feening
I am typing this from a cafe in my neighborhood that has a wireless network. I have no internet access at my house. I can’t use the internet access on my job. I don’t have an internet plan on my cellphone. I haven’t even SEEN the internet since sometime Saturday.
Mister Ant and I have been piggybacking on an unsecured network of our neighbor’s all this time with hardly any problems. But over the weekend, the signal went away (the neighbor probably finally secured their connection) and we can’t use wi-fi to get onto the net. We are setting up an appointment to get a connection at our home as soon as possible. Until then, I can’t check email, my bank account, my blog, my favorite blogs… nothing - unless I pay for somebody’s cookie or coffee. Arrgghhhh! Between work and my short commute, I’m putting in at least eleven hours every day, so who feels like trucking to the cafe to sit among strangers eating overpriced snacks just so I can get on the net? You just don’t know how much this bothers me. I get my news from the net. I entertain myself with the net. I’m a junkie. The internet is what helps me deal with not paying for cable. And now, I wish I had cable. I even considered getting it in one of those internet/phone/cable packages. But for now, the plan is to get internet without paying for cable every month.
A person who is job-hunting cannot effectively search for work from home without internet access. It is totally worth the cost to have our own connection at this point. You just don’t know what you have ’til it’s gone.
The good news is that there’s a place near my job that has wi-fi, so maybe I’ll start eating there during lunch so I can feed my fix during the day. (Of course this means spending money daily just to get on the net, which you KNOW I’m not enthusiastic about. We’ll see about this idea…)
I have a lot to talk about, though, so I’ll try my best to make the time to share my hustle with you the next time I step up into a cafe!
I was wondering where you were! Not having internet would be so hard!
Comment by ms. m&p — February 6, 2008 @ 11:15 pm
Does your library have free wireless?
Comment by c2a — February 7, 2008 @ 2:41 pm
Try a Panera if you can find one near you. They have free access. Starbucks sucks because they charge money. Of course, you could ask if a friend has a connection you can use by parking in front of their house and borrowing the password.
Good luck with the job hunt!
Comment by mapgirl — February 7, 2008 @ 9:18 pm
Miss you!
Comment by Single Ma — February 8, 2008 @ 10:37 pm
Well, it’s not really secure to be doing your online banking via unsecured wireless access anyway. When you get your own wifi connection, make sure to have it secured.
Comment by lilo — February 11, 2008 @ 4:14 pm
I know what you mean. I do the same thing with my internet…use my neighbor’s without them knowing….
It’s gone down for months at a time and there’s nothing I can do about it. I’m thankful each day I get to use it. Especially since I do my schooling online haha
Comment by Erin — February 16, 2008 @ 6:54 pm