Hi All!

So we finally got our service back, thanks to a tech with a working brain who 1.) came to the correct address* and 2.) did what our mom needed to have done, despite the "order" he was working from**. Not only did it take Mom a million years to catch up on stuff, we had no idea how much we depend on the interwebs, too! We can finally start visiting again*** without having to try to type on Mom's tiny cell phone.

In the meantime, I saw what I think is a Swallowtail butterfly in our tree yesterday! Even though I couldn't tell what kind she was, she sure was fun to watch.

That on top of seeing my tortie girlfriend earlier really made my day!

* * * * * * *

Connectivity saga in a very large nutshell, condensed by our mom (boring stuff ahead, friends!):
*Placed an order for an internet upgrade. Provider cancelled that without warning and whimsically redid the order as a move. Phone and internet service was terminated almost on contact per that "order." Techs were sent to three separate and strange addresses three different times and then kept rescheduling because they found I didn't came to the door.
**Smart tech who finally came to the right address reinstated service despite provider still showing yet another upgrade (unauthorized at that point, since they had upped the prices in the meantime and I refused to agree).
***Used the wifi in the parking lot of the closest library so I could address some work issues but little else (I still do consulting). Anyone on the earth could have seen what I was doing (except for the old men with their tablets who seemed otherwise occupied), since I was caught flatfooted with the interruption vis-a-vis having a VPN set up. All this and in excess of explaining from the beginning over 25 times in phone calls and chat sessions to this provider trying to straighten it out and never getting a direct answer or the truth once. Yes, this kind of crap is the exact reason why I don't own a gun.

In doing some background to report this to our attorney general, I learned that this provider has expanded well beyond the mountain states and is now in 39 of them. Some of you may even use their service for landlines or broadband. If so, you have my sympathies if you ever need something from them. It is only due to the smart tech who showed up that I'm not a new customer with Xfinity right now.