Last night was one of those nights.

Those frustrating, tense-shoulder-making evenings that sent your teeth a-grinding, but yet aren�t so truly awful that you can actually justify crying the tears of �arrghhhh� that are on the verge of welling up. And you can�t resort to the large bloody mary (Bloody Mary?) you desperately want, nay, need, until the problems are solved.

I think it actually started yesterday morning when I woke up before 5am with an horrific sinus headache. My blocked sinuses are always somewhere in the background, and usually I ignore them or occasionally take a tablet, but they�re chronic so generally I just get on with life. But sometimes they get worse, and waking up with a substantial headache did not put me in a good mood. I was tired, sore and nauseous. And more a few minutes genuine unsure if I was capable of going to work. But eventually the tablets kicked in and I got rid of the sore and nauseous and was just left with the tired. And a need to take the tablets as prescribed during the day � rather than just one settling everything down.

Most of the rest of the day was actually fine, I got some work done, had some really nice lamb at a working lunch with the Boss, got some more work done, procrastinated, got annoyed that Blogger wasn�t posting my entry at the fashion watch blog, etc etc. And then I got my email confirming that my DSL was turned on and I only needed to connect and it would be up and running. Which of course sent me further into procrastination mode because I wanted the day to be over to I could go home and hook it up.

Now the evening could have been worse, because I made it home and inside just before it started to pour, and for the second night in a row. I hooked up the modem, the computer, stuck in the installation CD, followed through the early instructions and then got stuck � right at the bit where it was supposed to be connecting.

Now I�m no techno geek, but I have a fairly intuitive sense of these things � I can program any VCR in five seconds flat, and I generally have a good idea of where to look to solve some unknown computer mystery � so I had been reasonably confident about configuring a modem and connecting the DSL on my own.

Except that it wouldn�t bloody connect.

I threw some left over (homemade) pizza in the oven and started from scratch. Then I played with the settings. Still wouldn�t connect. Played some more. No connection.

Hmm, my pizza�s not very hot given the oven is turned to �blast furnace� just for a re-heating job.

Re-set the configuration to �default� and started again. Nope. Nothing.

Pizza still only warm. Ah, that�s because it�s pouring with rain outside and occasionally when that happens all gas pressure in the area goes down to virtually nothing. (Used to happen at my old house too.) So the oven is on, but only barely. That�s okay, it�ll heat eventually and I can play with the configurations some more.

Nope, nothing happening.

Crap, now I�ve missed the new episode of The Simpsons which I had actually remembered was on when I came into the house, but half an hour later had totally forgotten until it was basically over.

Okay, I�m stuffing down the warm enough but not hot pizza because I am starving, and I�m calling technical support.

I really need that bloody mary.

�We are currently experiencing a large volume of calls. Waiting time may be in excess of ten minutes.� That�s actually not bad, I was expecting an hour.

12 minutes later I�m on with the tech guy. I explain that I�m usually okay with this stuff and therefore I suspect I�ve missed something really obvious. Tech guy is friendly, understanding, and notes in a not condescending manner that it actually isn�t easy to configure. Good. Not just me then.

He runs through all the stuff I�ve already done. Still doesn�t connect. He runs through a few things I�d tried experimentally. Still doesn�t connect. He has me shut down the computer and the modem and re-start. Nope. By this time I am feeling both uplifted that it wasn�t just me, and frustrated that I might not get connected. Tech guy puts me on hold. Do-de-do-de-do, do-de-do-de-do. Tech guy gets back on the line and has me do almost exactly what we did before, with a small, almost imperceptible change.

Connection successful! Woohoo.

I assure him I can take it from there, and he�s confident that I can. He apologises for taking so long and says he hasn�t worked with a mac configuration for some time. I assure him that it�s not a problem and I�m just happy to be connected. He also seems happy to have achieved that.

I finish the configuration. Still connected. And speedily. Yay!

And now for that bloody mary