Retro Techno

Remember when t.v.s had rabbit ear antennae? You would be watching a show and if you changed the channel, you had to get up and adjust them for the new channel. Sometimes, you couldn't get that channel at all, unless someone held onto the antennae the whole show, sometimes even with a leg sticking up at a weird angle. At the climax of the show, no one in the room was allowed to move, least you miss the announcement of who-done-it.

Flash-forward to cell phones and you have the same thing. "Can you hear me now?" How many people do you know who have to go out on their lawns to use their cell phones?

Then there is the WiFi. I am living in a big, old building on one side of a giant bearing wall (really-- it's 2 feet thick), the WiFi router on the other side and on a different floor. The first day I was here, I set my computer on my desk, turned it on, got my e-mail, updated my blog, had a video chat session, and all was well. The next day, I could not get any signal at all. I moved the computer to the kitchen table, got my e-mail, updated my blog, etc. The next day, the signal was gone.

I periodically check for signal around the apartment. I can be sitting with my Ziggy on the bed, and suddenly it's there. I will update Twitter, then go to check that it uploaded, and the signal disappears.

This weekend, I have been working on projects at the kitchen table, and watching movies on my laptop at the same time (background noise). Suddenly, there was the Internet. So I started watching t.v. shows. It was a lot of fun, and it is much easier to process my 10,000 images of dead-people-graves with comedy on in the background. Every now and then, the signal disappeared, then five minutes or more later, reappeared. Since I am not moving, the computer is not moving, and presumably, the router is not moving, this has become a mystery and a cause for ridiculous superstitious behavior.

Some examples:

1. Sunday, I heard someone vacuuming in the building and the signal disappeared. The vacuum might have sucked up the signal, or there is electromagnetic interference. Could go either way.
2. This morning, the cats made an exceptionally stinky contribution to their box (which they refuse to bury) and I finally had to get up and bury it myself. The signal disappeared. Apparently, WiFi is stronger if there are uncovered cat feces in the room.
3. I was drawing out the lettering for my cross-stitch, and decided that font wasn't working. I erased it and started a new design...

You get the idea.