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Highlands Today

So much rides on a good internet connection

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By Raleigh Whiteman | Highlands Today

Published: August 6, 2009

Because I am one who relies upon the Internet to supplement my income, I choose cable as the means to get my messages received and sent, primarily because when I need to send a very large file, cable was the one that did it in my area before telephone service began providing high speed digital. Much of what I do requires a service that can handle some large megabyte file sizes and takes a long time even with high speed services. If telephone line service has a glitch when the information is being sent, the message must be resent.

I have found that cable Internet is a reliable service when it works, but as I sit here, their service is out. When calling to get a service representative all I get is an answering machine asking me to punch numbers until I get another machine telling me that they are experiencing high speed Internet problems in the Sebring area and their technicians are working on the problem that evidently takes in the Lake Placid area also.

This past weekend I had to send a newspaper correction to the printer and could not get online to do so, consequentially the paper will be printed without the required correction. The error was not my fault; it not getting corrected was my cable company's. Guess who gets the blame when I report to those who have put their trust in me to do a good job?

Difficult problems
The following poem was found by my brother, Dan, folded up in my father's wallet after he passed away in 1980. It was from a newspaper dated 1918. He had it memorized and I can remember him reciting it to me several times as I grew up.

It Couldn't Be Done
By Edward Guest
Somebody said that it couldn't be done, but he with a chuckle replied, "That maybe it couldn't, but he would be one who wouldn't say so till he'd tried.
So he buckled right in, with the trace of a grin on his face. If he worried he hid it, he started to sing, as he tackled the thing that couldn't be done, and he did it.
Somebody scoffed: "Oh, you'll never do that; At least no one ever has done it."
But he took off his coat and he took off his hat, and the first thing we knew he'd begun it.
With a lift of his chin and a bit of a grin, without any doubting or quibbling, he started to sing as he tackled the thing that couldn't be done, and he did it.
There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done, there are thousands to prophesy failure.
There are thousands to point out to you, one by one, the dangers that wait to assail you.
But just buckle in, with a bit of a grin, just take off your coat and go to it.
Just start to sing as you tackle the thing that "cannot be done," and you'll do it.

Just be patient
I have been watching my modem for the past three hours, it now shows that I have a connection. I can now finish this column and hopefully get it sent to the downtown office.

Give his cane back
Just in case you found a lost or misplaced walking cane and do not read the editorial page. Jack Haneline at 863-471-2350 considers it a treasure and would like to have it back.

Raleigh Whiteman, of Lake Placid, is a contributing writer to Highlands Today. You can reach him on the Internet at rwwhiteman@comcast.net

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