One of the laptops in the household wasn’t connecting to the internet. This was curious because my laptop connected just fine, even when placed in the same location. I had no idea what the issue was. The settings were correct, the password was correct, and I was running out of things to try. After 10 minutes of dicking around with the laptop, I went downstairs and unplugged the router. I put the power cord back in, waited a few minutes for all the lights to go on, and then went back upstairs. The internet was now working fine.

I suppose this story could be interpreted as a parable. During negotiations, maybe when the problem seems intractable, talk with a different person. Or, try fixing the problem from the other end when one is doing any sort of problem-solving. Maybe the way I solved this problem says something profound.

Alternatively, maybe it just means that whenever you have any problem with the internet, try resetting the router.