Great Day, but D'oh!

In any job, in any company, there's always a lot of hoo-haa about 'the customer's experience', which is really an illusion. We cannot truly know someone else's perspective, even if we 'walk a mile' in their moccasins. But once in a while we are given a glimpse, and last night was that moment.

I woke up about 3am Friday morning, my shoulder aching with just a little bit in pain. I've had nearly a year of chiropractic work on it, but the adhesions are still there, and it still gives me issues. So a 2am wake-up call isn't that unusual. I wandered around for a bit, weighed, went to the bathroom, weighed again, had a glass of water, weighed again. I'm almost always about 155, give or take. I don't know why, but I find that give & take fascinating.

Then, to lull my mind into a daze so I could go back to sleep, I sat down at the computer. It only took a few keystrokes and a couple of swear words to realize that my Internet is down. I *JUST* had them out here on *Wednesday* to fix the cable TV, and now the Internet is broken????? NOT a happy camper, but it *is* 3am, and maybe they are doing maintenance. So I shrug, just a little bit put out that I can't check email, and head back to bed.

Around 8am - a much more civilized hour to be rolling out of bed - I start my morning routine, which consists of stumbling around in some state of nudity and clothing discord, wiping the sleep out of my eyes, saying "Not Yet" to the cats who are demanding breakfast, and checking my email. Except.....it's STILL not connecting. GRrrRRrrr When I get a minute, I'm going to read somebody the riot act. They were JUST out here! What did they mess up this time?? *heavysigh* I do NOT have time for this. I can't be staying home in four hour blocks 2-3x a week while they fix stuff.

But I was going to see the Mariners that night, and go motorcycle shopping in the afternoon. It's supposed to be a beautiful day, I think, but I'm not able to tell since I can't get to weather.com. I'm leaving work early, and hoping I have everything ready. Where's my ticket? Oh yes, I attached it to my keychain last night so I *couldn't* forget it! Uhm....now where did I put my keychain?

About halfway through the morning, my cell phone stops working. I *think* this is a good thing, as I had requested that my service be transferred from my old phone to the fancy-schmancy new one that I bought last week. Except - the guy that is taking me to look at motorcycles is out, and the only way I have to reach him is by phone.....and he can't call me back because they have actually decided to do my migration in a matter of hours instead of the 10-14 days the website threatened....er....promised. Maybe half an hour later, I can make outgoing calls on the new phone. Progress! And then what do you know - I get an email confirming everything is done, and the new toy is ready to go. Yay! Just in time.

Two o'clock, I'm ready to go, and my friend, the motorcycle expert, is out front waiting for me. Whew! He's a great guy, and knowledgeable about just about everything, which is why I wanted him along. We looked at a number of cool looking bikes, including the Ninja, the Honda Shadow Aero, and the Buell Blast (see inset - and no, that's not me! *lol* I wish!) Learned a few things, sat down, straddled, mounted, inspected, peered under, over, around and leaned on a number of fine pieces of machinery. He quizzed the minions at the bike shops, mumbling magickal spells of comprehension in a language known only by a select few. By the time I found a model I really liked, it was time to head off to the baseball game.

Win or lose, I *love* the Mariners. From the first pitch to the last out, they are a thrill to watch, whether it's banging your head against an invisible wall as you watch the pitcher play Pin The Ball On The Strike Zone, or leaping out of your seat as a ground rule double ties up the game.....again. Ichiro broke the season record for hitting in the most number of consecutive games (25). Eight pitchers, and seven runs later, it's the 7th inning, and Ritchie Sexson came up to bat. I turned to one of my friends and said "we've seen everything but a home run tonight" and Voila - the next pitch Ritchie sent sailing over the Center Field wall.

