Hey ya'll, I'm back again. I know, I know, two Ally Break stories this close? How can it be? And why isn't 'Not That Different' being updated? Well, this is sort of a celebration of sorts, and that's why I'm posting it. Just read and you'll understand. And don't forget to follow the instructions at the bottom! Read and enjoy!
The Trials of Getting Internet
I own nothing, except for the new thing that is mentioned, and some of the other stuff that is mentioned. So…no giant mutated turtles. Darn!
Ally Break sat in her computer chair, facing away from her desk with her feet propped up on her bed. Stargate SG-1 was on, but she didn't seem to be paying any attention to it. She was just staring off into space, with at look somewhere between frustration and contemplation on her face.
Suddenly her phone went off, and she jumped. She picked it up and saw that it was Donatello calling.
"Hello?" she said
"Ally? Are you home?" he asked
"Yeah."
"Then could you maybe open your window? I've been taping for the last five minutes."
"Oh! Sorry!" Ally scrambled over to the window and opened it, letting Donnie in, along with his bag full of stuff.
"What's in there?" she asked.
"I just made a junkyard run, but I took to much, and was wondering if I could take a few minutes to rest here."
"Yeah, sure. My parents went to the orientation of the sixth grade for my little sister, so they won't be home for a while."
Don came in, and wrestled his bag through the window. He sat down on her bed, while she resumed her seat in the computer chair.
"So, why didn't you hear me tapping?" he asked
Ally shrugged. "I was kinda lost in thought."
"I know how that goes." Don said with a rueful smile. "So what were you thinking about?"
"Our stupid internet." She replied with a scowl.
"Still not fixed?"
"Nope." She paused. It just doesn't make any sense."
"How so?"
"When I called them, all I got was an 'It's you problem, not ours' statement when it wouldn't work. It didn't matter that I tried on two different computers, or that they said the same thing was wrong with both, it was still our problem."
"Which is highly unlikely considering that the two don't even share a network."
"Exactly! But we-me and my dad-had tried everything we could with the systems and the like. So today, we go to pay my tuition, and I bring my laptop. After an interesting time that I don't know how will affect me with the tuition, we took my laptop to my dad's office and hooked it up to the Internet through the modem that goes to his work desktop, and it worked fine. And I know it wasn't due to me picking up wireless, because I had already tried that and it didn't even find the network."
"Then it can't be your Ethernet card."
"Right. So after a little while, after Daddy was finished with whatever he had to do, and he had come and gotten me from the library where I was reading some updates using the wireless network, we headed home. Once we got home, he asked me to get my TV out of my room and bring it near to computer desk."
"You were going to check out the cable connection and make sure that it was good."
"Right again. And it was good. No problems with it, and I even figured out how to work the menu with out the remote, so double bonus. So we knew that the cable connection was good. So Daddy decided to see if it was the blue cord that connected the modem to the CPU. So while I put my TV up, and reconnected it, he found a brand new, never before used blue cable. Well, I brought my laptop, and he hooked up the new cable to it and the modem, and nothing. Nothing except the ever expected yet completely irritating 'Page Cannot be Displayed'."
"Did you try anything on your computer with the new cord?"
"Yup. We tried reconnecting and re-whatevering the IP address, but it didn't work. Daddy's bought a new Ethernet card, and is thinking about putting that in the desktop and seeing if it'll make any difference, but I don't think it will."
"Neither do I. From what I did with it, and what you've described, it has to be on their end."
"I know, but they say they're all fine. On the plus side, if it doesn't work, Daddy's gonna buy a new CPU, maybe tomorrow, 'cause Alabama's having a tax free day, and Redstone Arsenal's gonna take eight percent off."
"That might help. I mean, yours is ancient, as far as computers go."
"Tell me about it. It also means that if the Internet still won't work, then it definitely can't be our problem."
Don nodded, and they sat there in comfortable silence, each contemplating the problems.
"So, whadja find at the junkyard?" Ally asked.
"Oh, some circuit boards, various electronic parts, a new lamp to replace the one Mikey broke-"
"Mikey broke a lamp?"
"Yeah. He took Raph's mask and put a pink one in its place, then re-wrapped with sai's with pink. The powder pink color."
"Bwahahahahahaha! I bet Raph killed him!"
"Yeah." Don said with a grin "He chased him around the lair for a good while, but eventually Mikey made a jump over the couch, and ended up colliding with a lamp sitting on the end table. It crashed to the ground and shattered with him on top of it. I had to pull slivers of glass out of him."
"Bet that was fun."
Don rolled his eyes "Oh yeah, loads of it. After I got the glass out of him, he had to go and clean up the lamp, and I left on my junkyard run."
