Comcast, the Self-Install Kit and the Power of the Barter System

So a few months ago we got an email from Comcast.  They have been advertising their faster internet speeds with Xfinity for a while now.  We were told that the modem and router we had did not work with their faster speeds.  So what we needed to do was request a new modem and router.  Comcast would send it to us free and it would include a "Self-Install" kit for us to replace the old modem and router with this new, better, faster modem. 

I really did not see the need to do this until we had two teenagers move into our house at the start of tho hockey season.  We house USHL hockey players for the local team.  With the addition of two teenagers and all their smartphones/computers/online games and other stuff using our wifi the speeds fell to non-existent.  So I emailed Comcast and got the new modem sent to us.  It arrived in a box at a time when I was so busy I could not even think of taking a day and playing tech with our home wifi. 

We were at the hockey game last weekend and sat in front of some friends.  The man was telling us that he does some home IT work for people who need help with systems and computers.  On a whim I asked him if he could install our new modem to help me out.  We were willing to pay him for his time.  He said he would give it a try and we set up a date and time for him to visit our house. 

He came and was able to set up the entire system.  That included installing the new modem and resetting all the passwords on our encrypted system. He also replaced an ancient computer with my newer laptop on the wired system and set up my husband's laptop and smartphone so both got wifi.  In addition since we share some of our hockey tickets with him and his wife he did it for free! 

It was wonderful!  I could have done it but was not looking forward to the amount of work it would take or mental energy I would have to use talking to tech support and trying to figure out the instructions that usually remind me of Klingon when I try to decipher them.  I was so grateful. 

So the moral of this story is that sometimes when you are dreading something, especially something involving technology, it is helpful to have someone you can ask to do it for you.  Also the power of barter is amazing because I got something I needed and we are sharing hockey tickets with someone who wants some.  Our wifi works much better and faster and so hockey from Finland and online Xbox games are all available to our hockey players. 

My next barter project, after completing my doctorate, is to make a t-shirt quilt for my hairdresser in exchange for haircuts. 

"Back in the USSR"

Well not really.  A few weeks ago we were at a concert of a Beatles tribute act (Classical Mystery Tour) and one of the songs they played was this Beatles classic.  It just further reminded me how things can change.  There is no longer a USSR in existence.  Yet this week with the Syrian crisis, the intervention of the Russian President and the strained relations between the US and Russia it brought back memories of our issues with Russia.  How many of you remember practicing nuclear attack drills in elementary school.  Even as a kid I wondered how hiding under my desk in my elementary school would protect me from a nuclear attack and radioactive fallout!

Last year we had a young Russian hockey player live with us for several months.  He has since returned to his home in Kazan and is playing for the Kazan Bars, a minor league hockey team to the AK Kazan Bars of the KHL.  He and I correspond by email regularly keeping up on each others' lives.  He tells me about visits from his fiance, his current studies to become a coach and his playing statistics.  I tell him about our life after he left the US, our grandson and updates on what we are doing.  We often exchange photos like the one he sent me here:



We developed a connection that transcends language, culture and politics.  To my husband and me,  he is our Russian son and we are his American parents.

As I was talking to my son (the one who lives in Nashville) he was saying that I better be careful right now with communicating with someone in Russia.  I know he was joking yet it brought back memories of when I was a child and Russia was our enemy in the Cold War.  I can't think of that right now.  I just want to be able to continue to send emails and keep in touch with my "Russian son" in Kazan.