Wednesday, September 8, 2010

The Dreaded Willy-Nilly Non-Effective Rebooting Experience. And Questions and Answers.

Hurray!  I’m back online again! No more having to drive over to the church to check e-mail and post blog entries.  I am exceedingly happy to be back in business!

A couple of you had left suggestions about rebooting everything to get back online and you were exactly right with that advice.  However, I learned from our favorite computer guru that there is actually a certain order in which the rebooting has to be done.  Yesterday, I tried rebooting it all willy-nilly and got absolutely no results except for one continually, recalcitrantly, non-Internetted computer.

And so, in order to save you from the Dreaded Willy-Nilly Non-Effective Rebooting Experience, here are the step-by-step instructions in case you ever have need of them.  Thanks again, Wyatt, for once more pulling me out of the Computer Black Hole Of Abysmal Ignorance.  (Believe me, that hole is rather deep as evidenced the fact that he had to describe to me what the modem looked like!)

  • The small, square, black unit is the 'modem'  -- it requires a small, black, power cord, the telephone line from the wall outlet, and the yellow Ethernet cable.
  • The yellow cable then plugs into the WAN port on the back of the 'router'. This should leave 4 LAN ports open (next to each other labeled 1, 2, 3, 4).
  • Once all of the cables are connected properly, turn the power OFF to everything.
  • Now, start the process in sequence.
  • 1 - turn on the (black) modem only. When all of the lights are on steady, go to step 2
  • 2 - turn on the router. Allow the lights to come on before the next step.
  • 3 - after all lights are on, now turn on the computer and try to connect to the Internet.

And bingo!  I had wireless service again!

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I haven’t answered questions/comments for a few days, so I’ll do that today.

Recycling/Garage Cleaning Post

Lesley said, “Can you get your car in the garage now? Around here, everyone's garages are jam packed with stuff and no one can get their car in them.  PS.  I am enjoying the bicycle hanging from the ceiling!”

Lesley, I’m afraid that our garage is barely large enough to fit a vehicle into, even when it’s completely empty.  So although I wish it were large enough for our cars, I’m just thankful to have a garage at all because it makes for a great extra storage room.

And as for the bike hanging from the ceiling, that’s an “extra” bike that someone gave to us.  We keep it around for when we have friends or family come to visit. 

Anonymous said, “Where I live (Ithaca, NY) . . . you have to buy sheets of "trash stickers" at the grocery store and affix them to the bags you put out for collection. If you haven't got a tag, they won't pick it up. Also, if you try to cheat and put out more trash than the tag covers, they stick a big fat "REJECTED" sticker on it. There's nothing more abject than having your refuse refused!

I LOVE that line about “nothing more abject than having your refuse refused.”   Yes, I guess that’s about as bad as it gets—having your garbage rejected!

GS in Canada wrote, “Thanks for all your comments on my question, everyone. It has been really interesting for me to compare the differences and it seems like while most people have the option of recycling, it is not always mandatory in most districts. That is a bit of a surprise to me, but I would have to assume that things are headed in that direction.

Someone mentioned the resistance that these recycling programs create where they introduced and required. I totally agree. I was not an easy convert, but I could never go back. Even when I travel, I have a hard time not separating garbage!”

 

GS, thanks for summing up the whole recycling issue so well and thanks to ALL of you shared your recycling experiences from whatever state or country you live in.  I was amazed at how different things are from place to place, town to town, and state to state.   It’s quite encouraging to hear how many places really are taking the whole recycling thing a lot more seriously.

Hurricane/Camera Post

Lesley said, “What a bummer about the camera! I know exactly how you feel. It's like this 'force' : A picture must be taken!! What is that? And why do some people feel it and some people don't?

Lesley, I so agree with what you said about feeling that “a picture must be taken.”  And it is so funny that some people have that feeling and other people don’t.   I think that in a perfect world, I would have a camera surgically attached to my right hand so I’d be ready every single moment of every day!

(Let me just mention that Lesley has a wonderful blog chronicling her journey with her 14-year old daughter, Sarah, who is a beautiful young lady with special needs.  So many times, cancer kids--like our Sarah--get all the attention and all the sympathy and all the articles written about them.  But there are so many other children—those with autism, cerebral palsy, etc., who deserve that spotlight every bit as much.  Stop by the blog and enjoy Lesley’s wonderful photography and her inspiring love for her daughter.)

Anonymous wrote, “Glad you are heading inland. Did you have to board up your windows or is that just people on the oceanfront that need to do that?

No, we didn’t board up our windows and didn’t really see anyone else in Manteo doing it, either.  It could be that people only board up windows when there’s a Cat 4 or 5 storm headed their way.  I’m sure that’s one of the things we’ll learn all about as we go along.

“The Gods Must Be Crazy” DVD

Lizz said, “I remember that movie! It was always on TV while I was growing up! My brothers & I watched it so many times! Did Sarah like it?”

Yes, Sarah loved it.  She had no idea what to expect since it’s pretty hard to describe that movie to anyone.  But she was quite entranced by it, and laughed rather uproariously.

“The Aroma of Yesterday” Post

Becky from the UK said, “If you love historic buildings, you really should come to the UK at some point - where I live in what we call 'the Midlands', there are settlements dating back to the bronze age - the town I live in is one such area, and we have a church from the 13th century, a market house from the 16th century and residential houses ranging from pre-Victorian to modern new builds “

Becky, I am so jealous!   I would love to see buildings from the 13th and 16th centuries. Sarah has been saying she would love to go to England for her graduation from High School celebration; it is truly one of our dreams to travel to your wonderful country.

 

Happiness Post

Stacy asked, How do you and Steve stay happy together? Have any tips or advice? Thanks.

Stacy, that’s a complicated (but good) question.  In fact, I’m not even going to answer it right now because I want to give it a bit more thought.  More on that in a day or two . . .

Alrighty then!  That’s about it.  If you’re still reading, thanks for hanging in there.  I’ll “reward” you with a couple Snowy/Sarah pictures I found in my my archives yesterday.  They make me smile!

 

Sarah and dog DSC07190 IMG_0006 IMG_0137 P1010009 P1010034 P1010120 

 

5 Had Something To Say (Just click here!):

Anonymous said...

I shall bookmark this post, as I am planning on going wireless here in the near future! Thank you and thank Wyatt... bet this will come in handy! And thank you for the lovely Sarah/Snowy montage... it DID make me smile!

Love Being A Nonny said...

Thanks for this post about rebooting. I hope I never need it, but if I do, I will have it.

Love all the pictures of Sarah!

MaryH said...

Glad you are back in business. I love all the photos of Sarah and Snowy and also enjoy your answers to our questions. The rebooting info is very valuable - thanks Wyatt and Thanks Becky for sharing. I wish I was one that felt comfortable with a camera but I don't. My daughter (the one with a degree in photography) of course has many to choose from and uses them often. She has a great Flickr page of her photos.

Anonymous said...

That is actually a little different order than I have to do. But we have Comcast cable. They have a recording that guides me through the steps. I think I have it memorized by now. I wonder why it is a different order? Our computer has to come back on first in your sequence. Interesting!

Glad you are back online! It is hard to suddenly not be connected to the internet "world". I also have the attachment to my camera. I use my cellphone camera in a pinch as it is always on me.
Jill-FL

Lizz said...

Did you know there is a Gods Must Be Crazy 2? It is not as good as the first one but it is a funny movie too!