Maybe you are just a little tired today if you have to find your new modem, I am very happy when your new modem is working and I also like to see the last shot of you @lightsplasher.
That was a clever play on words if it was deliberate. I was thinking of a different kind of conservation when I saw your title, lol.
What can I say? Maybe it's the season. Here I am sitting in a government hospital that used to provide exceptionally good service and it's a thorough shadow of itself! It takes them roughly 2 and half hours to even locate your records not to talk of you seeing the doctor. A patient had to go search for her folder herself. Another passed out during the long wait. Really inefficient service!
Just now though a nurse in the hospital tells me the staff's not been paid since February and I begin to understand where it's all coming from. There's a new government in town - how sad!
I've resolved to avoid the place for a while and explore other alternatives. And of cos play my part in voting this government out in the coming elections!
Forgive me if I ended up deviating from the discussion, lol! You caught me at the 'wrong' time.
I did intend to explain a bit better about how the article relates to conservation but I started to ramble on in my usual form and it kind of turned into a rant. It was starting to spend excessive time on it so I took a short cut and just labeled it as a 'journal' entry and posted it. I do think it kind of makes a point about conservation in a roundabout way but admittedly could have been better written.
Health care is so fundamental, I really hope that things can get straightened out for you with better government support. Prices on medications and health insurance have been going up a lot around here so I think it could be a problem in many places.
Take care, and I'm frequently deviating from the discussion so no worries.
Thanks!
That's really sky colour,, it seem that place is suitable for taking vocation @lightsplasher