Connection issues

I have three days off in a row. Wonderful news, right?

WRONG!

*First:* My car broke down over the weekend, and the cost of repair is
more than the car is worth.

So, I spent Monday visiting used car lots looking for a suitable
replacement. My ironclad policy is that I never buy new cars. Ever. New
cars are a sucker’s bet. The car that broke down was purchased used at
less than 100,000 miles (I can’t recall the exact mileage) and when it
gave up the ghost, it had nearly 250,000 miles. That’s more than 100,000
miles of usage — more than most people get out of a new car before it
is sold. Including the original cost and original repair, I spent far
less on it that I would have spent on a new car, including whatever
trade-in value I could have gotten for it.

I have my eye on a very nice 1991 Buick with slightly more than 100,000
miles and I plan to get another two or three winters out of it. I’ll
have enough for a downpayment and license and title on Friday.

*Second:* I spent whatever remaining free time trying to get a computer
– which I have networked to my main computer — to be able to send
passwords through a wireless connection so I and other family members
can access servers that required password authentication. SBC Yahoo
provides great technical support — as long as the problem can be solved
by deleting cookies, deleting files or changing security settings in
Internet Explorer. Anything else, it takes at least four phone calls.

I finally got it to work after an hour on the phone with a Level 2
technician. It took that long to convince the guy that the problem was
with the actual wireless connection, not a problem with drivers or IE.
All he did was change my encryption setting and suddenly, I can connect
to any mail and news server and access Web mail.

So what happened next? I walk past the PC in question at about 10 p.m.
and there’s a scary-looking message — black letters on white background
– saying that the computer doesn’t have enough resources to perform an
unspecified function. I close the message and the computer restarts.

It turns out that I suddenly have lost all of my drivers. I try to use
plug and play to get the drivers back, but I keep getting a message to
reinsert my Windows 98 SE disc, but guess what? The CD-ROM drive doesn’t
work because it doesn’t have a driver!

After much tinkering, I get that to work and I’d say about half the
other drivers still don’t work. One of then is the new driver for the
USB wireless adapter that I spent an hour getting installed over the
phone today. The mouse also doesn’t work.

I gave up at midnight. I may have to reload Windows 98 tomorrow. It’s
not like I have anything else to do, /because I can’t go anywhere
without my car!/

*Third:* I went to the main computer and access my mail and this site,
only to discover that my remote host has been down and it stayed down
for more than an hour.

So that’s why millions of my loyal readers — perhaps it’s a dozen and a
half — haven’t been able to access Peoria Pundit.

And that’s why I’m too stressed to sleep on /my friggin’ day off./