On a lighter note ("Please!" shout the readers), if it may be called lighter in any sense of the word, the debate continues whether I should schlep along the household laptop.
See, there's a very real and scary possibility that I will have no Internet access next week. None! No e-mail, no (gulp) blog! First of all, my grandmother does not actually live in St. Louis. I only told you that for purposes of geographic illustration. She lives in this tiny little town in a rather, er, economically-challenged area. No Internet cafes or Starbucks as far as I remember. Secondly, I don't have an ISP that would let me just plug in at Grandma's house - I don't think. :: Makes note to contact ISP and beg for help. ::
So with no way to go online, is there any other compelling reason to carry such a heavy-ass appliance halfway across the country? Let's hear from the gallery. Enquiring minds have only about a day and a half to decide!
I have no idea what your ISP is, but do they offer dialup?
I sympathize completely. I brought along my laptop in hopes that I'd get online somewhere. However, we never got to a hotel room before midnight, and using my dialup (SBC offers free dialup use to the DSL customers anywhere you can find a phone number for) wouldn't work because the phone lines are so old one can't plug them into a modem. My laptop was used for downloading pictures onto and syncing the Palm, and that was IT. So.... if your grandma is also in the boonies in an old house, you're probably SOL. Sorry!
Posted by: Jennifer | July 07, 2004 at 03:07 PM
Er... add in "when I got to my grandma's" right before "using my dialup" there.
Posted by: Jennifer | July 07, 2004 at 03:09 PM
It's Comcast DSL, and they seem to have dial-up access. I'm checking into it. I could use a laptop to download digital pics onto ... Also, what if S0uthwest tries to show "Gigli" as the in-flight movie? Shouldn't we be able to view a better flick on the laptop?
Posted by: pam | July 07, 2004 at 03:13 PM
My mother has a LAN network set up in her home, and I have found when I visit I rarely use it and it's quite refreshing. Now, I enjoy being at my mother's home and I spent a lot of time with her and reading and generally relaxing, so I have a feeling that if I were somewhere less enjoyable I'd really miss it. And let me tell you, after using my father's dial-up connection to AOL, it wasn't worth the hassle most of the time. Once you have DSL or cable-modem, it's hard to go back.
Posted by: Kimberly | July 07, 2004 at 03:28 PM
Gee, a whole week of "analog" activities. Is it even possible to remember what to do?
Posted by: pam | July 07, 2004 at 03:53 PM
I always bring my laptop, even when the possibilities are slim. It's like a security blanket. Like, even when the shit totally hits the fan, I always have my superpowers of "journalistic objectivity" which will take me up and out of the situation, converting it into another cheerful anecdote.
Posted by: jo | July 07, 2004 at 05:04 PM
I carried my 800 lb. laptop up to Alaska and had NO access! None!!! I downloaded pictures on it. I carried it. I carried it some more. It was heavy. I'm looking for a light one now. If you don't take it you'll probably have tons of access. No external modem?? They can't be too expensive.
Posted by: Ellen | July 07, 2004 at 05:05 PM
No external modem, Grandma's lines are probably too old to support my connectivity, and that sucker really does weigh 800 lbs (LOL), especially after several hours in the airport. It's hard to contemplate, but I will leave it here.
Posted by: pam | July 07, 2004 at 09:53 PM
So, like, WHEN are all those sattelites supposed to become beneficial to us addicted internet/bloggers to be accessible wherever in the world we are? Or is that sci-fi?
Posted by: Tonya | July 07, 2004 at 10:14 PM