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106 Miles


As you recall, I’ll be supporting a training class in Williamsburg in a few weeks. Today I took a preliminary trip to the site to make sure the Internet circuit we need is working. The hotel provides us a DSL connection, which we then connect to our wireless routers, which, in turn, can be used by all the laptops we’re bringing (about 20).

So I stroll into the hotel lobby like I know what the hell I’m doing, turn a corner and walk down to the sales office. They know why I’m here (because we called ahead and let them know I was coming) so we take a stroll down to where the rooms are where we’ll be working for that week.

The salesperson and I are looking around the ballroom – every wall has at least 2 connections of every type. There are electrical, phone, audio, video… you name it, it’s on the wall twice.

“Which one do I use?” I ask. She runs back to the office to call the technology guy. I met him the last time I was here and everything worked out so this should be a piece of baklava.

I swear this guy, Paul, could be Billy Joel’s younger brother… looks just like him. Anyway, I digress…

So Paul shows up and runs a couple of tests. We look at the settings on the laptop I brought to make sure they’re correct – they are. He makes sure that the wires are connected correctly behind the plate but I’ve still got no connection. A couple of times he says “Alright, let me go check the phone room” and then disappears for 5 minutes solid.

He then returns, verifies it’s still not working, and then he’s off again. Finally we decide something larger must be done. I pack up my laptop and head back home. I gave him my card and he’s going to call me when the circuit is fixed, at which time I will drive another 106 miles in a day (53 miles each way) just to make sure we have Internet.

I call my boss. “I hope this means everything is working,” she says brightly. I give her the bad news. She’s disappointed but knows we’ve got 2 weeks before show time.

This is how I spent my morning into the afternoon.

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