So I stopped at Kinko’s to fax something, unfortunately I had to fax it twice since I forgot a page (duh!). But I was looking at their computer area and I see they want $12 an hour to use a computer. One person here just looks like they are just checking their fantasy football and that’s got to get pricey after a while; others are just surfing and one guy is working on a Word document. They could probably lease/rent a computer for less than $24 a month (that’s the going price for an iBook with Apple’s credit) and subscribe to a T-Mobile WiFi for $30 a month and could sit at the same Kinko’s and recoup their costs in less than 5 hours. Plus, you’d have a laptop for anywhere use and you can use it at free WiFi spots and most other T-Mobile spots.

You’d have to pass a credit check to get the computer but other than that it seems like the way to go to me. It’s a decent neighborhood where I am and none of these folks look homeless so I can’t think of any reasons not to go this route. Any one have any thoughts on this?

Looks like they have some new print on-line service that you can print and ship via FedEx (it’s actually called FedEx Kinko’s now) from home or remote.

I really don’t care what my laptop physically looks like (I want my display to look nice though). I want it functional and preferably small, light and durable. I want features at a good price. If it’s sexy too, that’s a bonus.

I’m dying to see the specs on the new Apple MacBooks next Tuesday (Oct. 14, 2008) but I’m really hoping for more features at a great price (we need more converts). I’m not even in the market for a new laptop but I can’t wait to see. A twelve or eleven inch MacBook might change my mind though; the same goes for a touchscreen (but I’m not expecting that).Personally I like the plastic cases better than the metal, the metal slips out of my hands plus it dents more easily…

Here’s My Dream MacLaptop:

So I enjoyed the San Jose area on this trip. Next trip I plan to spend a little more time in the city area to check it out more. It seems many people who relocate move to the middle of the country; while that seems anti-intuitive to me, the coast seems more obvious, there are a lot of conveniences there that I need to consider.

When I was in San Jose, I chose my first restaurant based on a few things: It wasn’t an American chain, it wasn’t Chinese and it had hightop tables (had I known they had WiFi I might have gotten my laptop and factored that in too). It was a local little sports bar with food so I thought I could get a feel for some local “stuff”. But the people who ran this place spoke English so well I have to assume they weren’t locals. Even some of the people who appeared to be regulars conversed in excellent English with each other so it wasn’t really the experience I was looking for.

But since the food was delicious and they wrapped the napkins around the bottles all cute and fancy it was worth it.

Most of these photos are from the park but that’s because I was busy during most of the daylight hours while I was there. I’ll get some more next time. So here are the photos from San Jose at the La Sabina Park.

So when I got trapped in Costa Rica for the few extra days I ended up staying at the El Punto B & B. It turned out to be an excellent place, it only has five or six units with a theme of colors, it might be the cutest place I’ve ever stayed. My unit had A/C, a ceiling fan, a very hot shower (but I never could get that much heat from the two sinks), two beds, two tables, three chairs and something I’d call a kitchenette but there wasn’t a way to cook anything but coffee (had a sink and medium refrigerator). I had found huge very comfy towels and a washcloth, made me feel very civilized. Outside I had another chair and table with a hammock. There was free internet but only up by the office and they also had what appeared to be a community area with couches, chairs and a television. There was also a nice double-sided page with info about the area (such as suggested restaurants), how to access the WiFi and useful info that all hotels should mimic.

Breakfast was amazing! A mini loaf of bread with jellies and jams and watermelon and pineapple and eggs with coffee and juice. My only real complaint is there just isn’t enough space to unpack (but I have that complaint quite often).

Here are some photos of the room at El Punto and of breakfast (breakfast included coffee and OJ which didn’t get shown in the photos).

It’s right around the corner from a nice outside mall, across from that is a Burger King/Papa John’s/Church’s Fried Chicken and down the street a bit (easy walk) is the downtown area. I’ll stay there again sometime (on purpose). I think they’re pretty close to the Zoo (that’s supposed to be excellent) and a nearby Volcano that was also recommended to me. Plus if I’m flying out of the Liberia airport it’s pretty convenient (I think during the busier season they might provide airport transportation?) and a cab was about $15.

I love the Domus Kahuna unfortunately they were full when I came to Tamarindo a few days ago. It’s this small cute place a block from the main strip (it’s behind the Voodoo Lounge?) and we only found it by accident last trip (we pulled into the “driveway” to turn around and thought we’d check). Last time we had this tiny two bedroom with living room/kitchenette, I’ve just got a plain room this time but it’s perfect and it’s more than 1/2 off what I’ve paid the last few days. No view of the ocean but it’s only 150 meters to town and the beach and that’s better. I think it comes with a minimal breakfast (at least it did last time) and the free WiFi leaks into the room.

If you’ve been to / heading to Tamirindo, it’s the last turn before you get to the circle at the end of “the strip”; go up one block and hang a left and it’s shortly on your right (careful, the road is awful as soon as you turn off the strip).I couldn’t find this place in my GPS so here’s the info N 10°17.917 W 085°50.401. I would hope that would get you to a few meters of the spot.

Sorry, I’ve been off-line lately, I haven’t had ‘net access or felt well enough to do it (I’ve been really really sick the last few days), but I’m feeling much much better today. I’ll give you the scoop on my experiences with the CR medical system later.

