In my prison cell I think these words

[vovat]

I'm writing this on Tuesday afternoon, but it might not be posted until sometime on Wednesday at the earliest, for reasons that should become clear shortly.

Since bethje's computer is still having problems, I brought mine over to her house. Unfortunately, though, she uses dial-up, and my computer just won't work for dial-up anymore. I tried to install AOL, and when it didn't run, I kept calling tech support. Each time, they told me something that they were SURE would fix the problems I was having, yet it never did. Finally, the last guy told me that there was some problem with my drivers, and I would have to have them fixed up at a repair shop, with help from my Windows CD. I don't think I'll bother doing that, but it puzzles me why it wouldn't work. When I first got the computer, I used a dial-up connection to connect to the Internet, and I don't recall having any problems with that. Later, however, I had difficulties similar to the ones I had at Beth's house. I couldn't connect to the Internet using dial-up. Fortunately, we got DSL around that time, and I didn't really have to worry about it. Since then, though, I've gotten a new hard drive and then reformatted that drive, with Windows installed anew each time. Why I would be having the same problems after a reinstall, and why, if this was, say, a problem with the Windows program itself, I was able to use dial-up before, remain mysteries to me. Anyone have any ideas?

Anyway, the point is that I currently have no way to access the Internet, except at work. When this kind of thing happens, I always feel disconnected. I tend to get used to it after a while, but it's both annoying and depressing at first. Of course, when I finally DO get online after a long absence, I usually find that it's pretty much as I left it, with hardly anything in my inbox or posted to the forums I read.

Last night, I had some interesting dreams. One was about a movie featuring They Might Be Giants that had come out BEFORE Gigantic. It was apparently kind of rare, but known to TMBG fans. In my dream, I was actually watching it for the second time, the first having been when I rented it from a local video store that carried a lot of rare stuff. Anyway, the movie wasn't a documentary, but rather a fictional story in which the Johns played themselves (sort of like A Hard Day's Night or something, I guess). It started with Flansburgh in jail writing lyrics on a piece of paper. I think Linnell was also in jail later on in the film, and the two Johns were talking about the band Linnell had been in prior to TMBG. He was actually in a band called the Mundanes at that point, but, within the dream-movie, his former band was known as "Snickers." Linnell also mentioned how he had been rejected by some goth band. There were also a lot of slapstick parts, like when Flans ran into a fence face-first. I think the last part of the movie that I saw had TMBG opening for some other band at a theater.

In another dream, I attended some kind of convention. Just as I was getting ready to leave, I met Weird Al. He walked up to my car, said he had heard I was a fan, and gave me an autograph. Later on, when I had time to examine the autograph, I discovered that Al had misspelled his own name, making me wonder if he was a fake.

Okay, here's to hoping I can get this online shortly!

Comments

[3x1minus1.livejournal.com]

i'm sure you've been through all the obvious troubleshooting steps, and checked to see if there are any internet setting choices in control panels? that's all i can imagine. but i've found some windows problems to be pretty inexplicable. i heart my mac. :)

that tmbg movie sounds great, i wish it existed. i'd love some john squared slapstick.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

It's possible that the AOL tech support people are wrong about my having to have the computer serviced in order for dial-up to work, but if they are, I really don't know what to do about it. Maybe I'll check the control panel again, though.

[onib.livejournal.com]

You could try dialing directly to a dial-up connection, rather than using AOL software - just to see if the modem dials and a connection is received. That would at least tell you that your modem is working. I actually had my modem fried once in an electrical storm. Fortunately, the rest of the computer was fine, but it seems that there was a surge along the phone line that knocked it out. In my case, no dialing worked at all and I had to get myself another modem.

If you've reinstalled Windows in the past and still have the problem, you could see if your modem's manufacturer has any special driver updates on their web page. Windows drivers have been known to be a little lacking at times.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

It's been so long since I used the dial-up modem that I guess the problem could be just about anything. I don't know how to do a direct dial-up connection, though.

[onib.livejournal.com]

You can set up a dial-up connection from "Start Menu/Control Panel/Network and Dial-Up Connections" However, if your computer can handle NetZero, you could always load their software at home, then give them a try. Since they offer some free services, you could see whether you connect to them or not.

Alternately, when the sound is turned-on on your modem, what do you hear? Can you hear the dial tone following by the dialing followed by the annoying connection sounds? If not, then something's definately wrong with your modem, since it should at least be trying to connect regardless of AOL's settings.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

The modem does dial, but it apparently won't actually connect. It went through all of the steps for connecting to AOL, and the AOL welcome screen came up. It even let me send a test e-mail. I couldn't open any web pages, though, or use any other programs that required an Internet connection.

It's pretty much a moot point now, since I brought the computer back home (and it's been having problems there as well, as you know if you've read my most recent entry). I would like for it to be able to use a dial-up connection when necessary, though.