Message from a Concours colleague who works from home (name withheld to protect him from the telco union…):

FYI – I’m back online. My connection is precarious, at best, but that’s because I rigged it myself. I talked to BellSouth twice, and they said that they may not be able to fix it until the 19th of December, which seemed unfathomable to me. After a little investigation, it appears that a truck pulled through the wire in my alley, yanking the connection out of the box attached to the house. I managed to untangle the wire from a tree and then used nail clippers (guess it helped to watch so much MacGyver when I was a kid) to strip the wires so I could re-connect. Anyhow, I’m up and running. Hope BellSouth won’t mind my meddling. 

Nail clippers. Good for him – if he had had fiber to the home, he would have to reach for the vanity mirror…