I’m in Tamarindo the next few days, I couldn’t get the little hotel that I liked from last trip, Domus Kahuna, but I grabbed a room at the Best Western Vista Villas since I didn’t feel well enough to go looking for a room (wanted a safe bet); I’d normally avoid the US chains when in Costa Rica. Turns out my room has a view of the ocean and so does the pool/returant area (which also has WiFi), it’s a little bit of a hike down to the water but it’s a great view

This is looking like one of the top weather days this trip so far! I think I just need to take it easy for a little bit still. So I’ll drive into town and pick up a few things and then head down and check out the beach.

The proper name of the hotel is Occidental Torremolinos (Occidental owns a bunch of hotels, but I’m not certain if it’s a “chain” or what) it’s a two floor hotel built in a square (hollow in the center) with an outside pool/hot tub and some tables outside in the middle. It is a nice standard “American” hotel and it’s located just off the edge of a busy area but it’s not too busy by the hotel. The room is standard “Holiday Inn” but with nicer finishing touches it was about $80 for the night.

I walked around last night and my only real complaint is there were too many American chain restaurants (there were a lot of Chinese restaurants but not in one particular area, they were scattered all over) the neighborhood seemed fine. Lots of Internet cafe’s all over the place.

This is a boring review but I always have a hard time deciding where to stay when in big cities and San Jose is pretty big so I thought I’d offer the basics.

Breakfast is free, in a nice dining room, it had juices, fruits, some Kellogg’s cereals, scrambled eggs and some kind of sausages but a bit below a full blown buffet but as included breakfasts go, it was great. Air conditioner, ceiling fan, TV, hair dryer and coffee pot in the room. There was a phone in the room which definitely not standard in the costa areas but I guess I’ve had them downtown and near the airport. The have a few old Windows machines with free Internet off the lobby, but WiFi is $8 a day (I think it’s accessible from the rooms too). Free semi-guarded parking too.

It’s very near the big Parque Metropolitano La Sabana, if you’ve ever seen a map of San Jose it’s the huge park in the middle of town. I haven’t had a chance to go in it yet this trip, I did go in about nine years ago so we’ll see how it changed. I mistakenly stayed in San Jose my first trip, I only say mistakenly in that I just needed to spend the night until friends showed up the next day, but the San Jose airport is not in San Jose (just like the Detroit airport is not in Detroit) I should have stayed neared the airport in that case.

If I had to stay in town I wouldn’t hesitate to stay there again (and I decided to stay Friday and leisurely leave on Saturday).Hotel Occidental Torremolinos
Calle 40 y Avenida 5 bis
San Jose, Costa Rica

Phone: 011 (506) 2 222-5266
Fax: 011 (506) 2 255-3167
San Jose West, San Jose, Costa Rica

This was the easiest layover I think I’ve ever had. I needed to go to gate E29 and when I got off the plane I was at E31, right next door! Usually I have to traipse all over the place but I still figured I’d have a long ways to go to get food and convienently there was a great food court around E25-ish. So there was no rushing no running it’s was great. I managed to get McBreakfast, pick up a cold sandwich for the flight and there was free WiFi to do a quick check of my mail.

And the flight? I have a whole row to myself. Actually, if everyone spread out I think every one could have their own row (out of the back 9 rows there are only 5 of us). The pilot thought it was a little bumpy for a while because of the tropical storm so it was a while before they passed out snacks but I thought it was fine.

So I’m in some restaurant having the best Philly Steak and Cheese sandwich ever! It”s more of a real steak sandwich than a sliced one. The French Onion Soup was great too, but it was way too hot!

But I have no idea where I am! Some Bistro on Washtenaw Road near Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti. The name doesn”t appear to be written anywhere inside the restaurant…

Nice place. With lots of TVs for the sports crowd, but not really a sports bar. A few pool tables here too. Free WiFi too…

I’ll have to check the sign on the way out for the location and update this later!
Later:
Ahh, it”s just called the “Bistro Bar and Grill”, it does say “Bistro” all over the place in there…

It’s at 4735 Washtenaw and I’m still not sure if it’s Ann Arbor or Ypsilanti but it’s in the area of St Joseph’s hospital.

So in Cabano at the Cafe Azucar having an air conditioned American breakfast. And to top it off, I’ve got access to some WiFi, very civilized.

If you’re in the lower Nicoya Peninsula you’ll probably be in Cabano at some time so you should stop by at the Cafe Azucar. It’s in the blue building behind the Banco Nacional. We had lunch there the other day and it was delicious then too. As an extra bonus, they make their ice out of bottled water so it’s okay to drink.

Note: I don’t think the WiFi is theirs so no promises on the WiFi…

So my back and shoulder has been killing me all this week (stayed home two days). I really haven’t even been on-line much since sitting at a keyboard has been uncomfortable. You know if I haven’t been on-line it’s gotta be bugging me…

I went to the OMT (kind of the opposite of a chiropractor, they do the muscles not the bones, Osteopathic Musculature/Manipulative Therapy?) twice this week but that’s not really fixing it. The drugs that really work knock me out, so that’s not a great option; I bet I’ve averaged 18 hours a day the last few days. So today I went to my “regular” Doctor’s office, but she wasn’t in (they rotate on Saturdays) but they guy who checked out took care of me, a few shots into the muscle seem to be helping.

So since I was out (and not on the dizzy drugs) it seemed like a good time to run over to work to make sure some stuff that needs to run overnight was a-okay (you can’t upload if anyone is actually using it and it won’t run if you don’t upload it) but it looked like everything was uploaded just fine. Now I’m grabbing a Wendy’s Spicy Chicken, with free WiFi (Joy & Telegraph in Redford, MI), and then a quick stop at the grocery store…

It’s not really such a busy day in general, but it’s pretty busy for lately…

These Chicken Nachos are delicious! I’m at the Restaurante Tabacon in Jaco, it’s right across the street from Planet Food (closed for years but still a landmark for giving directions). They come with everything, including sour creme, beans and guacamole (I did not get the latter two). It’s a huge bowl for 3,000 colons ($6), it’s not a appetizer, it’s a meal.

