This one is for you Ben…<\/p>\n
Readers may have noticed a lack of posts over the past several days.\u00a0 This is because I\u2019m currently in NW Arkansas, visiting my mom, a trip I make every year around this time.<\/p>\n
So I\u2019m down here, installing DSL for my mother\u2026<\/p>\n
Mom (who is now in her 80\u2019s) is not afraid of computers.\u00a0 She and my dad were quite eager to learn about them and how to work with them.\u00a0 They purchased their first computer sometime in the 1980\u2019s, an Apple IIE (at least that\u2019s what I think the model was \u2013 I\u2019m a Windows guy).\u00a0 When they first started using computers, I was living and working in Saudi Arabia.\u00a0 I\u2019d come home once or twice per year on business or vacation and always spent several days with them.\u00a0 Answering their computer questions was always high on the list of \u2018things to do\u2019.<\/p>\n
My professional career was spent entirely in the computer industry, mainly in software and working mostly with mainframes and minis (PCs didn\u2019t come along until later on in my career).\u00a0 I remember in particular one computer question my parents asked me; \u201chow do you copy a file?\u201d\u00a0 I\u2019m ashamed to admit that it took me the better part of an hour before I could figure it out (and I had to consult a manual).\u00a0 Apple\u2019s\u00a0did not operate in the same way as IBM PC’s did\u00a0and I remember thinking that my parents must wonder how I make any money in this field\u00a0when I can\u2019t even do something simple like copying a file without needing a manual.\u00a0 To them, a computer was a computer\u2026\u00a0 It\u2019s a good thing that the bank I worked at in Saudi Arabia was forward-thinking enough to use PCs early on or I would have had even more trouble copying that damn file.<\/p>\n
After my dad retired, my parents moved to Arkansas \u2013 this was in 1989.\u00a0 They brought their computers with them and I soon persuaded them to join the online revolution.\u00a0 1989 was long before DSL, cable-modems or other high-speed access options to the Internet, so they signed up with the local provider (Arkansas.net) for dial-up service and have been using it ever since.\u00a0 A couple of years ago, NW Arkansas finally moved into the 21st century and DSL became available in the area.\u00a0 However, my mom didn\u2019t want to change to it; she didn\u2019t see what faster service would do for her (and, since her only online experience up to this time is email, I can see her point).\u00a0 However, I visit her every year and spend several days there.\u00a0 My sister and her husband do the same as does my oldest daughter and her husband.\u00a0 All of us would LOVE to have hi-speed Internet access while we\u2019re visiting her.\u00a0 It took a year, but we finally convinced her to make the switch.\u00a0 I received an email from her a few weeks ago saying that she had ordered hi-speed DSL from AT&T and was waiting for my yearly visit so that I could install it for her.<\/p>\n
I lived and worked in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for about 8 years.\u00a0 My first employer in the Kingdom was The Saudi Investment Bank (formerly The Saudi Investment Banking Corporation) and, during my tenure there, they purchased the second PC that IBM ever sold in the Kingdom.\u00a0 For those of you who may remember such things, it was an IBM PC-AT.\u00a0 It was housed in two PC-cases, with the cases connected by a large, thick cable.\u00a0 We purchased the AT so that we could get a full 10 MB of storage (woo-hoo) and the first application we wrote on it was Payroll.\u00a0 Back in those days, employees of most companies in the Kingdom were paid in cash.\u00a0 Payday was always fun; we\u2019d line up in the Treasury department, waiting our turn.\u00a0 When we got to the front of the line, the clerk would look up our name, place a tick-mark next to it, and then retrieve our pay envelope from a box full of envelopes stuffed with cash.\u00a0 In the envelopes would be our monthly pay, all in Saudi Riyals and all in cash.\u00a0 Then 99.9% of us would walk downstairs to the Tellers and have them either deposit the money in our account or else wire transfer it back home.\u00a0 My boss, the Operations Manager, thought that this was an odd way to do things; he\u2019d have to have a clerk spend a man-day or two counting out our pay and putting it into envelopes and then we\u2019d all waste productive time standing in line waiting to get our pay, and then the banking tellers would have to re-deposit our money in our accounts (and\/or wire it somewhere).\u00a0 So a home-grown Payroll system, written in dBASE II, was the first PC application I ever worked with.<\/p>\n
After I moved back to the States, I started my own software company and, in the course of things, acquired several PCs of various makes and models.\u00a0 My parents had moved to Arkansas by then and so on one of our family visits down there, I took a couple of my older, Windows-based PCs along and gave them to\u00a0them.\u00a0 I schooled them in the ways of Windows (I think we were running Windows 95 then) and got them to use email via the dialup connection.<\/p>\n
