Public WiFi access - NOT for FREE

I had HOPED that I could use my new WiFi Sandisk 802.11b wireless card for wireless access while visiting the Hartsfield and George Bush International Airports. Guess what folks.... NO access. The night before I got on the plane I searched WiFi hot spots specifically for Hartsfield and there were four terminals that were advertised to have Wireless access for travelers. The Laptop Zone was the only place in terminal B that had Internet access. You had to pay 65 cents per minute to use their private cubicles with high speed Internet access. The employees told me that while the airport might have advertised WiFi hot spots that they did not have them turned on. Not only that but I discovered something even more irritating during my visit to the airports. Once upon a time pay phones used to have data terminals which enabled you to plug in your laptop and use an analog modem to dial up AOL or whatever DUN account you have to check e-mail and surf the web. In an effort to gouge the consumer for even MORE cash and to make it IMPOSSIBLE to gain access to the Internet the Airport management has had those taken out as well. No more analog data ports on pay phones. Isn't that special?? NOT.....

Then there is the issue of security. According to marketing experts that follow technology sales WiFi sales has really exploded in the last 3 to 4 years. Hardware manufacturers are mass producing Wireless Access points for home users that they can use by simply taking it out of the box, turning it on and making very few changes on the home computer and be communicating via wireless. The problem with that is that the hardware is defaulted to NO security out of the box. The end user is supposed to figure out HOW to implement the security themselves. I remember how hard it was for me to get my laptop on wireless access at the coffee shop in Mount Pleasant not too long ago. I have 15 years of experience with installing network access points, servers etc. It took me 30 minutes to gain access to the wireless network. I wonder how long it would have taken your typical end user? Would they have fought with the wireless connection with the same tenacity as I or would they have just given up after 10 minutes?

Wireless access is maturing and the hardware manufacturers have figured out how to churn out wireless access devices and the wireless network cards but no one has come up with a technology solution that will make it easy for a typical end user to log on to the wireless network (less than 20 minutes of fighting with configuration settings) and to have a basic set of security protocols in place that will allow paying customers access and other folks (war drivers or hackers) would be kept out. Until they come up with a seamless and easy solution public WiFi access will only be achieved by those folks that are in the know and are willing to fight with the settings.

When I was at the George Bush Intl airport in Houston on my way back I noticed two kiosks that were set up at our gate that allowed you to sit down and get access via the High Speed terminal for .25 cents per minute. The Kiosk that I looked had a folding keyboard that folded down with a touch pad for the mouse. The video monitor that was in the kiosk was at an angle and partially hidden from view from the user which really stank. I guess .25 cents per minute is better than .65 any day of the week. So, lets see if you are there for 30 minutes you would owe 7.50 to check your email and surf the web. I do not know about you but that is absolutely and incredibly ridiculous. I wonder how much money the airports are really making on these kiosks? Most of the people that I saw with laptops running were not getting near those cash cows. I would also imagine that the people paying .65 cents per minute in laptop zone were probably business people that had expense accounts that would allow them to recoup that expense too.

So, now I have a wireless card for my Pocket PC and my laptop. The only way I am going to be able to use it is for me to go wireless here at home which would include another 50.00 expense for a wireless router/switch/firewall. Maybe some day I will be able to afford that. The IT coordinator at Goodwill told me that he has a wireless switch that is thinking about enabling so I might be able to use wireless at work soon. We shall see....

Back to walking again

Ok, it has been 4 days since I went on my proverbial jaunt through the neighborhood. Despite my feeling like I have jello sloshing around in my noggin I invited my children to go with me for a walk this morning. Kristina has blisters from tight fitting skates so she bowed out but Justin went with me. I could tell that I had not walked for four days so this walk was a little bit harder than usual. I wish I had half the energy that Justin has. I kept having to tell him to slow down. LOL... There is nothing like connecting with your children duing moments like this. Justin told me he was looking forward to camp Happy Days. One week of fun filled excitement for the kids. What a blessing that is going to be.

Patty on left and Katy on right with the Yellow (Zoom Zoom) Bug in the background... 

James, Patty and Katy at Outback Steak House in Mt. Pleasant SC.  

Create and SHARE your photos online FREE

I have been using Webshots for years. I remember when I actually PAID for a subscription so I could get all of their photos on a CD rom. Then webshots went to having people PAY AGAIN for downloading more than one photo at a time for their desktop. That sort of irritated me and all efforts to communicate that I felt I was a charter member that had ALREADY paid fell on deaf ears. I suppose that they figured I would either pay again or shut up. I chose the later and because their photos are VERY good I decided that I could live with downloading one picture a day.

Today I was surfing their site and remembered that I have the ability to share a photo album with friends and family via the FREE account that you can subscribe to. I think that you are limited to the number of photos you can upload and then if you want to share more you have to (you guessed it) PAY for a subscription. LOL.... No, nothing is free anymore folks.