I think I really enjoyed my food lat time here too. They used to be a pizza parlor and I think that was really good too, if I recall back 3-4 years correctly…

Other details:

Actually it’s more that my shirt detects WiFi. I hope for the next blogger meetup we go somewhere with WiFi so I can wear my WiFi shirt! Watch the animation to the right…

Yes, I know I’ll look like a total dork geek, but isn’t that the point of a shirt like this?

So Apple redid the iPod line-up yesterday:

So I’m on my way to Chicago to see a variety of bloggers (to see who, follow the updates over the next few days) and I stop in Kalamazoo (Michigan) for some gas. After I get off the highway, I’m driving along and the truck in front of me swerves and I see a tire hurtling towards my car. I swerved but it managed to clip my bicycle (which is on the back of the car) and and rip it off the rack and drag the bike for a little bit before I’m able to pull over.

It does turn out there is a Jeep minus a tire that I didn’t notice during my swerving, turns out it was out on a test drive from an auto repair shop. They said to bring them the bill for fixing the bicycle and the rack. They sent me to a local bike repair shop and the end result is they’ve done $90 in repairs and then decided that I should get the bike replaced and it’s 3 hours later and I’m still in K’zoo. Everyone is closed now, and the repair shop is closed for the weekend and I didn’t think to get a home number.

Arrgh!!!! Why do accidents happen on the way to places and not on the way home? Of course it could have been way worse but the point was I’m bringing the bike to Chicago for the purpose of biking. I would have taken the train otherwise, I love the train, the station is a mile from my house and I don’t have to worry about traffic or paying for parking, etc.

On a side note I’m in Bennigan’s right now, who has free WiFi (always a bonus) which I’ll keep in mind for the future, eating their delicious Guinness Glazed Chicken Stir Fry. Yummy food and the ability to access the ‘net always helps!

This was supposed to be a nice relaxing weekend and now I’m pretty cranky and stressed now. And did I mention that that I’m three hours behind schedule now? I’ll be better tomorrow, I’m just venting for now and telling you about the exciting part of my day. Now to decide how much further I should drive tonight…

So I spent some time on Drummond Island (in Michigan just off the east side of the upper peninsula) a few weeks ago. You can see a better perspective of where this is by checking out this map. Note the solid line that zig-zags around it, that’s the Canadian international border. You have to take a ferry (from DeTour on the Michigan Upper Peninsula side) to get over to the island, it was great both times, didn’t have to wait for the next ferry (only once and hour) although we just made the ferry and I had to part at a 45 degree angle to fit! But at least I didn’t have to wait an extra hour. Since there is only one ferry you only have to pay to go there, there ride back is free.

I’ve been there before but only when it was very cold. It was beautiful weather the whole time, it was great to bicycle around. The stars were so clear and I had an excellent view of the Perseids Meteor shower.

The internet access was lacking though. They offer hi-speed free wireless at the chamber of commerce but the DSL was down for the whole weekend, , I was starting to get the shakes!!! FYI, the Chamber of Commerce is kind of the Visitor’s Center and is located at “The Four Corners”, everyone knows that’s the intersection with both the blinking red-light and a stop sign Plus, while I was there I got to hang out at the Northwood which is where everyone hangs out in all the Jill Traynor Mystery books. I had actually started re-reading New America (Book 4) while I was on the island.

So it’s a very relaxed atmosphere there, which is good as long as you want to relax. That’s all that I wanted to do so it was perfect, well, except for the internet being broken that was a problem for me (they did fix it sometime the morning I left) but not so much for most people….

So I picked up a Buffalo WHR-G54S Wireless Broadband Router because you can never have too many routers in your house but mostly because ever since wireless existed I’ve wanted someway to bridge across my house (mostly to hook some old non-WiFi equipment that was in the living room hooked to the stereo) for older equipment that wireless wasn’t an option. So I just wanted a box with an ethernet and an antenna that would then connect to the network. The stuff I tried was too expensive (although that was a few years back) didn’t work as advertised or didn’t pass Appletalk packets. In general, my favorite home router is the Netgear brand wireless routers but I thought I’d try thing.

So the packaging on the Buffalo WHR-G54S made me think it would work (or that I could make it work). It seemed like a nice wireless router but it looked like it wouldn’t do what I wanted, but more importantly I knew I could make it work with the DD-WRT project. This is pretty much a way to put a different OS inside the router and it supports a lot more options, it’s kind of a mini-linux (it might actually be all linux now, mildly confused on that) and there are a few projects like this out there. The most important option (for me) is by being a bridge (a mega-bridge that I can hook 5 computers up to). But it’ll also support radius authentication (if you need it, it’s a big deal), a mini web-server and even a way to power (and charge) your internet cafe.

Warning the content gets pretty geeky from here on.So you have to flash it with a new OS which is mildly tricky, I recommend printing the instructions and crossing out all the non-relevant stuff. It was pretty simple once I found the parts to ignore. Once done it was pretty much how you’d expect any wireless router to be (but better).

It had an option to be a the bridge I wanted this meant I could take any old computer that had ethernet and make it wireless by just plugging it in the router and it would connect to my wireless connect in the other room. I told it what my network was and it was ready to go. This would also be handy for running operating systems that don’t have support for some odd wireless card or USB dongle. Not only would it let me hook up 4 devices it could actually use the 5th port too (that’s probably overkill but it does it anyways).

