TV cable box kaput

This is really annoying.  About 30 minutes ago I was watching Star Wars Episode II on cable TV, and about 10 minutes into the film, the cable box shorted.  I didn't have anything strange in the whole apartment, just the cable box like turned off and on really quick and after that I couldn't make it work anymore.

I called the help desk and they suspect that it's shorted, so they'll send me a technician first thing in tomorrow morning.  Arrrgh!!!

By the way, yesterday afternoon I was marveled thinking that my high speed Internet connection at home hadn't failed me for quite a while.  Then when I get home in the night, it's not working!  It doesn't matter with which of my modems I try, the ISP's server is simply unreachable.  So I call the help desk and they tell me that everything on their side looks fine.  The girl arranges for a technician to come visit my apartment the following day, I thank her and hang up.  Then a few minutes later, inexplicably the connection returns, and so far it's working fine.