2006-01-19 - 4:33 p.m.

Please Turn on the Switch

Two nights ago I went on attempting to set up my new Toshiba laptop. (Have I told you how much I like my new Toshiba laptop? I love my new Toshiba laptop. Shiny!)

At any rate, thanks to modern technology, setting up these puppies is a piece of cake. Everything went hunky-dory, until the time came to set up the wireless internet connection.

"Hey love," I tell my sweetie. "This thing says that it cannot find any connections and to turn on the wireless Internet switch."

"Let me see," says Marcellus. "You know that we have wireless Internet here. It shouldn't be doing that."

"Do you think that they refer to an actual, physical switch? I have been trying to set this up with the software and nothing works."

"No," says Marcellus. "I am sure that it is a piece of software. We just need to find it."

Well, we never did. However, our friend T came over last night for dinner, and I showed him my new toy.

"Have you set it up?" He says.

"Almost," I reply. "But for some reason I cannot find a way to make the wireless Internet to work."

"Do you want me to do it?" He offers.

"Would you?" I say, elated at having an actual programmer helping me solve the problem.

"Sure!" Says T.

And so it began. He fiddled with the damned thing, reloaded software, went all over the place, all with the same result -- a notice saying "Turn on the Internet switch."

"So," I say. "Time to call Toshiba Customer Service?"

"Damn," he replies. "I hate to do that but it seems that we have no choice now. This is so embarrasing!"

So we call Toshiba, and we get a very nice guy who immediately proceeds to get all my information in order to register the machine. While I am talking to him, Marcellus decides to look at the online profile of my laptop.

"Damn!" He yells. "There is an actual switch in the front of the machine!"

"Ohhh noooo!!!!" T replies at the time he turns the computer around and finds the switch.

He flips it on and, voil�, the Internet is on.

"So," says Mr. Toshiba man, after what seems an eternity after going back and forth with the registration. "What is the problem?"

At that point I just manage to tell him, "Er, never mind. This is very embarrassing, but we have managed to fix the problem. Believe me, you don't want to know. Good bye!"

"Damn!" says T. "I work with Dells, not Toshibas. Who would've thunk that they came with this switch?"

Today, I was talking to Cassie, who works with both Dells and Toshibas. As I started to explain to her what happened, and before I got to the point of switches, she interrupted me by saying: "You know, all you have to do is flip the actual internet switch on the side . . ."

Perhaps next time I will call Toshiba and tell them that my cupholder is stuck . . .

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