It’ll run a little web server too. I haven’t figured out all the parts but I will. What I’d like is to set it up like a regular router and as soon as you connect it’ll give you a default web page welcoming you to the network (I figure if I can make this work I can more easily convince my local hangouts to WiFi.)

As a router goes, it supports the blocking options that many routers support but it has 10 different definable options by IP number than you can use (plus you can block by keyword and URL).

Other stuff: It supports multiple DDNS Services (Dynamic Domain Name Services), multiple VLANs, and some VPN stuff. Also some QoS options (Quality of Services) which might be handy if you don’t want those computers sucking up all your bandwidth (just lower their limit). You can telnet in and all sorts of fun stuff.

So I’m at the pace to get a bone scan (actually this was last week, I’m just finishing up this post now). I think I mentioned I’ve had some on and off problems with my hand/wrist, I had a CAT scan the other week (nothing to see) and now I’m up to a bone scan. So this morning I had some radioactive “dye” (something that attaches to phosphates I believe she said) injected and they stuck me in some machine that watched me for a few minutes to see how it flows through my body. Then I had to come back in 3 hours to get more images taken, not so bad except the center is in Ypsi and I work 30 miles away (but I’ve gotten some e-mail done, an order done and picked up some supplies for work at Target).

Not related to the tests but in the morning I had someone in Nuclear Medicine named Kelly helping me out, now this was odd to me since I had an ex-girlfriend (fiancee actually) named Kelly who worked in the Nuclear Medicine department at a local hospital. A little bit of a coincidence, no…

So now I’m waiting to go back in. They have WiFi but I can’t get past the “accept their internet policy page”. And I left my book in the car, so I’m really bored now….So they finished the bone scan and while the image on the screen was only a few images high I could clearly see a glowing spot on my right hand where it hurts (the left hand didn’t have any spots like that) so I’m hoping they can diagnose the problem or at least know where to focus the search. I go back Friday for the results…

Another coincidence (making it a weird bigger coincidence) – the afternoon Nuclear Medicine person was also named Kelly!!

On a side note, since they injected me with radioactive stuff, they mentioned that if I have to pee that I should go and not hold it in any more than necessary. Kinda made me nervous. Certainly didn’t encourage me to go pee, I didn’t want the radioactive “stuff” pissing passing through that part of my body…

No not that iPhone. The iPhone that’s been out for a while, the one that Linksys/Cisco owns the trademark to (but debating that is not the purpose of this thread). It’s a regular old looking phone, kinda cellphone-ish, it’s cordless and you can carry it around the house and it connects wirelessly to your Windows PC and can make and receive Skype calls. Your Skype friend’s list shows up in the display and you can dial from there. I thought it was pretty cool and it was on the odd clearance rack at Target (the UPC on the box didn’t scan and the had an extra price tag on it, like they received it by accident but needed to tag it to get rid of it) it was a great deal! It’s even got a spot for me to plug in a headset!

I like Skype, it’s a great idea and even though I only intermittently use it, it always seems to work for me. You can call other computers for free from your computer to and from anywhere in the world (this includes conference calls and video calls). You can call land lines in the US or Canada for just pennies a minute with no monthly fees (or unlimited for $30 a year) from anywhere in the world. Calling other countries cost a bit more depending on the location. Getting a number where people can call you at your computer (no matter what computer you are at, anywhere in the world) is about $60 a year. So going on vacation, it doesn’t matter where you are just load up Skype and connect to the net and people can call you! Get several skype numbers, one that’s close to Grandma and one that’s close to the kids in college and you’re just a local call away for each of them.

Then phone’s charging and so I haven’t even used it yet. But I can’t wait to try!FYI, they do make some other models of the iPhone that don’t require a computer, they just need WiFi to work. I see that as a minor problem in some places since you need a web browser to activate the Wifi (Panera, McDonald’s, Border’s, etc.). And they’re a lot more expensive. When they get smaller and cheaper, or better yet when they come built into my cell phone…

So I stopped by the Midnight Espresso Cafe in Dearborn. I really like it there but it’s generally pretty smokey (lots of smokers hang out and smoke cigarettes or a hooka) but they didn’t look too busy so I stopped by. WOW! They just renovated and made it much bigger and it seems brighter too!

They’ve got a wide variety on the menu, I’m guessing much of it is Arabic in origin. Whenever I bring people here they generally find something interesting that they like. I generally get the BBQ Chicken Quesadillas and that’s what I’m getting today.

Bonus, I pulled out the laptop hook up my phone as a modem and realized I connected to a network! So they’ve got WiFi now too (or else the business next door does), with their new larger non-smoking section and WiFi I think I’ll be here a bit more often now.

So we’re staying at the The El Sano Banano and we keep adding days to our stay. It’s a great hotel in that it’s located right in the center of Montezuma and it’s got all the necessary requirements for a hotel. It’s got air conditioning which to me is a must and not that many hotels have it (and it’s brand new, so it works very well), private bathrooms/showers, the showers have heat and it’s only about $65 US a night. There’s no internet but I just found out that the Ylang Ylang (the sister hotel) has free WiFi but I just found that out so I haven’t tried it yet.