And their old Apple?\u00a0 If you visit the Southern Illinois University Computer Museum, you\u2019ll see it on display along with a small placard saying, \u201cDonated by Carl and Lois Semon\u201d\u2026<\/p>\n
At home, I have a cable modem and absolutely love it.\u00a0 The service is fast, reliable and relatively inexpensive.\u00a0 My sole experience with DSL up until this trip was at the offices of CASA of DuPage County, Inc., a child-welfare organization that I am\u00a0associated with.\u00a0 CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) works with neglected and abused children who have come to the attention of the state’s child-welfare system.\u00a0\u00a0When a case enters the system, a CASA Advocate is assigned and stays with the case until it leaves the system (the child either ages out or is adopted).\u00a0 As Advocates, we spend time with the child, ensure that their living situation and services are satisfactory and report to the courts on the child’s status.\u00a0 We attend court hearings, DCFS meetings, etc.\u00a0 We’re different from the typical case-workers in that we are usually assigned only one child at a time and we stay with that child \/ case until it is dismissed.\u00a0 Often times, we are the only ones who really get to\u00a0know the child.\u00a0 If a child is in the system for any length of time, their placement will change, their attorneys and GAL and Case workers will change, the judge will change, etc.\u00a0 CASA’s are the only ones who stay with the child during their entire experience in the system.\u00a0 We\u00a0Advocates go through rigorous training, have to be certified and sworn in by the courts, and are required to attend ongoing training.\u00a0 CASA is a national organization and is county-based; each local CASA \u2018chapter\u2019 serves the needs of one particular county.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been an Advocate for over six years now and take great pride in what they do and what I do with them.\u00a0 In addition to being an Advocate for the local CASA office, I also donate my time to maintain their network of 8 computers, various printers, a scanner, etc., etc., etc.\u00a0 Some years ago, I upgraded them to DSL to replace the dial-up service they had been using.\u00a0 It was a pretty painless experience and has been working fairly well for us.\u00a0 Earlier this year, in an effort to save some money, I had AT&T move our data service onto our fax line, thus saving us the cost of a telephone line.\u00a0 This experience was just awful; it took 5 days to get this up and working and required a visit by one of their technicians to come out to our building to fix some issues they had with their telephone cable.\u00a0 Our AT&T rep was no help; as soon as she heard there were problems, she scurried for cover, not to be heard from again.<\/p>\n
Since this experience was still relatively fresh in my mind, I was a little bit leery about installing the DSL service for my mother.\u00a0 But hey, it\u2019s just DSL, right?\u00a0 The product has been out for a long time, the technology is well known and stable, and it\u2019s from AT&T.\u00a0 What could possibly go wrong?<\/p>\n
Actually, plenty…\u00a0 I arrived at my mom\u2019s Tuesday night.\u00a0 I tackled the project first thing Wednesday morning because if things went badly, I wanted plenty of time to be able to fix them.\u00a0 And this is MY MOTHER \u2013 I want to make sure it\u2019s working and working well before I leave because I\u2019m the one who badgered her into upgrading to this service in the first place\u2026<\/p>\n
When I arrived, the DSL kit was waiting for me.\u00a0 My mom had already been billed for it on her latest AT&T bill.\u00a0 In the kit is the installation CD, one of the better ones I\u2019ve seen.\u00a0 They really try to make it as simple and as easy-to-understand as possible.\u00a0 Their audience is generally non-technical, just the ordinary family that wants a better Internet experience.\u00a0 Each step is meticulously described and is illustrated to ensure that the instructions are as easy to follow as possible.\u00a0 So, first step, install the DSL filters on all of your household devices plugged into the phone lines.\u00a0 The kit contained four DSL filters but wait, there\u2019s no filter included for a wall-mount phone – why?\u00a0 They used to be part of the kit, but now all you get is a little piece of paper which says that if you call a certain telephone number, they will ship you one.\u00a0 Joy.\u00a0 The phone in the kitchen (which is the one used by my mom 95% of the time) is a wall mount.\u00a0 Yes, AT&T will ship one to her in the next 2-3 days and it will arrive in a week or so.\u00a0 However, I\u2019ll be gone by then.\u00a0 OK, I\u2019m sure we can buy one locally, let\u2019s move on (minus the phone in the kitchen which I\u2019ve now disconnected).\u00a0 Everything (else) gets hooked up and, joy, the DSL light starts flashing on the modem.\u00a0 However, we get repeated error messages in the registration process.\u00a0 Expecting incompetence and frustration, I dial the AT&T support line.\u00a0 Surprise \u2013 the lady I talked to knew what she was doing, gave me a couple of URLs to use to finish the registration process and, Hurrah \u2013 we have high-speed Internet access!<\/p>\n
