The Untethered Quest: Part I

I have Internet at my house. An Internet connection that has been faithful to me for many a year now, but every once in awhile this intense cauldron of boredom would like a change of venue.

My laptop has been sorrowfully tied to my apartment like a common desktop console for some time now and my more technically advanced friends have informed me that it doesn't really work well that way. Hence the name, I suppose.

In my last city of residence, my laptop was very mobile, having staunchly refused to pay anybody for Internet when I could steal it from others. I was friendly with many a coffee shop employee during my time of ordering a glass of water and sitting their for 5 hours on the Internet looking up....stuff. But I finally gave up the ghost when I moved and got Bellsouth Internet. It helped some that they were running $10 special at the time for new customers, but I digress.

Fast forward to today and my long and annoying quest to find a free Internet connection somewhere in this town. I have travelled far and wide, to the high hills of Ridgeland to the woods of...well, Flowood.

Sadly, I have not found my holy grail. Many a cafe' and restaurant trumpets their connectivity...Borders, McAlisters....Krystal's(Yeah, I'm just as confused by that one as you are.). But none, so far, have given me what I need.

My first stop was Borders. Powered by Verizon, which means I'd have to pay...so no go. Did spend another 45 minutes perusing and buying books I couldn't afford, being very counter-productive to the whole being on a budget. Oh, well...

I then stopped at McAlisters. I fired up the laptop and got a message saying strong connectivity...and unsecured. Awesome. So your intrepid traveler stood in line for 10 minutes, ordered lunch she couldn't afford and sat down to play on her favorite sites.

All I got was an error message from Internet explorer....(Sigh) After a quick inquiry with the staff at McAlisters, I come to discover that their WiFi hasn't worked since Hurricane Gustav. Nice to know before I spent $9.00 on lunch.

Next stop, Cups Espresso Cafe. More cautious this time, I peaked in to see not one, but several patrons surfing the Internet completely ignoring the people sitting at the tables next to them. Excellent! I have this overwhelming sense of moocher's guilt these days so I ordered the cheapest coffee I could and started up my computer and crossed my fingers. The lovely MSN Windows woman's voice gives me a soft, "Good Afternoon" and I sigh in relief.

Internet up: Check. I turn on my media player software to update my player; no go. OK...maybe there isn't enough bandwidth. I play on the Internet for awhile then decide to balance my checkbook. In very stereotypical female fashion, I suck at balancing my checkbook without electronic assistance. It's something I've done several times in the past at various coffeehouses, so I feel safe in assuming I should have no trouble completing this task. I turn on MSN Money and try to log on....and I get an error message saying it can't detect a connection.

(BANGS HEAD ON TABLE NEARLY TURNING OVER A VERY EXPENSIVE CUP OF COFFEE.)

The quest continues....

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