The Magnum Life

Is the Internet Hazardous to Your Health?

Larry Hendrick — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 23:05:25 +0000

The challenges of traveling for business are many. There’s finding good hotels at reasonable prices that have decent beds and clean showers. Believe me, you don’t want to hear some of the stories, but I’ll say this, I’ve slept in my cloths before.

The biggest challenge for me though is Internet access. I am a connected person that lives on the Internet, so the speed and type of connection are important.

At home, I have a great service provider, but traveling, not so much.

Here is a typical speed test from home. As you can see, I have great speed and a very low latency. It is fast and snappy.

The home connection before fiber was great too, just not as fast. In several years, the connection was down a couple of times for short periods. Since the upgrade to fiber a few months ago, bliss.

On the road, the situation is much different. The first screen shot is from out hotel in Corpus Christi over the Thanksgiving holiday. The next two are from hotels in the Texas Panhandle on my recent trip.

As you can see, the speeds are not terrible, but compared to my normal connection, they are lacking. What I find interesting is the Corpus Christi connection. You’ll notice it is almost symmetrical. And with the speed shown, it is either a SDSL connection or a T1 that is shared by the entire hotel. The latency doesn’t show bad on the speed test, but it didn’t work well. It was slow and not very responsive, taking a lot of time to load pages. This could be caused by running through a bad proxy server, but I don’t know.

The other two connections are decent and responsive, but slower than I like, although typical of what I see on the road.

The other problem is just having access. All of the hotels I stay in offer wireless internet, but that doesn’t mean it always works. One in particular, in Lubbock, Texas, is never working on the third floor. I have to call the desk every time for them to reboot the wireless access point. I can connect and get an IP address assigned, but there is no throughput. This is almost always a problem with a cheap wireless unit bought at a discount store. Good equipment doesn’t have this problem.

I experienced this problem myself until I spent a little extra and got a unit I could install Linux on. What a difference that made.

So, is the Internet hazardous to your health? Maybe not specifically, but if you hurt your foot kicking the desk because it isn’t working, then yes it is.

A fond farewell to NaPodPoMo 2009

Larry — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 11:56:03 +0000

NaPodPoMo Day 30 … For today I bid a fond farewell to NaPodPoMo 2009 with the final podcast of November. It’s been a challenge, but an enjoyable one. Please be safe out there.

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Rant for anagram protocol

Larry — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 23:37:32 +0000

NaPodPoMo Day 29 … I am tired of Ford making the anagram SHO into a word. It’s not a word, it stands for Super (Standard, etc.) High Output. Yes, I know its being picky, but right is right.

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Some Days are just routine

Larry — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 23:11:42 +0000

NaPodPoMo Day 28 … Some days are just routine and the main item on the agenda is getting the car serviced before hitting the road again. Question? Do you still take the time to service your own vehicle or have you resigned yourself to the fact that the money is less than the cost of the time?

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Restaurant Review … Laguna Reef

Larry — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 01:36:15 +0000

NaPodPoMo Day 27 … Laguna Reef is a seafood restaurant located on the Intercoastal Canal between Corpus Christi and Padre Island. It’s a little hard to locate, but well worth the excursion. Their fried shrimp are the best, but the rest of the fare is questionable. The salad is served in a styrofoam bowl and you eat with plastic forks and knives, but the draw is the shrimp. Keep the focus there and you will be one happy camper.

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Thanksgiving Day and the day is done

Larry — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 02:46:47 +0000

NaPodPoMo Day 26 … My wife and I are on an all to brief get-away, but NaPodPoMo waits for no one. Have a fantastic holiday and "Let’s be safe out there."

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A Time to Rest and Give Thanks

Larry Hendrick — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 02:26:39 +0000

The time has arrive for some R&R and we are making the most of it. From where we live, it is a short trip to see the big water, as we call it. Spending time looking at the Gulf of Mexico is relaxing. The waves, the birds, the sand, the shells.

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From the balcony of our little get-away is a nice view of Corpus Christi Bay. The clouds had an interesting look, so I shot a few photographs, then later, took a few more as it began getting dark. We are looking forward to sleeping late in the morning on our king-size Sleep Comfort bed, which is another first.

What did you do for the Thanksgiving Holiday?

Need an "On the Go" reminder tool?

Larry — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 11:06:05 +0000

NaPodPoMo Day 25 … As a road warrior, I’m always looking for tools that help me solve mobile problems. One is this tool, Utterli, and another is Reqall. Reqall.com is the mobile to-do list you can use from your phone. Call and leave yourself a reminder and the note shows up in your inbox. Cool

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I just don’t believe they’ve done the Math

Larry — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 22:30:43 +0000

NaPodPoMo Day 24 … The people you encounter every day on the way to work or home, weaving in and out of traffic, speeding, driving recklessly, have not done the math. Let’s talk about it today.

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… and a pretty fair windmill repairman

Larry — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 04:20:25 +0000

NaPodPoMo Day 23 … One of the oldest technologies has returned in a new and very useful way. From fending off Don Quixote to powering your city …

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