And, hey, we can get the DSL filter for the wall-mount phone at one of the local hardware or computer stores\u00a0tomorrow, so all is cool, right?\u00a0 Silly me…<\/p>\n
After dinner (and watching the Cubs lose \u2013 I\u2019m a White Sox fan but my mom is a HUGE Cubs fan), I add her new AT&T email address (which I had to set up as part of the registration process) to Microsoft Outlook, the email client she uses.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t work \u2013 won\u2019t send or receive email.\u00a0 Is it me or is it Outlook?\u00a0 I go onto the AT&T webmail tool and that doesn\u2019t recognize her email address either.\u00a0 It\u2019s past 10:00pm now, so the AT&T help line is closed.\u00a0 However, there is an AT&T support-chat tool available.\u00a0 So, I sign on and, after waiting for several minutes, get connected with \u201cLisa\u201d.\u00a0 I tell her my problem \u2013 she looks up my mom\u2019s account and says that she has no record of it having DSL.\u00a0 This in spite of me using it to chat with her AND my mom already being billed for it!\u00a0 She tells me that to resolve this problem, I have to call AT&T Billing tomorrow morning (they’re closed now, too).\u00a0 Billing?\u00a0 I\u2019m sure they\u2019ll be a big help.<\/p>\n
The next morning my mom goes bowling in her Wednesday morning league.\u00a0 I give her the slip of paper which AT&T included in the installation kit and that has a picture of a wall-mount DSL filter (the one with the \u2018helpful\u2019 phone number on it).\u00a0 She\u2019s driving right by a Radio Shack on her way home, so I tell her to stop in, give the salesperson the piece of paper and have him\/her sell her one of \u2018those\u2019.\u00a0 Great idea, but Radio Shack is out of them, sigh.\u00a0 In the meantime, while she\u2019s gone, I\u2019m steeling myself to call AT&T Billing to get my email problem sorted out.\u00a0 However, I\u2019m bright enough to call AT&T support instead and, surprise, yet another competent person takes my call.\u00a0 After a brief explanation of the issue on my part, she directs me to yet another URL and has me re-register my mom\u2019s new email address.\u00a0 She also asks me which email client I\u2019m using and then verifies with me that I\u2019m using the right parameters (server names, ports, etc.).\u00a0 And it all works!<\/p>\n
So, outside of not being able to use her kitchen phone, all is good.\u00a0 Lowes is out of wall-mount DSL filters, too, but the \u2018local\u2019 Best Buy (25 miles away) has two left in stock.\u00a0 I have them hold one for me and we drive over and get it.\u00a0 We drive home and I install it and Hurrah \u2013 my mom\u2019s Internet setup has officially entered the 21st century!<\/p>\n
I\u2019m sure glad I was here to do this, I think my mom (or most anyone who didn\u2019t have a computer-tech background) would have had great problems with this, culminating in a $150 service call to put things right.<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s how I\u2019ve been spending part of this week.\u00a0 Barring any late-breaking, significant news, I\u2019ll be back to blogging about Space Elevator stuff next week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This one is for you Ben… Readers may have noticed a lack of posts over the past several days.\u00a0 This is because I\u2019m currently in NW Arkansas, visiting my mom, a trip I make every year around this time. So I\u2019m down here, installing DSL for my mother\u2026 Mom (who is now in her 80\u2019s) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-weekend-walkabout"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spaceelevatorblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spaceelevatorblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spaceelevatorblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spaceelevatorblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spaceelevatorblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1079"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.spaceelevatorblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1079\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1977,"href":"https:\/\/www.spaceelevatorblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1079\/revisions\/1977"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spaceelevatorblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spaceelevatorblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spaceelevatorblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}