Computer junk

At the back of my mind, I keep remembering the words "Let go, you must let go. You shouldn't have attachment, you must learn to let go." So today, I finally decided to let go of the state-of-the-art computer junk that I had been accumulating all these years. I cleared the old storeroom of the old, useless computer components parts including this set of memory cards: 512MB SDRAM, 256MB SDRAM, 64MB SDRAM and yes, even 32MB SDRAM. Anyone wants them before I finally chuck them away?

Not forgetting too two old CD-ROM drives and two so-called "high speed" dial-up modems. I would like to say "out, damn spots, out"but I've got to be very thankful to the dial-up modems. They practically saved my life when I moved to Bukit Mertajam from Seberang Jaya.

What happened, you may ask? More than five years ago when I was still staying in Seberang Jaya, I was already using TMNet's Streamyx service. But when we moved to Bukit Mertajam, I had a rude shock. There was no Streamyx service in my neighbourhood. So I had to fall back on dial-up while I kept pestering TMNet about their Steamyx.

This in itself is another story. The first time I contacted TMNet, they claimed that their equipment could not support Streamyx as the telephone lines in my neighbourhood were all running on new fibre-optic lines. I told them off. Nonsense, I said, don't tell me that a modern telecommunication company like TMNet just haven't got the technology for that? Fibre-optic lines are not something new; they have been around for ages. And why would TMNet want to lay fibre-optic lines when they cannot provide even their own simple Streamyx services?

Then they came clean. It's just that they haven't enough equipment at their exchange, they said. Not enough ports. So when are you bringing in the extra equipment, I asked. Soon, soon, that was all they were prepared to say. Give me a date, I told them. Give them a month, they said. Okay, I told them, I'll wait for a month; then they'll be hearing from me

The month came and went. Still no Streamyx service in my neighbourhood. Fuming mad, I tell you. Finally, I met one TMNet senior executive at a computer fair in Penang. Ho, just the right opportunity to complain to Someone who could do more than just give excuses. He listened to me and then gave an assurance that he'd be looking into the complaint. Sure enough, within a week, I had TMNet contact me and say that I could have my Streamyx service connected immediately.