"And you picked up too much and had to stop by here."
"Yup."
They sat a while in comfortable silence, until Donnie looked at one of her clocks.
"It's starting to get late. If I don't get home soon, Sensei will start to worry."
"Guess that mean you've got to go."
"Yeah." Don picked up his stuff, and Ally walked with him over to the window he came through.
"See ya later." She said
"See ya Ally. Call me if you do get that new CPU, and need any help with it."
"I'll be sure to do that."
Donnie went through the window with all his junk-er, stuff, and Ally closed the window behind him.
A couple of days later Don got a call form Ally.
"Hello?" he answered.
"Hey, Don? It's Ally."
"Hey Ally."
"Listen, we finally got that new CPU, and Daddy said I could try to hook it up if I wanted to. I was wondering if you wanted to come over and give me a hand."
"Sure, that'll be easy."
"Really? 'Cause I don't quite know where to start. I've never done this before. But I want to learn how."
Don smiled. It was nice to know that he was needed, and doing something as simple as hooking up a CPU would be a nice break. "When do you want me to come over?"
"Oh, anytime really. Daddy's gonna be down at Grandmother's all day, working in the garden-"
"Um, Ally, we're in New York City. There aren't that many large scale gardens."
"Well, fine. He'll be doing something and be gone all day. Mommy's taking Sarah and going down to visit her parents today. Lucky me gets to stay here and do chores, cause I 'haven't been keeping up with my responsibilities, Ally and' I'm 'almost twenty years old.' I 'need to learn to take my responsibilities more seriously because the real world won't be as lenient as' my parents 'are with' me." she sounded like she was practically quoting something that she had herd so many times that she was sick of it.
"Uhh, yeah. I'll be down in an hour, maybe."
"Works for me! See ya then!"
"Bye, Ally." Don hung up, and went to tell Master Splinter where he'd be going.
An hour later, the doorbell to Ally's apartment was ringing. "Coming!" she yelled out. She looked out the peephole, and saw a figure in a trench coat and hat standing outside her door. He raised his head a little, showing Ally green skin. She smiled, and unlocked the door, opening it to let him in.
"Hey, Don." She greeted. "You're right on time!"
"Hey, Ally." He greeted back as he took of his coat and hat. Ally took them from him, and laid them across the antique sowing machine that had belonged to her great-grandmother and was sitting in the foyer. He saw a box lying on the ground and nodded to it. "Is that the new CPU?" he asked
"Yup." Ally said. "Now all I need is for you to show me how exactly you hook one of these babies up."
"Let's get to work." He said.
Not to long after, the new CPU was all hooked up and ready to go with minimal trouble. The only thing that had happened was that the speakers nearly fell off the top of the desk, and would have if Ally hadn't of remembered how precariously they were perched on top of the desk, and caught them.
"Are you ready to turn this thing on?" Don asked her.
Ally grinned big "You bet I am!"
He pressed the power button, and it turned on. It showed one account, and they clicked on it. It demanded a password. Don and Ally stared at it.
"Um, has this been used before?" Don asked Ally.
"Aw, Man! I bet it has a password because it was the display model."
"You bough the display model?"
"Yeah. They didn't have any left, except for it, and yesterday was the last tax free for school supplies, and eight percent off on Redstone day, so Daddy went ahead and bought it. We got the eight percent off, and another five percent. But I bet that there was a password that they used. Crap!" Ally sighed and smacked her forehead.
"Maybe we could call them, and get the password form them." Don suggested.
Ally looked up. "Don, you're a genius. Where's the phone book?" Ally looked around for it, and found an information number to call on the army base. From them she got the number to the PX, and called them. They gave her the password. After that, there were a couple of problems with the scanner, which Don quickly remedied, and he helped her set up an account. The big moment came when they tried to connect to the Internet.
"Please work, please work, please work." Ally chanted.
Don clicked on the icon and a window opened.
"Com'on." Ally encouraged
Something was coming up.
'The Page Cannot be Displayed'
"NO!" Ally wailed. "It's not fair!"
Don looked at her, and then turned back to the computer, staring at the ominous 'Page Cannot be Displyed' message. "Maybe we should try calling the help line again, just to be sure."
Ally shot him a withering look that clearly said 'do you know how many times I've done that' but she got up and went to find the number and a phone.
They dialed it, and a computer answered.
"Hello." It said in it's programmed female voice "Welcome to the Help line of your cable company. Thank you for calling us. If you wish to pay your bill, press one. If you have complaints about your cable service, press two. If you…"
"I hate this." Ally said lowly. She had put the phone on speaker, and didn't want it to pick up on her voice. If it did, then it would start all over again. "I just want to speak to a real person."
