Tech is great when it works....

So a week, maybe 10 days ago there was a big thunderstorm went rolling through my neighbourhood.  Since I have a line-of-sight Internet tower (which is essentially a big lightening rod), and a steel roof, Ian was sent upstairs to unplug the internet cables to prevent any possible electrical surges from destroying anything.

The computer wasn't destroyed, nor was the UPS.  Not even the printer.  But the transmitter on my wireless router was damaged.  We're still not entirely sure how it happened as it should have been unplugged but after that storm, it was no longer transmitting. 

So we had to get a new router.  No big deal right?  You go to any one of a handful of shops and get a new one.  No problem.  I left this in Chuck's very capable hands and true to form, he got a new router.  An all singing, all dancing, all the bells and whistles, router.  This one broadcasts on two wavelengths - one for regular surfing and one for video streaming or for tasks which require greater bandwidth.  It's a DLink and the past several routers I've had have been made by LinkSys.

And herein lies the problem.

I know how the LinkSys router works.  I can configure it quickly and easily as I know where to click and where different information is entered in the administration of the router.  I'm reasonably adept at setting this kind of thing up, and I'm sure DLink is going to be a wonderful piece of equipment, but damned if I could make it work.  After a screaming fit at an inanimate object (not one of my finer moments), Chuck very kindly stepped in, took over, and had it up and running in an evening.  By that time I had gone to bed, exhausted and spent after raging at a piece of plastic.

In the meantime, I'm writing from work, paying the bills through my phone and using that energy of rage and frustration against the Colorado potato beetles in my garden.  They had no idea what hit them - just a wave of fury destroying beetles, and eggs in the potato plants. 

Chuck tells me it's all up and running again now.  I don't know whether to be thrilled or irked.  It's symptomatic of my love/hate relationship with tech.  It's the most amazing thing in the world - when it works.