I’m ranting today, not once but twice.
The first frustration is war. Since this is Remembrance Day I am remembering not one war but many. I am remembering that over a hundred thousand Canadian lives have been lost in wars. Members of my family have done their part to try and counteract oppression and preserve freedom. But when the present conflict eventually ends, another will undoubtedly rise up to take its place and the killing will continue. I’ve always believed that fighting never solves anything. It only proves who is the biggest bully. We yearn for peace but don’t know how to achieve it. If only all of mankind would stop and listen to that “still small voice”—the one telling us how real peace will be found.
The second frustration is ineffective service. I’m having wireless internet problems this week, unable to maintain and now even obtain a signal wirelessly on my laptop computer. After first contacting our server and determining that the modem is working well, I contacted the company who makes my Belkin wireless router. That person, while probably a competent technician, had such a heavy accent that I could not understand much of what he said. I struggled to decipher and comply with his various instructions but when the technician was ready to take his leave I wasn’t confident that the problem had been solved. It hadn’t. Within seconds of terminating the call, I was back offline. And so the router is disconnected and our three computers are presently taking turns accessing the internet by being directly plugged into the modem, one at a time, until I muster the courage to phone for Belkin tech support once more. I’m not ready to face that frustration again quite yet.
Instead I’m going to retreat to the kitchen and bake our Christmas fruitcakes. I don’t need a techie’s assistance to do that job successfully, and while I assemble the ingredients I’m going to listen to Christmas carols – the ones that proclaim “Peace on Earth, Goodwill to Men”!
MUSINGS 
Our son is serving in Afghanistan. He can’t say much, but he has hinted that the Afghanistan people have very very hard lives.
As for poor service, you’re so right. I’ve been trying for over a week to actually speak to a techie where I bought my Imac. The comment, “He’s busy, but will call you back,” has new meaning. Grrr.
Even with what we see on TV I can’t imagine what life in Afghanistan must be like.
I wish my techie problem involved just my computer (I’ve been a Mac user for a very long time so can usually troubleshoot my own problems) but when it involves other hardware I’m up the proverbial creek. I still don’t have my laptop working wirelessly. ::teeth gnashing::