The Shanester is indeed good to have around. We have been having problems lately with our fancy digital answering machine (if any of you have tried to leave us a message lately, you can concur), plus there were problems with almost every phone in the house. Indeed, we even threw one phone away because we were convinced it needed to be exorcised, and we couldn't help. [note to readers: important later!]
But despite all the drama, today, Shane solved the problem. The issue had to do with the DSL modem, which goes through the phone lines. You need some kind of filter on your phone line so static from the DSL doesn't interfere with your phone conversations. I've literally cursed, in a G-rated way, at every phone in this house in the last few months -- and now we know why.
Shane suspects that the filter (evidently you only need one, somewhere) was on a phone in our second bedroom, which we've been "remodeling" per se to prepare for the bebe in June. So a couple weeks ago, he unknowingly removed the phone, and filter, and consequently all telecomms heck broke loose.
Today, he figured it out, reinstalled a filter, and the heavens rejoiced. But, with the joy came a sad conclusion: we threw away a perfectly good phone! A perfectly good $15 cordless phone with caller ID and call waiting capabilities is now in a Snohomish County landfill somewhere. Dang it!
I am reminded of other times in my life where "$15 lessons" have haunted me. It seems every couple months I need a $15 lesson to teach me to be more careful or more thoughtful or, perhaps, more hesitant to throw stuff away. (I am usually so hesistant to throw stuff away! Why did I so easily toss that poor phone?)
Some additional illustrations:
July 2007
In July, I went to the doctor because I thought I was coming down with something. My throat was scratchy, and basically I begged for drugs. (I'm sure they're like, "great, another one, begging for drugs.") They drew my blood, said nothing was wrong with me, and informed me that it appeared I was having an allergic reaction and I should take a Benadryl and lay down. I was convinced they were wrong, although -- interestingly! -- the entire time I was in their office, I was having, and hiding (due to embarrassment), some swelling in my lip. I'm allergic to Gabby, and sometimes when she scratches me (dumb cat, stop scratching my face), my lip or face will swell, but it generally works itself out.
Ha. It didn't this time.
Even though I was AT THE DOCTOR'S OFFICE at 10 am this day (having paid my $15 copay), I found myself at the Emergency Room at 1 am when my entire face swelled up and I looked like a Planet of the Apes monkey woman. It was just awful, plus it was a nice $15 lesson (or $450 lesson, if you prefer to go that route).
The lesson here: if anything is going on, TELL THE DOCTOR. Or more generally, be mindful of where you are and act appropriately. When in Rome, do as the Romans do! When at the doctor's office, spill the medical beans! I guess I can smugly say that the E.R. doc finally gave me drugs.
March 2008
Me and Shanester recently invested in a Go-Phone, since our cell phone doesn't roam and our normal $35 bill is in the $100s whenever we go on vacation. When we got home from our vacation, we put $15 (maybe it was $25) on the phone, and it became Shane's "emergency cell phone." It felt great to have him have a phone... but I never ever EVER called it, because I didn't want to "waste the minutes." Well, wouldn't you know, the minutes expired after 90 days. $15 worth of minutes, poof, into thin air.
The lesson here is obviously #1, talk to your spouse and/or loved ones!, and #2, read the stupid contract more closely so you know you only have 90 days to use your minutes.
Odd how two of my three examples are about telephones?
I appears to me that every once in awhile we all need some kind of costly lesson to remind us to be more careful, more observant, more talkative, more detail-oriented, more whatever. It's a good thing the sun goes down each night and we can wake up the next day and do our best to make it a better day than the one before. Thank heaven for tomorrows.
Even though I usually wake up $15 poorer. Oh well.
6 comments:
URGH! I just lost my cell phone. I think that Aaron threw it somewhere when we were putting some baby clothes in storage! Phones really can be annoying, but your blog is so funny and I hope that you take a picture of the baby room. I would totally love to see it!
That's interesting about the filter and your cordless phone. I'll have to mention this to my mom because it seems like she is having the same problems. She is constantly going though phones trying to find one that doesn't get static and interference and I bet it never occurred to her that it was her DSL filter that you truly causing the problems. Thanks for the incite!
We are in the process of rewiring the phone and computer jacks here. Since we now have DSL service, those filters are an issue with the new wiring scheme.
I have a couple of newfangled phones that have an internal "intercom" feature which will allow communication between the house and garage, without any additional wiring. The problem is that the intercom functions on the same frequency as the DSL, and if you install a filter at each phone, the intercom won't work.
But, since I'm rewiring anyways, I came up with a plan to solve the dilemma: Instead of installing a separate filter at each phone, I am wiring the whole house through one filter, with the DSL modem being connected ahead of it. This way, one can plug in any phone at any jack, and not worry about whether a filter is present or not. AND, the intercom feature should work fine out to the garage.
I'm about ½-way done with this project, so I'll let you know how it works once we're finished.
As for those $15 mistakes, that is what life is all about -- learning from your mishaps. At least your mistakes have not been too costly. I've had some much larger ones over the years, some which cost only a few hundred, and others that ran into the thousands.
Be thankful yours have been cheap!
You crack me up. I love your stories.
My mistakes are usually $50 mistakes (or more)!
Ahhh a fool and her money are soon parted. I hate any kind of mistakes, no matter how much they cost! And they always seem to cost something!
And Daddio, you're the tech man. Move to Seattle so I can take advantage!
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