"…If you are having trouble with your internet service, press one and zero."
Ally pressed it. "Finally." She said
Don shot her an amused look. She had obviously done this so much that she was sick of it.
There was a pause, then the computerized voice came back "Hold on wile I look up your account." The cheesy music came over the phone, and Ally rolled her eyes. She mumbled something under her breath.
"Oh. I see you have called recently. Is this call about the same problem? If so, say yes."
"Yes." Ally replied, over pronouncing it, and speaking it loudly.
"I'm sorry, I had a little trouble understanding you. Could you please repeat your response?" the computer said
"Yes." Ally said again, stressing it even more.
"I'm sorry, I still could not understand you. Remember, it is important to only respond to me, because I hear everything, and get confused easily,"
"I bet you do." All mumbled
"Could you please repeat your response again?"
"YES." Ally said exaggerating it as far as she could with out distorting the word.
"Okay. Hold on please." It responded with its maddingly calm voice.
More of that music.
Don was getting very amused watching Ally interact with the phone. She was currently glaring at it
"All of our representatives are busy at this time, so I will assist you."
"Oh, great." Ally mumbled
"Have you disconnected your modem today? If not please take the time to do so now. It you have, say yes."
"Yes."
"All right, I'm going to have you disconnect your modem now."
"We already did that." Ally mumbled
"When you are finished, say continue."
Ally sighed, and Don moved over and did as they computer had instructed.
The computer told them several other things to try that they already had. Don was beginning to agree with Ally. This was a waste of time. It was also very frustrating. Finally, the computer ran out of ideas.
"I'm sorry, but I can't seem to find the source of you trouble. I will connect you to a representative now." It paused "I'm sorry but all of representatives are busy know. Please hold."
"Well, that was a waste of time." Don said.
"Now you know how I feel." Ally said "And this is the fifth time I've called them."
"Hello, thank you for calling, my name Erin how may I help you." A female voice said.
"Yes, hi, this is Ally. We're having trouble with our internet. This is the fifth time I've called, and nothing has ever worked. The last item I was told that it was the Ethernet card on both the old CPU and my laptop, but we took my laptop to my father's work and it hooked up just fine. We just bought a new CPU and have hooked it up, but still aren't receiving any internet. There had been more trouble with this service then we have ever had with any other that we've had. We had Roadrunner in Hawaii, and we were much more pleased."
Don raised an eye ridge at her. She had to be on edge and to the end of her rope to say all that with out even looking regretful.
"Um, yes, well, let's try a few things."
Don did exactly what he was told with exactly the same results.
"Hmm." Erin said, "I can't find the problem. I'll send a technician out on Thursday, between ten and five, if that's all right."
"Oh, that's fine." Ally said, "That's what I've wanted all along. Thank you."
"I'm sorry I couldn't help you, and thank you for calling."
Ally hung up. "Errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrwwwwwwwwwwwwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!" she said. She put her forehead in her hand. "Really, really frustrating."
"At least they're sending someone out." Donnie said.
Ally looked up at him and wearily smiled. "Yeah. Wanna get something to eat."
Donnie shrugged "Sure."
They had a bite to eat, and Donnie left not to soon after, explaining that he had to be back in tome for evening practice and patrol. Ally bid him bye, and promised to tell him what the tech said on Thursday.
Thursday afternoon, about four o'clock, Donnie got another call from Ally
"Hello?" he said, and then immediately held the Shell Cell away form his ear.
Ally squealed loudly and long and then actually talked "IT'S FIXED!" she yelled out excitedly. "It took two if them, multiple phone calls and hours, but it's fixed! Yes!"
Don chuckled "I'm glad. What was wrong with it?"
"I don't know, I was picking up my little sister at the time, but it's fixed now, that's what's important."
"So, what are you going to do now?"
"Hmm, I know! I'm gonna throw a party and invite ya'll and several of the fanfic authors! Wow, I've got plans to make, and food to buy, and Mikey to keep away. Oh, boy. Spread the word Don, I've got plans to make!"
To be continued…
Yes, everything is based on my actual computer problems, and yes it finally works! In fact, for the first time I'm downloading a story from home! It's great! This means that not only can I upload my stories from home, but I can also scan in some of the pictures I've drawn. Yea! The continuation will be up soon, but first I need to know if you want to be in my next story as a party guest. And if you want any lines, tell me your ideas. Remember, if you don't tell me, I won't know, it won't get written, and you won't be there. So review for your own good, and to RSVP to me next story! Thanks!
-RealityBreakGirl