Aimee’s Dahlia Flower

Isn’t this a beautiful flower? Isn’t it a marvel of technology that I am able to share it with you, no matter where you are in the world? This beautiful miracle though almost didn’t come to pass. Our eight year old AT&T DSL modem up and died last night. I first slogged through AT&T’s automated help process. The computer’s voice on the other end would ask multiple choice questions. Its voice recognition software was pretty good, but occasionally I had to repeat myself. Once it sent be back to the beginning of our ‘conversation’. All the while it was running tests. Eventually, the one test that really mattered, is it working, failed. The machine gave up and I was kicked over to a human, I mean tech support. 

The tech support guy, Mike, was immediately rather nonplussed about the age of my DSL modem. The timber of his voice and some of his speech mannerisms led me to believe that he was young. Eight years ago, when George W. Bush was running for his second term, maybe Mike was still in college? Maybe he was even still in high school? His final diagnosis was that my modem was kaput.

This led me to run out in a pouring rainstorm, the same one that delayed the Cardinals vs. Giants playoff game. I did get wet, but at least I didn’t miss any of the ball game. The Red Birds won and went up 2-1 in the series. I picked up a new modem at the local AT&T store and a Whole Food supper at their take-out bar, a bit of a treat for us.

Returning home, I found the easy to follow instructions and successfully installed the new modem. I had everything up and working again before AT&T placed their callback, to help me do what I had just done. We are all back up and running again and I am only out the price of a new modem, plus the outrageous 10% Brentwood sales tax. Still, it is a beautiful flower and it is a marvel that I am able to share it with you. Will miracles never cease?