The Virtual Newsroom is Open Again!

By Nicholas Stix

We lost Internet service and our landline for about 36 hours. (Oddly enough, the tv was coming and going).

thursday night, I dealt with charming, young, White, customer service ladies in florida and colorado, with beautiful voices (especially the yong florida gal), who were obviously ordered to say, "There's no outages in your area." By the third time, last night, with a gal in Ohio, I shouted, "Don't tell me there's no outages in your area!" But she was diligent, and confirmed that I needed a guy to come here and do "a hard reset."

The appointment was for between 10 and 11 a.m., and the intercom rang at 10 on the dot. He was a 6'6" Guyanese fellow, who spoke in a--as I later told him--non-descript accent. He got the job done quickly and left. No handshake, but instead a "sanitary" fist bump. He's the eldest of 14 kids, all of whom are here, turning 46 next week, and has two grown kids, a boy of 21, and a 15-year-old girl.

new york is an expensive place to raise a family.

He went and fetched a new modem from his truck, replaced the old one, and got someone in tech support to send an electronic "packet" to the wire. Voila! We were back in business.

These modems used to hold up for several years. Now they die on us on about an annual basis. Yet more red chinese crap.

The Boss, who had gone into hiding with my Chief of Research, said he must have warmed up because I told him she's a trini. (The Boss and my Chief of Research are very shy, when it comes to dealing with strangers.)