AdventureDad

As we're finishing up our long Mexican family vacation I must thank a few people. Especially "Default", "Apple9ccbf6d3", "Belking54g", "motorola", "linksys", "Apple 7d8704", "2Wire192", and "Movilspot".  These strangers have been very kind and provided me with invaluable wireless internet connection for over a month.  It's kind of scary how dependent many of us have become on internet to keep in touch with friends and family plus take care of work or hobby related tasks during vacation.

I was a early user of WiFi.  I bought a Toshiba laptop in 2000 which had  built in wireless.  Back then this was uncommon.  I was was living in NYC at the moment and can clearly how excited I was about being able to use the internet without cables.  I did have a fast cable connection but when my wife came home one day I screamed at her to come and take a look at this incredible thing I had discovered.  It would be the beginning of a beautiful relationship.

Today, WiFi is a given in most places and in most homes. I can't even image using my laptop at home without WiFi . I was very impressed over how many networks I found in Mexico.  Both open and encrypted.  Most hotels today also have free WiFi and this makes everyday live much easier while on the move.  I had almost forgotten how horrible dial up was until I had to use it when my Macbook got screwed up after a security update.

Two years ago I sent my parents photos from Baja California.  No via snail mail.  Instead I downloaded them from my camera, fixed them in Photoshop, sent them via WiFi to my lab in Sweden, and instructed them to sent the finished photos to my parents.  They had them in one day. Amazingly convenient and simple.

Transferring money, booking rental cars, buying plane tickets, doing my taxes, paying bills, emailing, blogging, and downloading TV shows are just some of the things WiFi did for  me during this vacation. 

Today, the first thing I do when getting to a new location is checking for an open network.  Not with the laptop, us super geeks have a WiFi enabled phone, Qtek 9100,  which can easily detect all networks and determine if they are accessible. In my neighborhood at home I know which cafe's have WiFi so when my Prima Donna daughter falls asleep I can sneak in for a snack and some reading/blogging.

If you just plan on surfing there is really no need for any kind of security precautions. Unless you don't want a potential sniffer finding out about the porn sites you visit…. Just a firewall and anti virus as usual unless you have a Mac, then you forget about these. 

But if you plan on banking or logging into some accounts it might be a good idea to establish a VPN either with a dedicated service or through your home computer.  Since I'm a very advanced user I've personally used programs that show  an amazing amount of details about strangers using the same connection as me at a hotel or Starbucks.  

I really enjoy these short moments of calm when I can relax with my Macbook and get a break from the children. I count on at least some short moments of tranquility now when I go on a long period of paterity leave.  Ooops, that's still kind of a secret, more later on the story of daddy taking over the household.

Have a nice weekend!