The link to the Webshots community website is Go here to sign up for free account and create your album
Once you do that and you upload some of your favorite photos (hint hint) then invite me to visit your photo album and use moffittj@bellsouth.net. Once that is done I can add you as a favorite member and when you upload new photos I can view them.

The alternative to this is HELLO which I posted in any earlier article in my blog (here) and you can BLOG your photos directly to your BLOG. Of course that means that you would have to CREATE a blog account (Free) on www.blogger.com and then you can use HELLO to publish pictures directly to your blog and share them that way.

So, anyway, I am hoping that you, my friends and family will use one of these methods to share some photos online with me. :)

Thanks

Houston the Eagle has landed.....

Well, it was more like a crash landing from the way I feel. I think that I managed to pick up some sort of foreign pathogen of some sort and now my immune system has turned up the HEAT to combat it. I thought at first it was a bad allergy reaction but I don't think you normally get a temperature with an allergy. Well, atleast that is what Doctor Mom diagnosed a few moments ago. If I want to get further clarification I could go down to Doctors Care on Rivers Avenue and let them verify that I DO have a fever and that I am sick. How much would that cost me and would I feel better after I paid them $$$$ to tell me something I already know. LOL... NOT

It IS good to be home even if I do feel like I was in a train wreck. Hey, that reminds me of the movie where this actor seemed to always cheat death. What WAS the name of that movie. I think he DID survive a train wreck and several other catastrophes. Hummmmmm.... More on that rabbit later.

I am waiting for my ears to pop after spending 3 hours in a MD-88 going 540 mph between 33000 and 27000 feet. They have not popped yet so when I eat a piece of my crumpet it sounds like a washing machine. LOL.... This is almost as irritating as having your pupils dilated and not being able to focus on anything close up. Heck, now that I think about it I still have a problem focusing on things close up. What in the world is happening to me?

While I was gone to the BIG city of Houston Texas I hooked up with a friend and ex employer while I was there. His name is James. What a coincidence huh? James told me about a remote control software called VNC. You can download the server and viewer module for FREE. If you are running XP or W2k allow it to start up as a System Service and then during the install process be sure to give it a hard password that only YOU will know. Now you are asking yourself, ok, so what, another piece of software to clutter up my registry right? Uhmmmm it all depends. Perhaps you might have the need to HELP your friends or family with some easy computer problems. How many times has someone called you and said. HELP... My computer is doing thus and so or is not doing thus and so and then you find yourself in the middle of a two hour long help desk situation where you are trying to get your friend or family member to describe to you what is on their screen or to read the error message. This program will SOLVE your support nightmares and allow you to remotely log in to their system with a user name and password that they set up and you can point and click and zoom around and fix the problem MUCH faster than if you had to take the aforementioned nightmare. Interested yet? Here is the link so click on it and try it out.
Real VNC Remote Control Software

I am SO happy to be out of the rental car and in one spot for once. I think that all I did was DRIVE DRIVE DRIVE. It is a good thing I had unlimited miles on the car. It is too bad I did not have unlimited gas coupons to fill the thing up. LOL... I paid 1.82 per gallon for regular unleaded so that is not too awfully bad. I was able to hang out with my friend James Michael and Tom Whitten on Thursday night and then James and I met up with Jeremy to watch Van Helsing and Day after Tomorrow. Wow, can you say ACTION packed flicks.... LOL... Sensory over load folks. My friend James told me that the next movie should be a prequel and it should be called Day before yesterday. Oh my, I laughed pretty hard at that.

Last night after watching Day after Tomorrow James, Jeremy and yours truly zoomed (zoom zoom zoom) headed over to 22300 Hwy 249 where we linked up with the charter leadership of Jesus Connect. Yes, I took pictures of John, Don, Reynold and his family but you will have to wait for the 35mm pics to be developed. I will be sure to get a CD ROM in the deal so I can do picture blogging to my hearts content. I found out that Don is getting married soon and that GOM (stands for grouchy old man) is still a grouchy old man. He fun lovingly calls me GOMIT or Grouchy OLD man in training. We started that years ago (over 10) and it seems to have stuck over the years. First we went into a Mexican restaurant where we stuffed ourselves to over flowing and then we retired to Reynolds house where we consumed cold liquid refreshments on the HOT and HUMID back porch. OH MY GOSH. I am not sure which city is the most miserable right now. It seems that I was landing in Houston when I got off the airplane and entered into the walkway this afternoon.

Well, that is enough for now. Jeremy has graduated and will be going to Wharton College for one year (community college) and then he will be going on to North Texas University where he will major in English and music I believe. I think he wants to teach band to youth. Way to go Jeremy, I am proud of you !!!! I cant wait to develop all the film I took this weekend.

Whatever you do as you enjoy your day off tomorrow (if you are) try to remember the PRICE that WAS and IS being paid for our freedom and the blood that has been spilled and will continued to be spilled so we can do just that. Relax at home and not be bothered with having to fight on foreign soil somewhere.

God bless