It’s cute but plain vanilla, just beds and a TV in the room, no chairs and no desk. It’s tiny, only 12 rooms, but many of the places are like that. Free breakfast in the morning, it’s delicious(!), I get Huevos Rancheos, which is eggs and salsa on a tortilla but no frijoles (beans). The dinning rooms shows free movies with dinner; I assume the legality of this is questionable, but I haven’t bothered to quiz them on the legalities of international copyright and are they paying the proper fees (my spanish stinks and no one’s English is that good). But pretty much you’re wandering the streets or beech or at a restaurant or people-watching or on the beach.

I’d definitely recommend this place for the price, location, A/C and the rest of what I’ve mentioned above. The A/C really helps the enjoyability of it, the water pressure could be better (sometimes it’s awesome, but sometimes it’s not working). No one we’ve talked to has air conditioning, but they’re staying at places for half the price but we really like the A/C…

The photo is the view out my window.

So wireless Internet connections are limited around here (all of Costa RIca). There are computers at Internet cafes (all over) but most don’t have wireless (WiFi), actually I haven’t seen any cafes with that yet (just a few restaurants). Some are willing to let me plug in my laptop (which is almost as easy as wireless) but many don’t understand the concept. I want to do it this was because I type and pick photos before I ever go to the cafe, I don’t want to sit at the cafe, I just do it when I have a few minutes here and a few minutes here and there (99% of what you read and see is picked and typed already). Then when I get to the cafe I hit send and I just have to wait a few minutes to send/recieve e-mails and post items (photos take longer).

FYI, Internet is way cheap everywhere here, about 20 colones a minute which is about $2.40 an hour. Some are very slow though…

So here’s a few shots from the balcony of our hotel, the wet stuff in the background is the Pacific (click the thumbnails for a larger photo). I really like the Hotel Balcon del Mar, it’s got everything I need. We’ve actually got a two bedroom apartment so there’s lots of room and I like that. The pocket camerea I used for these photos wasn’t wide-angle enough to photograph the room, I’ll try the other camera later.

Well, it’s not perfect, it could have WiFi (wireless internet), an elevator (Mark says there are 63 steps to our floor) and a better English speaking person. I can make it pretty difficult for people with all the questions I like to ask, imagine if they don’t speak English?!? On a side note, I was a little disappointed about the included breakfast this trip, it used to be made to order but now it’s a buffet (not made my way).

Today I was trying to figure out where to go when we leave here, I thought since I like the hotel I’d try to figure out where the people who own it might have other hotels. That conversation didn’t get me very far. Wouldn’t it make sense to have a list of other hotels that they have in there “chain”? They could keep it in the hotel room for you to look at and think “hey, maybe I’ll stay there some time…”, but of course no such list exists. If I tell them where I’m going the can tell me what’s close though

So far today, went in the Pacific Ocean a few times. Went for a wander and picked up a few things, checked out some car rental places (everyone is out until the 1st or 2nd). I’m typing this at a little restaurant that gave me a huge sandwich of BBQ chicken with pineapple and onion on a pita, it was delicious!!! The restaurant is “Caliche’s Wishbone” and it’s on the strip in Jaco (between Pops and Planet Food).

So I’m eating at the new Olga’s in Allen Park (Michigan) and I just went to plug my laptop into my cell phone to check my e-mail and the WiFi network “Olgas” popped up! And voila, free WiFi! And to think I thought I was afraid I going to get a crappy signal in the not-near-the-window spot where they put me.

FYI, it’s totally dead here and I got a great parking spot. Is there a football game or something on?!?

So I took a survey and they gave me this code from the results of a survey, but it appears gave the same code to everyone (and it doesn’t require any registration). So really, it’s just free WiFi for me and I’m showing you my coupon (I’m not recommending you actually use it).

Locations include (but not limited to) Avis, Barnes & Noble, Caribou Coffee, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, The UPS Store and a lot of airports. Check the web site for more locations. The original (much larger) coupon says it does not include their McDonald’s locations (but I haven’t tried yet).

I’m at B & N and there is a flyer that says you can get WiFi for as low as $1.99 if you are a Yahoo DSL subscriber, but I couldn’t find any info at their site related to that but I did find this. Seems like a great deal if you have them as your service provider!

Remember when coupons in the newspaper used to be perforated so it was easier to get them off of the page?

I’m at BK grabbing a bite (the WiFi is down again) and clipping (tearing) a few coupons since I’m on my way to Farmer Jack’s to get some desperately needed groceries and it’s just not going as smooth as could be. Maybe this is why I haven’t been doing coupons so much lately, although the poor selection might have something to do with it.

So I had some of the best Coca-Cola* yesterday at Pangea’s Pizza in Traverse City. It was just extra tasty, I’m not sure why. And not only was it served in fancy old Coca-Cola glasses it was served by the charming Rachel** who attended to all my cuisine related needs. That, a slice of pepperoni pizza, some on-line access and I was all set. I was hoping for more dead animals on my pizza but I would have had to order a whole pizza.

I mentioned WiFi availability earlier today: I could see a few local access points from inside the restaurant (none of which I think were Pangea’s) but eventually I’d lose the signal, the same if I hooked up with my cell phone. Not sure why. Probably something with all the pleasantness radiating from Rachel was interfering with my digital*** reception.

* – In case you were wondering the best Coca-Cola I ever had was at the Chicago Aquarium in February of 2002. This is fountain Coca-Cola, in the bottles it’s generally the same, unless it’s in the glass bottles where it’s extra delicious.

