The real world of scrounging for WiFi

 

Trying to save on smartphone data by using public wi-fi

Lots of places have wi-fi; rarely is it very fast.  I’m trying to complete a Red Cross orientation in preparation for some training in March at Escapade (the Escapee rally in Tucson).  If only the Red Cross had offered a pdf file with the materials – but NO!  They had to develop a very resource heavy presentation training with a LOT of imbedded Flash videos.  And no way to buffer them up ahead of time, or download the presentation to play off-line (who are these people!).  So, over the libraries wi-fi, it was taking on average about 20-30 minutes to view each tiny 3 minute video – after 2 hours, I’m barely 1/2 way through the orientation (estimated at 70 minutes, including the tests at the end of each module). 

Very annoying.  Almost as annoying as the guy sitting at the desk next to me – surfing dating sites, looking at the photos, examining profiles, and crafting messages to various women – probably 1/2 dozen while I was there.

Next, I tried copying my smartphone photos over to my laptop to resize and paste into an offline blog entry (this one!).

It worked!  This means I can set my phone to upload only on wi-fi but still have access to the photos whenever I want.

London Bridge is alive and well, in the middle of the Sonoran Desert at Lake Havasu City, AZ

A London Bridge has spanned the River Thames in London since Roman times.  When a new bridge was needed in the 1960’s, the old bridge (which was sinking into the mud of the river) was purchased and brought over (granite block by granite block) to Lake Havasu and faithfully reconstructed near the Colorado River as a focal point for the lake Havasu planned community.  A channel was dug so that the bridge spans the Bridgewater Channel Canal over to a small island.  Small period ‘shoppes’ have sprung up around the bridge.  It’s very much like touring a theme park in Disneyland.

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End of the day – more sunsets

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3 comments:

  1. Happy to see your new, easier blog address and added it to my Feedly; then updated the link to your blog on my blog.

    After reading your post the other day about not losing your cat, I was relieved that Fay Wray was being normal in your trailer, not lost and freaked outside of it. Good kitty for not escaping.

    When we recarpeted part of our 5th wheel last week, Bob left the door open when he came in. Luckily, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a cat tail disappearing out the door. Upon looking out, I saw both cats OUTSIDE rig. Both of these cats are INSIDE cats. Yikes! The first thing they did was go under the 5th wheel. Oh, no. Bob snagged our orange tabby and threw him back in. Our Siamese, however, was another story. When Bob tried to get him, he ran to the tires on the other side. I went on the other side and he ran under the middle. Bob crawled under the 5th wheel to try to grab him; he came back to the side by the door but he was behind the tires. I got his favorite shoelace and he FINALLY came around to the front of the tires, but still under the slide out.

    That's when he smelled another cat's marking. He frizzed out to twice his size and started snarling, then he plopped down. I crawled under the slide out, spoke gently to him, petted his head, then picked him up and crawled out from under the 5th wheel using only one hand, while I held him with the other. Then I tossed him back in the rig. Happy they didn't get any farther. There are a lot of dogs in our park, but they have to be leashed.

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    Replies
    1. OMG! What an ordeal. Fay Wray got lost at home once and when I found her 3 days later, it was very hard to catch her. Since then, I call her for treats several times a day and we practice when outdoors on her harness. Not sure if it'll work in an emergency, but hopefully, she'll have a stronger association with me approaching her and giving treats.

      Good thought to get the shoe lace. Siamese are definitely a different breed (this is the first time in over 40 years that I haven't been owned by one!!).

      Thanks for following and handling the administrivia associated with the change.

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  2. We use our data plan on our phones for our internet and I'm noticing more and more in order to get information, you have to watch a video - you can't read about a topic anymore. I'm trying to be aware of where our data goes, and in this age of I don't want to read - I want to be entertained, it's going fast.

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