Now, I lived in Texas for eleven years, so even though the M's are my team, I do have a soft spot for some of the Ranger players......Texeira and Kenny Lofton. And when Kenny Lofton, the man who is MY AGE, leapt up in the air, bent his arm backwards over the outfield wall and snatched Beltre's 2-run home run ball out of the stands, I could hardly believe it! I knew I'd be seeing that clip on Sportscenter for years to come. Our catcher made a U-turn just passed 2nd base and started booking it back to first. THAT is something you don't see every day of the week! He didn't make it, and the 2-run home run turned into a double play, ending the inning, and essentially the game.

Twas a long game, nearly four hours, but we had a great time. By the time I made it home, it was after midnight. I really wanted to see that play again, so after watching FSN, I then came upstairs to the computer room to try again. Again - no Internet!? What?! It's been almost 24 hours. I finally broke down and called ComCast. No, I don't know the phone number here. No, I don't know the account number. It's not my account - I can verify the address & the social though, so they decided to help me.

What kind of modem do we have? NO idea, sorry, but we do have a Linksys Router, does that help? She asked me to pull the power cord on it for ten seconds, and try again. I did, and it started working almost immediately. D'oh! God, I feel like such a moron. I troubleshoot high tech electronic equipment for a living, and the most common t/s advice we give out is to power-cycle the freakin' device! I can't believe I didn't think of that earlier.

But all's well that ends well, and this has been a great day.

In The Beginning...

Life doesn't always make sense or go in straight lines.

I've been online since 1988. Not continuously, although at times it feels like it. (I *do* sleep on occasion). I first logged onto Blogspot two years ago to comment on my cousin's blog, "Bronx To Timbuktu" . It's the story of their life in Africa, and while I come back regularly to read their (and others) blogs, it wasn't until today that I decided to start my own. Not sure what took me so long - I'm usually fairly prolific when it comes to writing. In fact, one board I'm on, my posts alone account for five percent of the total traffic.....and there are thousands of members there.

Unicorns and Strangers Things comes from the early days - when I first logged on a BBS, before the Internet existed for public consumption. Back then, women online were a rarity and there were more than a few boards where I was one of only two or three females who had EVER logged on. The first time I logged onto a board, I didn't know anyone, and the sysop insisted that all new users fill out a little questionnaire with info like:

Real Name
Address
Phone #
Birth date

Nothing personal, y'know. Being a rather private person, I decided to answer the questions.....just not with MY information. So I gave him my grandmother's name......and birth date (including the year, which I believe was 1885). My phone# was 1-900-976-DEAD. I forget what address I gave him. He of course recognized that the info was bogus, and (at first) wouldn't give me access to the full board - only to email people.

So, now what? I'd never been on a BBS before. I certainly didn't know anyone. Who was I going to email? For most people, the answer probably would have been "nobody". Instead, I scanned through the list, and picked a random stranger whose handle I liked, and started messing with the guy. For the first few months (yes, months *lol*), I played guessing games with him - making him try to guess who I was, and emailing whatever odd thoughts crossed my mind. One of those posts was entitled "Unicorns & Stranger Things", and it stuck.

Of course, the answer of who I was, was impossible to guess since he truly was a random stranger.....but we eventually became friends. And it turned out he was also friends with the sysop......who then decided I was cool, and gave me access anyway. Me and my dead grandmother. Ha!

When someone asks me today where I expect to be in five years, I still have no idea how to answer that question - because I know there's no way I could have imagined TODAY from where I was five years ago, or five years before that. Five years ago, I had just bought a house in Florida. The five hurricanes, the flood, the trip to Brazil, the surgery that changed my life were nowhere on the horizon yet.

Tomorrow I take the second half of my motorcycle class and hope to pass. Next week, I think I have a date with a guy I really like. Later this year? Who knows - Beverly Hills or Brazil may be on the horizon for reconstructive surgery. I don't even know what's going to happen tomorrow, much less five years from now.

Who I am, it seems, it still impossible to guess. But this time it's you who is the random stranger, and perhaps we, too, will eventually become friends.

--BT