Saturday, August 29, 2009

SOS

Plugging in...

So there the Tutor was, paddling her kayak up the Danvers river, not another boat on the ocean, this quiet weekday. The Tutor frequently paddles solo and always brings a cell phone tucked into a dry bag strapped to the deck of her kayak, SEA-battical, for safety purposes, certainly not to work!

There's always a first time for everything, and didn't the cell phone begin ringing as the Tutor paddled lazily by Sandy Beach, heading for the Danversport Yacht club. The Tutor's cell phone isn't prone to ringing, as many other cell phones are, because it is mainly used to call OUT, so hearing it ring was a surprise, and it was so entirely out of context on the ocean to hear a phone ringing, that the Tutor ignored it. Until it stopped, then started ringing again. Someone really wanted to reach the Tutor.

So, securing the paddle, unclipping the dry bag from the stainless steel caribiner and extracting the phone, the Tutor answered it. And it was a client, looking for assistance in getting their Comcast modem back on track. When I described where I was, the client quickly suggested we talk another time, preferably land-locked but the Tutor had already secured the paddle, could talk with one hand on the phone and used the other hand to gently paddle away from any obstructions. Did you know you that a kayak could be paddled only with hands - slow but true.

The client had been away for two weeks, had unplugged ALL electronics before leaving (a great idea to not only save electricity, but to prevent a summer thunderstorm and subsequent power outage from potentially damaging the modem and the attached computer). Only one problem... the client wasn't entirely familiar with how the modem, wireless router and computer all worked together in that jumbled mess of wires under the desk. The wireless router was inadvertently left unplugged, leaving the client puzzled as to what happened to the internet connection.

Hum the following to the tune of Dry Bones (the knee bone's connected to the thigh bone...):

The cable's connected to the modem
The modem's connected to the router
The router's connected to the computer
Oh hear the word of the TUTOR!

ALWAYS REMEMBER: before calling for help - is it plugged in, and is it turned on?

Unplugged

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