ABBY, It's so damn good to hear from you!! I missed you around here. We'll remedy that!

Sandy,
It seems that the part of the phone line that would carry the computer connection is being utilized by the in-house communication system. When a code is punched in by someone downstairs, our phone rings TWICE in quick succession. Then we answer the phone and talk to the person wanting entry. After seeing whether it is friend or foe, we push a particular number-button on the phone to allow them entry.

When I am on-line, nobody can call up to us. And we can't receive a phone call either. Chris, our son, e-mails me to tell me to get the hell off the computer so he can call me.

It reminds me of when I was 12 years old and a friend and I had a wire from his apartment on the 14th floor to my place on the 2nd floor. We'd try to send Morse code messages to each other -- until we couldn't figure out what the hell we were trying to say. In that case we would send three short "bleeps!" That meant, "Please, call me on the damn phone!!!"

Soooo, how the hell far have we all come?? Not far, me thinks.

We are Neanderthals, but with Atom bombs... It makes me want to go finish the book I'm half way through.

Art