** – I’m thinking Rachel was spelled slightly differently (sorry).

*** – Pleasantness is a full spectrum analog signal in case you didn’t know. It’s supposed to overwhelm everything.

So I’m up north in Michigan at Lake Leelanau / Sutton’s Bay (top left of the Lower Peninsula). I’ve been around here and Traverse city the past few days. I’ve noticed the smaller towns are more often than not to have WiFi you pay for. Lot of free places in Traverse City but I can connect my cell phone to my PowerBook and get pretty good speed (EVDO), but it the rest of the area I’m roaming. I noticed a few were inexpensive to pay for, but I think they’d be better if you were in that town for a week (or the summer) and it’d be great deal. I did notice one of the networks gave me five free minutes, which was enough to sync my mail and check a few web pages.

The big bonus is my Aunt’s brother lives less than a mile away and I can stop by his driveway to sync my mail (getting new mail and sending mail that I composed off-line) and post any blog entries I’ve written off-line with my blog client (Ecto). It’s definitely not hi-tech but I’m surviving….

For a while my local Burger King had WiFi. Then it only worked if I tweaked with the TCP/IP settings. Then it was intermittent. Eventually it died and I had to use the wired port (or my Airport Express adaptor) and that pretty much died. I can honestly say I’ve eaten here less since then. I mean if I gotta be WiFi-less or mess with my phone as a modem I can go anywhere, right?

Today I popped in for a quick snack. Wasn’t 100% sure if I was going to hook up the modem but I knew I wanted to type a few things. I opened my laptop and got the wonderful message “Do you want to join the network ‘Burger King’?”. I love WiFi….

(I think it’s gone again)

It’s such a great day I went up to Michigan State University to wander around. It’s a great day, it was a little hot for rollerblading though. Campus seems pretty covered with WiFi, I like that

I’m off to Charlie Kangs for dinner. That would be “beef with broccoli, with no vegetables, but I want the broccoli (just not the other ones)”…

So Dearborn isn’t really the kind of town to have a bar and laundromat all-in-one. But my around-the-corner bar is right across the street from a laundromat and the bar just added WiFi so it works for me. It was time to wash the comforter for my bed, I’ve got a pretty big washer but it’s just too big to fit, hence the laundromat. Plus it’s one of the days they’ve got happy hour food, so I’ve got pizza and wings to go with my Long Island and it’s not too smokey. I’ve got all this and laundry cooking across the street, it couldn’t be much better unless they had outside seating

It took them over three hours to decide to finally cancel our flight. That’s three hours after it was scheduled to depart, that’s not even factoring in that they had to have some idea there would be problems before the flight was even supposed to leave . We had a plane but no pilots, you’d think that wouldn’t be so hard to keep track of and keep us informed. I know I’m a little crabby from traveling but I’ve definitely been treated better than I was with the way the system worked tonight. If they would have canceled it hours before that I’d have been fine with it but I should have been home two hours ago and I’m just finally in a hotel. They’ve got free WiFi in the lobbys/resturants which is a bonus, but I’d rather have the A/C working…

Please let me clarify: I understand things can be beyond their control, but at 7:30 when they are telling us at when the pilots land at LaGuadia around 7:45 they’ll taxi over and it takes until 10 PM to tell us they can’t get pilots they don’t really care about the customers. All they have to do was keep us informed. If they would have told me at 8 I would have gladly went over to the hotel, ate and gone to bed. They just dragged it out and the story they gave us doesn’t make sense.

We didn’t get anything but a hotel room and a $7.00 voucher for dinner (that’s about 1/2 a burger at the hotel, everything at the airport was closed). Anyone have a good number or address at Delta for me to complain to? Please let me know. (Delta, if I misheard and there’s a free round-trip ticket in the mail for me, I’ll gladly correct this post…)

So I’m at the Cairo Airport ready to head to JFK and they’ve got FREE WiFi! In case you haven’t noticed while things are cheap here, nothing is free. So we’re very early for our flight but I’m ready, two weeks was long enough to be away from home. Egypt was wonderful, but I’m ready for my own bed and to have the ability to drink tap water and not be afraid to accidentally rinse after I brush my teeth.

In Luxor we’re staying at the Sofitel Pavilion Winter Palace it’s pretty grand (but our rooms need a refurbish) and I’ve got a great view (see photos).

We’ve been to Karnak (I just posted a few more pictures some with people in it go give a sense of scale) and the Luxor Temple (shots also posted, the night shots are from here) and the temple and more. I’ve got so many more photos (and stories) but not enough time…

We did a sunset boat ride. And tomorrow we’re crossing the nile to see the sun rise. I’ve got to be up and ready to leave at 4:30 am, plus I’ve got to be packed because we go the ship right after and we’ll be on the Nile for 4 days!

I’m so excited to not have to pack again for 3 nights! And it’s the boat, so it doesn’t have to be “airplane neat” just so I can carry it all!

I’m assuming that the Internet will be sparse for a while since I was told that ATM machines probably won’t be at most of our stops (I’m assuming WiFi is more sparse than ATMs are).

As a reminder here are my flickr Egypt photos .

So my local around the corner bar, JB Bamboozles in Dearborn, has just added WiFi and so here I am having a drink, eating, checking my mail and (of course) I’m blogging about it.

The other bonus of being here today is that I’ve been here on Friday’s and having the fish during lent and I miss my hot wings. So I’m having the hot wings that I’d normally get during Friday happy hour (although the perch has been excellent!).

In case you were wondering I am the only person here with a laptop. Heck I’m the only here not smoking. The rest of the crew here is regulars (way more regular than me) and people from the Ford plant(?). And of course the bartender, Jane is here too (sigh).

