Internet Separation Anxiety

I found myself suffering from TSA and ISA this weekend while at lunch with my wife celebrating her birthday two days early. Katy celebrates her 48^th birthday on Monday but since we are both working tomorrow we celebrate it on the weekend before. I asked Katy what she wanted for her birthday dinner and she said she wanted to go to Red Lobster because they had 30 shrimp for 12.99 plus tax. So, off we go to Red Lobster on Mall Drive.

We are sitting in Red Lobster and Katy and I had been running errands for several hours when the TSA and ISA set in. TSA stands for Toy Separation Anxiety and ISA stands for Internet Separation Anxiety. It is bad enough to suffer from one or the other but when they come together in tandem it can cause a grown man to twitch like a baby missing its pacifier. Katy noticed the beginning of the symptoms and asked me if I would be ok with my Internet connection and I said I would do my best. The waitress had been serving us our appetizer and drinks and so I figured I would ask her if there was an available WiFi connection at the restaurant. When I asked her this the young lady rolled her eyes and laughed at me. The waitress said, "does this look like a hotel to you". At this point I rolled my eyes and told her , "no this does not look like a hotel however it would be nice if the restaurant would cater to TSA and ISA victims such as me." It would make things much easier for me when the food arrived. After all the Internet Access connection IS more important when the symptoms start to show.

While we were waiting on our food and I was contemplating the actuality that this restaurant actually did not have Wi-Fi and really did not seem to be aware of the small group of people like me who really appreciate the presence of Internet connectivity. I saw another waitress and asked her if they had Wi-Fi available and she said HUH? This young lady who could not have been more than 21 years old had no clue what Wi-Fi or Internet wireless access was. I asked her if she had a computer at home or if she got on the Internet and she just gave me a blank stare. Before you know it our original waitress comes back to the table and tells me that the manager advises her that they indeed have Wi-Fi Internet access and that it was installed that Monday. Needless to say I was out of the front door and on the way to my SUV to fetch the toy bag with all of my Internet connection gizmos.

I got back to the table as the food arrived and I fired up the laptop which luckily had a fully charged battery. I fired up the laptop and plugged in the wireless card so I could find any available connections. I did find a wireless connection however the SSID was not being broadcast which means when I tried to connect to the security enabled WAP I was asked for the SSID and the Pass Phrase. I managed to find out that the SSID was Linksys however I never figured out the password. Whoever set up the Wireless network had the good sense to change the default password which is a good thing for the business and bad for me. You would think that the manager on duty would be aware of what the connection settings for the Wi-Fi network would be but she was not. Once again I was like a baby sitting on the floor watching a rattle that was just out of my reach. The manager came over with one of her assistants and told me that it must be a problem with my computer because they had a laptop that connects just fine. I tried to explain to the assistant that you only have to enter the SSID Name and Password one time and then the Wireless configuration program could save those settings for any subsequent connections. I might as well have been explaining how to do brain surgery on a chimp for the response I got. The response I got was, just pull out your wireless card, that must be the problem, mine does not have one. At that point I politely thanked them for trying to assist me and quietly turned off the laptop and focused on the shrimp in front of me.

I am thinking that what has happened is that the corporate office installed a POS system in the restaurant and part of that functionality is a Wi-Fi connection to the Internet. They probably are not even going to offer free Wi-Fi to their customers and therefore that is why it is locked down. What is funny is that they barely even knew it was there or how to access it. I am hoping that more and more restaurants will adopt Wi-Fi for their customers that would love to jump online and check their e-mail or check on movie times or buy tickets online. Another example of wanting to get online would be if we are dining in a restaurant and there is a storm approaching. I might want to get on a website that has weather radar to see where the storm is coming from and where it is going. How about being able to check on one of your EBay auctions you are bidding on? There are many other examples of what a customer might want to do.

Katy and I finished our lunch at Red Lobster and headed out to go downtown to the Tall Ships exhibit in downtown Charleston. By the time we got downtown there were more people down town than I cared to fight with. So, we decided to go to the water front park and go for a walk. I also wanted to find out if I could actually get connected to the Radius Network which is supposed to be a MESH Wi-Fi network downtown Charleston. The only problem is I never found the RADIUS network. I guess it could have been down for maintenance on Saturday. During the week when I am at Calhoun and St Phillip street using my Pocket PC the only connection I can connect to is the Radius connection because there are so many of them. The only problem with the Pocket PC and the web browser is that it does not recognize the java or active x script that allows you to log on to the Radius network. During our drive around Waterfront Park and the adjoining streets in down town I found plenty of unsecure Wi-Fi connections but not the Radius network. I guess I will have to try and connect sometime this week during lunch when I can take my laptop with me.

Today was a typical Sunday in that we went to church, lunch and then did what most families do on Sunday afternoon. Well, I guess I am not that normal so after lunch Katy took Kristina to Wal-Mart for groceries and Justin and I curled up in front of our LCD monitors to do what we love to do the most, get on the Internet. Justin is hopelessly addicted to Runes cape along with the neighborhood kids that have access and I found out today that our new feline is hopelessly addicted to chasing the mouse pointer on my monitor. I sat here for about 15 minutes this afternoon moving the mouse pointer around and watching KC the kitten pawing at it and trying to eat it off of the screen. I almost split a gut laughing at the silly cat. I will have to get some video of her going after the mouse pointer and upload it to Google Videos so that you can see it and laugh too.