Friday, January 21, 2005

A new career awaits Kevin . . . if he wants it, that is.

Yesterday we had a frustrating experience when the cable guy came to hook up our modem. (We’re finally exiting the dinosaur age of dial-up at our house!) Ironically, it was cheaper to get both internet cable and basic cable TV, rather that internet cable by itself (you get a steep discount if you already have basic cable). The frustration began when, after being at our house for nearly an hour and a half, the cable guy kept asking me questions and telling me about certain “problems” he was running into. I thought it was very bizarre that he was including me in on his problem-solving sessions. I had a few questions for him too, which remained unasked:

“Do I really look like a techno-nerd who will be able to help you?”
“And, speaking of which, aren’t you the expert?”
“Shouldn’t you be able to solve these problems on your own?”
“Isn’t that why we’re paying you to come to our house?”

Finally I called Kevin at his office and handed the phone to the cable guy, hoping that the two of them could resolve it together. In the end, the cable guy said that the cable modem we’d purchased couldn’t be hooked up and he’d have to install his cable modem instead. Kevin told him, in no uncertain terms, that we are not paying to rent his cable modem. (If we get a bill for it, I think Kevin will go ballistics.)

When Kevin arrived home last night, after bible study, he sat down and read a sheet of directions that were sitting there, left by the cable guy. In less than ten minutes, Kevin had figured out the entire process of hooking up our cable modem, called the cable company to get a hook-up number, and had it installed properly. It’s been running perfectly ever since. Needless to say, I was very proud of him. “Kevin,” I said, “If the law thing ends up not working out for you, a brilliant career awaits you in cable installation.”

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