So I got an envelope from the travel agency today. This is the one that’s supposed to have the tickets for my flights in it. Did you see that, I said supposed to? Yes, there were no tickets in my envelope. Nor was there a receipt for an eTicket of any sort in there either. How annoying was that?!? And of course I didn’t see it until after they closed for the day. I see this as being one of those crisises that make me crazy until a few days before the trip leaves.

Of course they’ll tell me this is normal that they don’t have them yet, but the confusion is easy enough to solve: just don’t include the memo that says they are in the envelope! At least include my flight info (I see that’s on-line, but that’s another story). I didn’t see a name badge in there either which is listed as mailed (but it might have been mixed in with the luggage tags, although they weren’t pre-printed, I’d assume the name badge would be).

And in the envelope there was this carrying case for your ticket (but no ticket) that just screamed “I’m a tourist”, I don’t know if I’ll actually use it. They sent me some other little gift thing like that before (I want to say some kind of wallet). Send me something useful, like a plastic power adaptor and a list of WiFi hot spots!

The did have a list of all the hotels and web addresses (when available), so I will be able to find out more information about them (and if they have internet access). They sent me a more detailed itinerary but I kinda thought by this point it’d have the dates listed and not just “Day 5”, etc…

So Panera (which in my opinion is the fastest restaurant ever) has implemented using those little pagers they give you at restaurants when you have to wait to get a table. Usually they are calling my name before I even get to the pickup area so this seems like a total waste. It’s something else to handle while getting change and your drink and napkins and stuff. Plus these pagers are the ones shaped like coasters, you don’t really have anything to “coast”…

This post brought to you via free Wifi at Panera

So Aimee Mann was in Ann Arbor tonight. It was in the Michigan Theater, I kept thinking Hill Auditorium and then I realized it was somewhere else. Obviously I figured it out, it was right around the corner, a really nice small venue and I was in the front row. It was a great seat, no one could even really be in front of you. I’ve been there before but I can’t remember for what (maybe something jazzy with Lou?). I got a Philly Steak sandwich and then a Long Island at the place that used to be Dooley’s. And the whole town appears to have WiFi (blogging and booze, now that’s just a bad idea).

Aimee was great!!! She was excellent to listen to and interesting to watch. It was the last show of the tour so she kinda blamed the technical glitches on that. This would be the guitar (from hell) that wouldn’t tune, she thought it sounded so bad she stopped in the middle of the song and then apologized about a gazillion times. I didn’t get any pictures (that’ll come in Audra’s review) and he didn’t play some of her classics: Red Vines, Voices Carry and the 3rd one I had in my head when I started typing this sentence.

Audra Kubat was the opening act. She was great too. I’m not even going to try to describe her, if I did it’d be some kind of quirky earthy tragic(?) poet chick, (that’s a compliment) and I think that’s what makes me like her. She’ll get a separate review later.

So I haven’t felt great this past week. Been sick / fighting being sick (mostly losing). The up side is I’ve been able to think, generally when I’m sick I’m all fuzzy and can’t concentrate and feel blah. With this, it’s the same but less, I’m a little fuzzy but not so much so that I sit on the couch and do the potato thing all day.

Today it was sunny so I ran (drove) up to the library to return a book and went to the cafe for some soup and some WiFi access. It’s the cafe with the goldfish on the table. So I ended up with chili and a Sprite. I’ll post this then head on home and pick up some Thai on the way home…

Technorati Tags: bored

On the goldfish: I think they’re down to just a few from when they stated using them (they were on the tables I think at their grand opening). Now that I look around the only one I see is the one on my table…

So I’m at Panera and there are all these college age students here with their laptops (I’m sure a few are older and a few are younger), more than I’ve ever seen here before. My guess is that a good portion of them are home from college for the weekend and their parent’s homes don’t have the high-speed internet access that they’ve gotten used to at college. So they’re here using the free WiFi. At least that’s my theory (and I’m sticking to it).

One thing I’ve noticed other times when at Panera is that the network always seems to work (start working) better if I launch Internet Explorer first, I’m not sure why, but whenever I’m at a hotspot and having problems that seems to get me going. I think it helps at other places but it really helps at Panera (it might be the user agreement they have you agree to before proceeding).
I noticed an extra network when I was trying to connect called “Kristy” and also noticed an iBook user who had all sorts of windows open (but none had web pages). We tried the above IE “trick” but I guess the new iBooks don’t ship with it. It was her first time trying to connect to a WiFi hotspot so there might be some other problem.
We never did get it going, I think it’s something in the “internet connect” options, she somehow created a 802.1x (point to point?) network and we couldn’t delete it. I had something similar happen once upon a time and it seems to me it was a bit of a problem until I was able to delete it, but I don’t know what I did to do that.

So it’s something in the front end. The plate where tires get bolted on. I actually thought it was something like that (I checked to make sure the bolts were tight).

(Technical words that I didn’t really write down or listen to were removed to protect the non-technical)
Them (Sales and Repair guys): So it’s the thingy in the front end where the tires attach to the front of the car. (Or something like that)
Me: I’ve had a lot of work done in the front before…? (they generally have good warrantees so I wanted to make sure it wasn’t something I already did)
Sales guy: No, not at all, you’ve had ____, _____, _____ and _____ done before.
(I’m sure my eyes glaze over like I see when I’m explaining gigabytes and ram and firewire and WiFi to others)
Me: That’s not all in the front end?
Repair guy: Laughs (at sales guy and says) yeah that’s all in the front end.

So we work out the details and such. The right side is worse but I get both sides done. Like I said, I do try to take care of it.

