Update from the Road Warrior

[feren]

I'm on my laptop, over a 19.2K dialup connection. This is, for me, something of a toxic shock. VNC is an exercise in pain. SSH is only barely tolerable. I've clearly been spoiled by T1 goodness at work and at home on the DSL connection. Maybe, someday, bandwidth on the road won't be such a pipe dream. Oh yeah, it'd be at least less annoying of the modems I had to dial up to from this laptop actually WORKED. One connection can take 15 calls to get established -- the hotel must be digging this one, as I'm sure like all other hotels they bill outrageously for each time I even think the word "telephone."

My laptop is also giving me pain because my wrists positively hate it. They have to be positioned funny for the small, cramped keyboard, and the design forces my wrists to support pressure at all the worst points. Unhappy kitty, I bitch vociferously now.

This work trip hasn't been bad. The hotel I'm in is nice, even if it is in a part of town that is questionable at best (and immediately next to an airport, and even closer to some major freight train routes). Even though the hotel is nice I'm not getting any sleep here, the trend set over the last few weeks of travel has continued with more and more interruptions to my sleep schedule. I'd be a total zombie right now except for A)I am consuming six cups of coffee each morning with my hotel breakfast and B)I do not crave the brains of humanoids, so I can't be a complete zombie. Maybe I'm only a partial zombie.

I go now to seek rest for my wrists, and shaving cream. Wish me luck. I fly back to Chicago tomorrow night, yet another redeye. :p

Comments

Broadband on the road

[duncandahusky.livejournal.com]

Need broadband on the road? Wingate Inns (http://www.wingateinns.com/Wingate/control/home) are your friends! Unfortunately, they don't have broad coverage across the US (and no locations in SoCal), but they're comparable to Hampton Inns (http://www.hamptoninn.com/), have a passable free breakfast buffet, and complimentary broadband access in all of their rooms.

Of course, if you're stuck with only employer's contracted hotels, you're SOL.

Also, if you haven't tried them, I found the best cure for loud noises outside of hotels (and screaming babies on airplanes (http://abcnews.go.com/sections/travel/Crabby/babies.html)) is earplugs (http://www.eckerd.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=Eckerd&category%5Fname=100225Ear+Care&product%5Fid=062950&tab=shop%5Fhealth%2Egif) from your local Walgreens/Eckerds/CVS To quote Martha (http://www.eye.net/News/Necro/1995/nec0511.htm), they're a Good Thing.

[frostyw.livejournal.com]

Are you almost done with all these roadtrips? Is there an end in sight?

I feel your pain.

[(Anonymous)]

Dial-up sucks. I'm waiting (since the move) for DSL, but had to resort to dial-up until the arrival. Shanedoll HATE dial-up.

As for the hotel - I could set you up in Gary at the No-Tell Motel on US 20. Really close to US Steel and all the gangs.

ShaneDoll

Wrists, workers comp, and disability

[ronbar.livejournal.com]

Your wrists sound pretty bad, from what you've written here and talked about on IRC. I bet if you get treatment for them, it'd be 100% paid by your workers compensation insurance, and you could probably take leave on disability either short-term or long-term, depending on how bad they are.

Have you complained to your employer and gotten things like an ergonomic desk, keyboard, and chair?