Virtual silence

Yes, my blog has been on hiatus lately, because I cannot get on the Internet at home. I spent $250 to sign up for Dell's on call service (you get a year and four problems), but after about 3 hours on the phone, in three or four separate calls, no dice. I actually had one woman (in India, of course) say, We've been on the phone for an hour and I have other customers to help. Um, okay. So what did I spent $250 for? Another woman said: Well, I don't have expertise on this but I can try a few things if you want me to..... Not confidence inspiring. My friend, who was on the phone at that point and frustrated (and SHE is a software engineer as opposed to a technophobe like me) said NO!! I don't want you to try a few things if you don't know what you are doing!
Other adventures in Dell Customer Service: We were transferred to another department (turns out it was the wrong department, but we didn't know that), and every time we tried to get them to address my internet problem, they said: Your hardware warranty has expired. They must have repeated this phrase 10 times. It was quite Kafka-esque, a real bureaucratic nightmare. The upshot is I still have no internet service at home, but more testing has revealed that it might be a Time Warner Cable problem, because another friend's lap top didn't seem to work in my place, either. My wonderful brother-in-law is going to come to my apartment on Sunday night and deal with Time Warner Cable and do all the plugging and unplugging. Because he has what I don't have: a Y chromosome!

Meanwhile, my trip to Sardinia and Rome is shaping up. Staying with friends on the outskirts of Rome for a few days when I arrive, then flying to Sardinia and staying at a hotel at a little fishing village for two days, then going on to Cuglieri to stay in a house with friends, then back to Rome for 2 days in Trastevere with another friend. HEAVEN.
Ciao--
Paola