Panera Bread To the rescue

NOT my actual car.

This probably will not seem like such a big deal to the generation that has worked on the Internet their whole lives.
I did my entire job yesterday from a chair in a busy Panera Bread restaurant.

Other than the fact that it was a cold as a witch’s mammary gland in a brass bra ( the AC was on ‘Armageddon’) and some paranoia about my laptop being heisted while I went to the pisser it was fine.

A little less convenient and a slower connection than at home but not bad at all. And the important thing? The job got done and no one but me was the wiser.

To me it’s amazing.

The regular work station set-up is below.

Blackberry camera not the best

I use the two laptops to work on audio projects and the main system which has the two 22” screens is for the real job. I cover NASCAR for the SPEED Website. Internet is Wi-Fi via Comcast and is normally rock steady.
Yesterday 80 laps before the end of the race the Internet stopped responding. Rebooting the system and the modem gave no joy. A call to Comcast and lucky for me only a brief wait with the annoying music got me the answer I dreaded. “A local node outage” the very nice lady told me. ETA on a fix? No clue.

Laps are running down. I dragged the laptop to the studio (higher than the office) to try and snag a neighbor’s connection. No joy.

50 laps to go I jumped in the car. Closest connection I know of is in Kingston at the Bakeshop – but- are they open on Sunday? I cut my losses and took the longer but sure destination-Panera Bread near the Wyoming Valley Mall.

It was a hair raising trip. You wouldn’t have enjoyed it. I made the discovery that NO one on the radio carries the races. So I fled blindly down the road.

Screamed into the parking lot in a four wheel skid like I was getting a pit-stop. Raced for the front door. Uh-oh. A sign taped to the door. Please dear Buddha of the Internet, don’t let it say no Wi-Fi. No. They are closing at 7pm for some reason.

Grabbed a seat by a power outlet. I had booted the machine at home so it came up right off but I had a bit of trouble getting connected. YES! Finally. I peeped at NASCAR.com and…the race was over. Yikes.

But I got it all up within minutes. Probably almost as fast as normal. With my cell phone chiming as the emails came in and lots of people walking around stuffing their faces with stuff I updated a multimillion dollar web site on the free Wi-Fi at Panera Bread.

Things that could have gone wrong: I could have been stopped for exceeding posted speed limits. The Panera Bread could have been-closed-internetless-unable to process the VPN we use. I could have dropped the laptop in my haste.

But for the price of a Carmel Latte (20 ounce- $4.17) I did my job. I guess I could have even not bought anything but I was so grateful that I felt I had to.

Plus the scenery was a LOT more interesting and LIVE at the Panera bread.

The Rant D’Jour is about meat.

Hungry? How about a nice juicy steak with a side of exhaust fumes. But I am getting ahead…more