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(My writer's block has finally gone away. I used to be a passionate writer but had been unable to write for several years.)

I thought I'd just got banninated from Portland's DamnSingles group over an epic flame war the other night.

But no none of Facebook was working. Sometimes this helps:

      $ sudo ping -f -c 1000 facebook.com

If your net is slow in general, do that to nsa.gov, fbi.gov, vatican.va and cern.ch.

Keep track of how long it takes the nsa to stop replying to your pings.

But no, it was not to be.

    $ ping 8.8.8.8

No? Maybe just the name servers are down. I left this running for a half hour:

    $ ping 4.2.2.4

During this process I cycled my Mac's WifI, power-cycled my AirPort Extreme and cable modem, but still no replies.

I puzzled over what it would cost me to get cell phone directory assistance for Comcast support. This despite that I was using mobile safari so I could continue on Facebook.

Why don't I try the World Wide Web? I hear http is up to 1.1 these days. Will the wonders never cease?

Comcast's support site goes way out of its way to impede your progress toward a live human, but I expect that's for the best as I only pay $29.99 for my first year of their lowest tier. Maybe I'll get satellite internet at month 13.

Amit from support was courteous and helpful, doubtlessly because he has yet to get the memo regarded my Net Neutrality activism on Facebook. That's the great thing about sharing the work of others - you get to pretend you make a difference despite that you're preaching to the choir!

When he asked me to verify my contact details I realized that my phone number changed when I bought my iPhone, but I didn't update my number with Comcast. What was my number? Heck if I know I never called it!

The Wayback Machine saved the day. Good thing I don't worry about my privacy!

      http://web.archive.org/web/20170421201738/http://soggywizards.com/

I knew everything would check out, and Amit said it did so my my feelings towards net neutrality soured considerably. Shouldn't this fine, publicly-traded corporation be rewarded for its courteous and helpful tech support?

I began to hope he never receives that memo. I'll start sharing the right wing's posts from now on.

Amit asked to test my modem, which I was cool with. The test took two to three minutes.

"Can you verify that your Internet is working now?"

It wasn't.

But I used to be a network admin, and I know that things break, and as I told Amit, no one is at fault except for googling getting Portland to revise all its regulations to enable google fiber only to back right out.

So I started my usual troubleshooting.

That went very quickly when I realized my Wifi wasn't connected.

Oopsy. It always disconnects when I power off my AirPort Extreme.

Where is "Den Of Iniquity" in my Airport menu! Ah there it is.

I selected it.

... and promptly commenced receiving ping supplies.

Amit asked me to take a brief survey when we parted.

When asked whether I would recommend Comcast to others, I selected 10.