Lightning Strikes…Hard

Last night went by really quickly. I watched Astitva: Ek Prem Kahani and then had some time before I had to call Neeraj so I was watching Pooja Didi’s wedding VCDs. So just got through two CDs (Mata ki Chowki only) when it was 9 pm. Then Neeraj and I talked till about 10.20 pm. I knew that Monty would have written back on my last post, so I thought I would check.

As I was writing back my comment, the weather was already thundering and lightning. Argh. Then the phone rings. Its Ridhish. Surprise, surprise. We talked for about 8 mins, and then I went back to writing my comment. Just as I was done and clicked to submit — **pop**. What the heck??? Lights are flickering, laptop went crazy for a minute, and then there is a scream!

I hear Suraj running down the stairs, so I open my room door to find out what’s the matter (not even checking to see if my comment got submitted). Downstairs, Mumma is in the middle of the kitchen with both hands on her face like she has seen a ghost. The pop was so loud that she felt the whole kitchen move and was startled. So we calmed each other down and tried to watch TV — the cable was out. So we just sat down in the family room for some time watching Zee TV (the satellite was working — weird; its usually the first to go).

After Mumma and Papa left to go to the gas station, I went back up to go check the website. “Page Cannot Be Displayed.” Doh! The cable is out, and our high speed Internet is thru the cable modem. So it was 11pm, I couldn’t watch TV (couldn’t finish watching the VCDs of the wedding because the new DVD player decided to stop working too! :grumpy:) or get on the Internet AND I was not sleepy. The weather was STILL horrible, and you could hear the thunder and see the bolts of lightning.

I tried everything to get my network back up, but nothing worked. So I tossed and turned for an hour and finally went to sleep. This morning I got up early because I need the Internet up for my job (because I am working for home, I have to be on AOL just to show that I am up and doing something). Called the cable company and they said that because of the weather they have had many calls in our area. She would send out a technician sometime in the next four hours.

I waited…and waited…and waited. Finally, I got on the dial-up access that I have in case I am in a remote area and no other way to get on the Internet. It was slowwww. After two and a half hours the doorbell rings, the technician asks about the problem, goes out back and checks the cable box, and sooner than we could say “snap, crackle, or pop?” our cable TV and Internet was back up!

We noticed that all of the clocks were messed up as well. Fixed that up now Papa has to look at the DVD player to find out what’s the matter there. Overall - one weird night.

Alvida. Jai Mata Di.