My internet mojo is at an all time low. First there was the Wanadoo-Orange broadband fiasco (which will hopefully come to a close at the end of the month when they promise to refund me everything I’m owed). Then, I couldn’t access Google.com for a few hours a couple of days ago and now today, I was unable to access Livejournal.com and Typepad.com in the morning and in the evening around the same time as my Google problems started, I couldn’t access any of the b5media sites. I could see other sites fine but not the ones that matter the most to me. Figures.

I tried everything I could think of: clear the browser cache, clear the cookies, delete temporary files, flush the DNS cache, turn off the router, reboot the computer, hard reset the router, manually set the DNS server IP addresses. I also tried Stephen’s laptop and Marv’s. And it didn’t matter if I was using Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox. Nothing. Couldn’t get through to any b5media sites.

Luckily, Jeremy told me to use a proxy server and through the Open Directory Project, I found a decent one called iphide through which I was able to access my blogs. Meanwhile, I was unable to get through to BT tech support until around 10 p.m. Not that it mattered really because the guy didn’t know how to help me either. In fact, I couldn’t even load the BT Live Remote Assistance page! So in the end, I told him to give me a reference number and I’d call back in the morning if the problem wasn’t resolved.

And wouldn’t you know it. When I hung up, I tried one last time to load the b5media sites and…EVERYTHING WAS OK AGAIN. After four hours, I was magically allowed access once more to my life (including cottontimer.com which is hosted by b5media). Somebody must have clogged up my personal internet tubes.

NB: My heart still skips a beat, though, if it takes more than a second for the a page to load.

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