Yeah… being without the internets is death.
Oh… I cleaned up my Blog a bit so I invite you to check it out though it’s mostly just my ‘rants’ for being religious and feeling rantish.
I wonder what happen on your tech issues. Having something make noise on the speakers when you’re working with your network. You may want to try a good solid air cleaning of your machine (I highly recommend an air compressor… some caution water/oil can get in but just let it run for a bit before turning it on your PC… it does wonders and smells much less than air-in-a-can.) It’s possible you’ve got a piece of metallic dust that’s shorting something on your mainboard out.
Another thing is to consider a new modem. I know my cable modem is VERY old and I use Vonage as well as a Linsys router on the ‘inside’ and have noticed it fails at times, which is very annoying on the phone. Depending on your ISP they should replace it for free.