New Adventures in Wi-Fi

Rain drizzled down on me in Barcelona's Pi square. It's where I piggyback on someone's open wi-fi when all else fails.

"That's not good," I thought. I packed up and went to Starbucks. I bought a cup of bitter, expensive coffee and sat down in a cozy chair to do some office work. No signal.

"Is the internet broken?"

"Yes, sorry."

Damn. And me with their sucky coffee.

I chucked their coffee into the trash and wandered out in the rain. Yesterday morning I'd gotten a mysterious signal in my studio, but it had cut off abruptly. There were a half-dozen password-protected signals. I'd run my packet-catching password-crack software for a bit but had gotten bored with that and gone to the library to work using legal internet access.

But now the library was shut, Starbucks was not working right, and it was raining outside. And I had freelancers to deal with, work to do, and of course a blog to update!

I wandered the alleys of the Gothic Quarter in the rain... maybe it was time for the old standby, the internet cafe.

Then, a bright light in the drizzle. A laundromat. A warm, bright spot. I wonder...

I went into the laundromat, sat down, and took out my iBook. A strong signal! My new office had a great view of swirling clothes.

A new low in my career as a wi-fi swiper, perhaps. But it worked.