Hooking up

Maybe a couple of years ago, my Internet connection went to hell and I spent about four hours of a Saturday morning with Comcast getting it restored. Since I have their so-called “Triple Play” package, it was kind of necessary.

Somehow in the course of that marathon session, the Comcast support person bypassed my router and dumped wi-fi on the cable modem. I did not notice this until I was trying to hook up Cedric, the Roomba, to the network; it requires 2.4Ghz, and it seems I only have 5Ghz. This means that Cedric just rambles aimlessly around my house until either I guide him back to his docking station or he runs out of juice.

Some time last year, I ordered and assembled an adjustable standing desk to work on, because, frankly, it’s really bad for me to be doing all this work in an Ikea chair. I got it, the docking pod, the external keyboard, the mouse and the monitor all sorted. Then I discovered that that one spot in my house is a black hole in my wireless network.

Poop.

Well, in order to re-establish my router, I had to buy an ethernet cable, plus an adapter to my laptop. I got those about three months ago and they sat in my office like the refugees in Casablanca, just…waiting. Finally, this weekend, I consulted Google, unwrapped the cable and adapter and blow me if I didn’t connect the router.

And double blow me—that fixed the black hole.

Yesterday was the first day since 12 March 2020 that I worked at a desk, with a mouse and monitor and keyboard.

Now I need to sort the 2.4Ghz thing, because Cedric has become quite the slacker.