Nightshift:call center agent’s blog

I’ve been without an Internet connection for 20 days for two reasons. First, a very powerful lightning struck last August 24 which damaged the LAN card and second, it was a failure in the part of Smart Bro.

While I was browsing the Internet on the afternoon of August 24, about 2:15 p.m., rain was already pouring but manageable. Then a lightning followed by a loud thunderstorm. This computer turned off. Thinking that we just had a brownout, I immediately unplugged the cord from the outlet. After waiting for a few minutes and after verifying that power resumed, I turned on the AVR. No power. I already panicked. Other electrical supplies in the house are running but does this computer doesn’t turn on? I was able to turn on the computer after a few minutes but then there was no Internet. I shut the unit down, and turned it back in. No power. Monitor turns on but not the CPU. I opened the casing, thinking that there might be a burned or short circuited part, but there was none. I tried to back up my files by burning them in a CD, but burning process won’t finish. The operating system was working fine, but the hardware was not.

And so I just purchased a LAN card for P 250 in Ink Plaza in Cybermall, Eastwood City, Libis. I checked the device manager of this computer, there was “network adapters” there. I installed the driver, connected the ethernet cable, no Internet still. The light won’t even come on.

My brother, whose currently in New Zealand, called up about a week later. His suggestion and what I thought I should do is the same. I thought of bringing this computer to my neighbor Jun who has the subscription with Smart Bro and who has the router. If he could connect to the Internet, then I have a bad computer. But if he could not, then it’s either a bad router or a bad ISP.

Even before he called, I have been trying to chance upon Jun. I always stay and play with the dog in front of the house so that just in case he would pass by, I could tell him my problem. After talking to my brother, I just went straight to his parent’s house which is just a walking distance from our house and advised him to drop by so that I could bring the computer to his house. An hour later, we tested this computer and yes, we were able to connect to MSN. We changed the port where my cable is plugged in.

I took this computer back home. The LAN card LED will lit up. It was connected but I cannot browse. There was no data transfer or data being sent to this computer. The next day, I purchased a shorter ethernet cable, thinking that the cable might be bad. I went to the roof of my neighbor and insert the other end on Jun’s windows.

After 3 days, June wasn’t able to connect it. I was mad.

But then everything changed last Thusday. I was downloading the pictures from the CDs and will organize and burn them in another CD when suddenly, the Internet came in. I am now able to browse websites. I stopped everything that I was doing and immediately checked my email. By the way, I reformatted the computer before I purchased another cable to see if it was the OS. Wrong decision.

What could have cause this? It could be what we call “natsambahan.” It just so happened that after we tested this computer in my neighbor’s house, everything worked fine. And while I was returning back to our house, that’s when Smart Bro failed.

Blessing in disguise, perhaps. I was able to ponder and think of better ways to manage this blog and my other website Baras Rizal Online. We were able to save electricity. We were able to cut to a third the power we consume, from P 1800 to P 692.

But then the question is, what will happen in this blog. It will be more focused on the Call Center Industry, as this is where I earn my living. There are already six categories dedicated for them, with Computer Tips as an addition since I am a technical support agent for computers. Having found a compatible plugin to showcase my photos, I will no longer use Flickr for my pictures and use this blog instead. Spam n ‘Bacn are for the email forwards that I have been receiving, which could be corny, humorous, green, or what have yous. Hometown, of course is for my entries about my little town of Baras, Rizal and its website. Great Finds are for websites/stories that I find valuable or amusing.

I just hope that I could sustain writing in this blog.