It will be 40 years this fall since I last attended school full time. It was my senior year at Kansas University. Little did I know then that it was my last real vacation. That doesn’t mean I goofed off. It was just that work wasn’t the main focus of my waking hours.
This week as school begins in earnest around these parts, we need to watch out for the kids—on foot and on bikes. They have other things on their minds than looking out for us.
I had been trying to figure out a way to have wireless Internet anywhere I go. I knew Alltel had it available with its phone card, but it only worked with PC laptops and not Macintosh.
One day when I was lamenting this problem with my Web guy, he mentioned someone who might be able to help me. With one phone call I now have wireless Internet anywhere I go.
The way it works is to set up a wireless router that has the phone card in it and is basically a wi-fi hotspot. Plug it into the wall or lighter socket in the car, and presto! Then you hook up with a network cable or just use airport to connect.
For the most recent Buyer’s Edge I needed to look at the page proofs but was out of town. So I connected to our server from my car while parked in a lot in Wichita. I started downloading a file, then took off down the road while it was downloading. At the next stop, the file was there and I could look at it. I thought: Not bad for an old guy.
I’ve found other uses for wireless Internet as well. My mom, who lives in a Park Home at Parkside Homes, hadn’t really seen what the Internet was all about, so I took my router to her room and plugged it in.
In minutes we were looking at her bank account and satellite maps of where our kids live in Seattle and Atlanta. Next time we will be video conferencing with her grandchildren.
Our “Marion Memories” book is going to be really interesting with all of the old photos we are receiving. I didn’t know about the ice flood in the early 1900s. Never have I seen photos like these.
I didn’t know there was a depot that burned prior to the present depot, which is now home to the city library. It’s really helpful to have Marion native Dick Varenhorst on staff. He knows the town and shares our excitement about these old treasured photos of the past.
I found this hard to believe, but my wife has never changed a flat tire.
Timing is everything. A few weeks back when the Barsol Solvents plant in Valley Center blew up, we could have had a big problem. The tanks are located just across the fence from Valley Offset Printing, where the Free Press is printed. We picked up that week’s edition about an hour or so before the area was shut down for a few days when that chemical plant caught fire.
My zoo food look-alike cereal has been turned into muffins. I’ll have to say it is much better in that form.
With the Arts & Crafts Fair just around the corner, I think back to the early days of the fair when Deena Hawkins was heavily involved with every detail and who stuck with it as the manager for many years. She threw her heart and soul into this event.
Time to get ready. It’s 30 days and counting from now.
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