We live in an age of advanced technology. Well, maybe not as advanced as we’d like to think, but pretty advanced, anyway. Unfortunately, sometimes that same technology doesn’t work so well, and when it doesn’t, it may be terribly frustrating. It’s even worse when it tries to be smarter than we are — too smart by a half, say.

This evening, I tried to log in to get my e-mail. I had no problems with e-mail earlier in the day. So, when I booted into my e-mail client, I got a message from my ISP saying that it wanted me to confirm my e-mail address. I did so online, and then it asked me to reset my security question. I did that and clicked on “SUBMIT”. The damn screen reverted to the start page again, asking for me to confirm my e-mail address. Things only got worse from there. After looping through this several times, I got a message saying I’d be receiving an e-mail asking me to confirm the changes. I’d then have 48 hours to do the confirmation. Only one problem: my e-mail was no longer functioning.

In frustration, the wife and I went out to dinner.

Upon our return, I re-booted my computer and, hurrah! E-mail was back up and there was the message asking me to confirm my e-mail address. All I had to do was click “CONFIRM”. I clicked and…nothing. Multiple tries, rebooting, and swearing were all to no avail. So, now, I’m concerned that if I can’t confirm my e-mail address, they’ll cut off my service, thinking I’ve vanished. Oh, and clicking on the “if you have questions, click here to connect” button” led to the same dead end as the “CONFIRM” button.

I waited another fifteen minutes and tried again. Now, after a somewhat long wait, it connected, confirming a my “change” of e-mail address or, in fact, simply confirming the e-mail address I didn’t change. I only changed my security question, remember?

Well, if I encounter any more difficulty, the next step is going to be to try and call the ISP on the telephone, and that ought to be great fun. What time is it, anyway, in Bangladesh?