Watching thunderstorms is a favorite activity of mine. Maybe it has something to do with the immense fear I have of severe weather—a fear mixed with awe, fascination, excited dread. But my excitement turned electic in my veins as I realized how close these lightning strikes were to my own house. I watched one flash that appeared to be on the next street over, and heard the deafening rumble of thunder right on its heels. I peered up at the tops of the trees along my back fence and wondered how much of the house they’d destroy if they fell in my direction. I didn’t have much time to ponder that when an amazing bolt of lightning struck some piece of equipment behind my house, maybe between my back yard and the neighbor’s. The zap was crazy and the damage it did was audible.
I’m still buzzing when I hear from upstairs, “Mama! The TV went off!” I yell up to them: “Come downstairs, children…” They all filed downstairs and huddled around me. “I’m scared!” “What was that?” “Are we going to get hit by lightning?” “This storm is bad!”
I gathered them into the living room (still thinking about those trees) and told them to sit still. I wanted to take a look at the radar on weather.com and show them how severe the storm was. Maybe it would be a fun distraction. Then I realized I didn’t have an internet connection. I picked up my phone but there was no dial tone. The cable modem had gone dead.
All the electricity in the house was working, but the TV had died and the cable modem had fried. No other appliances took a hit. The wireless router that lives next to the cable modem in the basement was fine. The Tivo, the VCR, the DVD player, all fine. I realized the TV was plugged in to a power strip that did not have surge protection. Could that have caused the TV’s demise? Who can know? How bizarre.
So, no internet connection for another day or so, while I waited for Comcast to send a technician out. Fortunately, they covered the replacement of the cable modem. Can’t say the same for the TV. Our only backup is a very small little unit I purchased when I was living in New York City, prior to married life, back in the days where everything had to be done via public transportation. I still remember fondly picking out and purchasing my first little TV set at a SoHo Circuit City, then hauling it back alone to my Brooklyn apartment on the subway. I was so proud of it then. But now it’s a big step down, and it’s dying, too. Every once in a while, I’ll be watching some show or another and the TV screen just starts to lose color and then go dark, simulating what I imagine it must be like to have double cataracts. To fix it I just change channels, or turn the thing off and on again, and it seems to come to. Other things are weird—the channel display quivers maniacally, for instance. Plus, the TV is just small. Better than no TV, or is it?