Gremlins

Have you ever wondered if they really exist?  I'm back in the Land of La.  Upon my return I've discovered the internet cable modem was screwed up and my tiny gas heater wouldn't work. Spent hours on the phone trying to resolve the internet issue, certain that the upgrade to Lion had caused the problem. I was wrong. It was the modem and it took the repair guy 35 minutes to resolve the issue.  Seems something in the basement had "frozen?"  Really?  Frozen? What the hell does that mean?  Great guy actually and I'm pleased it got repaired but how and why did it happen?  The next issue was the heater. Pilot light is always lit. When I returned the temps dropped enough that I wanted some heat.  Turned the knob. Nothing. Tried lighting the pilot light, always a fearful adventure. Nada!  Waited 4 days for a repair person.  Nothing wrong with the unit. He informed me that when the pilot goes out there's a failsafe shut down. Nice. 10 minutes of examining the unit, running down to his truck, coming back up and then he lit the pilot light. Gremlins, I swear, gremlins.