Sales guy: It’ll be about two hours
Me: You sure?
Repair guy: Yeah that’s about right.
Me: You’re really sure? Four hours is okay, but I’ll go do something else if it’s really longer than two hours.
Them: They pretty much promise it’ll be about 2 hours… (We’ll see)

If it’s not ready, I know they’ll blame it on getting the part. Like I said, even 8 hours would have been fine, I just want to go do stuff. And it’s cold and wet (wet snow, actually) out so it’s a hassle to walk home if it’s only 2 hours. If it wasn’t wet, I’d just bundle up and rollerblade home and not think twice about it.

So I’m at Burger King, which is about 20-25% of the way home. I’m eating the wonderful Chicken Tendercrisp sandwich and unlimited Coca-Cola and enjoying theur semi-wireless Internet access (which is pretty much what I’d probably be doing if I was home). It’s only semi-wireless since it’s wired but my AirPort Express makes it wireless for me…

So I’m up north, over at a neighbor’s who mentioned I could use their WiFi. Actually I’m in their driveway…

It’s like night and day with the high speed ‘net access. I’ve only been here ten minutes and I’m happy as a clam (whatever that means).

These guys are going to be my new best friends the next time I’m up here!

It got to be a hot one today. They said 97 today and I don’t think they were exaggerating! I’ve bounced all around today. Heather’s house was my base and I bounced between there and the paths by the water at Northwestern U and downtown Evanston each a few times. And I drank about 10 gallons of water, coca-cola and Gatorade. I also took a bunch of photos which I’ll add later once I get back to a WiFi zone (I’ll post a few and add a bunch to my flickr feed). It’s still pretty hot out even with the sun down (even with a breeze).

So I had power all the way down here on the train (yes, I’m in Chicago now) which was a treat, if only they had WiFi. I plugged in the the laptop before I went to bed and the darn battery charger cord came out 1/8th of an inch and now the thing is dead. I was going to take it with me when I left for Evanston (my plan was to blog, eat and shop all day, with some rollerblading in there too). My battery lasts a decent time but it seems to take forever to charge… I’m just annoyed because it’s only out of juice because it slipped, not ’cause it ran out. Maybe I’ll have to be geekless part of the day.

So I’m at the The Little Cafe’ on the Avenue (Dearborn) and in the middle of my table instead of flowers or a candle or something I’ve got goldfish!!! That’s kinda unique…

They have WiFi too! Plus, I didn’t realize that had food too, I thought they just had drinks and desserts, I would have been here way before now…

From the time you get up in the morning until the time you go to bed at night, how many different digital/electronic devices do you use on any given day? Please consider listing them, as it would be interesting to see what everyone comes up with!
A timer automatically turns on a light about 10 minutes before my alarm, the digital alarm clock goes off (playing a CD), I use my remote to turn lights on and off, I use my garage door opener, I play my iPod, I use my cell phone (which is also my day planner), I use the computer at work (and that’s all before lunch).

I start my car with the electronic start, I use the digital counting machine to return pop cans and bottles (on my lunch break, the bottle machine was broken when I bought groceries yesterday and they were still in my car), I use my work cell phone, the copier, my work phone, my laptop, the printer, my answering machine, my TV remote, my stereo remote, my TiVo remote, the timer on my stove, my home computer, my home phone, my other home computer to sync my palm/phone. I used many of those multiple times. That’s not even counting the inadvertent use of things like the Wifi router in my home and other devices on timers and I’m sure there were many more but none come to mind this second…

From Monday Madness.

I know I mentioned it before but I finally had an Enormous Omelet Sandwich at Burger King. It’s delicious!!! I ate the whole thing, I almost always never finish a whole huge burger. Two sausage patties, cheese, egg, bacon all on a huge sub-like bun. I had to rush to get out of the house because it was 10:30 and I was afraid they were about to stop serving but I made it and it was delicious!!!

My BK whine of the week is that the combo prices are listed next to the sandwich. But that’s not the price if you get coffee or juice; the logical choice for breakfast.

BK whine #2, the WiFi is down again, but the wired ports are working so with my handy dandy Airport Express I’m good to go!

So I’m in the hospital today. Mom’s getting some surgery on her shoulder. We had to be here by 6:15 am, did you know it’s still dark out then?!? She’s done already and the Doc said everything went perfect and she’ll be out of recover in a few hours. Yeah!!

I’m posting this from the hospital via their free WiFi! Actually it’s more likely it’s an accidentally open access point, but I can’t be sure, there’s free coffee and kleenex, why not WiFi?

So it’s another nice Saturday in the Detroit area (Dearborn actually). Lots of sunshine and it’s not too cold either. Got the car washed, went to the library, ran a few errands and got and sandwich at Burger King. I’m posting this at the WiFi BK, their WiFi is semi-screwed up again but I managed to get around it get it to work.

Need to do some organizing around the house but I’ll wait until the sun is shining into that room. Not much of an exciting weekend but it’s nice to relax and get a bit more sleep than usual…

I’m out and about running errands (free WiFi at Panera and a lemonade) and it’s gotten sunny out. After the fog weather advisories a few hours ago this is a very welcome change. I’ve been to the doctor (allergy shots), Target (good deals and some normal stuff), Kohls (some awesome clearance items) and the Sprint PCS store (they seem the think that Sprint is still going to release the ultra-geeky Samsung i-550 Palm OS phone!) all before I’m normally even done eating breakfast!

Later: Plus I got to go to the Apple Store (fyi, they just did a speed bump on the powerbooks) and I got to visit my mom at work and I washed my car…