I learn new network stuff all the time

I'm not a big hotel snob or anything, but I do sometimes like to be comfortable and feel like I can do what I need to do. The place I stayed last night in Newark, Delaware was OK but had a lot of loose ends... the microscopic towels, the mysteriously-nonfunctional lights, the crotch-rocket motorcycles blasting up and down Route 273 till 3 or 4am.

However, lately I find myself gravitating toward hotels with wireless access. I actually stayed at this hotel rather than one up in New Castle specifically because it was right off 95 and had wireless.

Try as I could all evening, I could not get the wireless to connect.

I checked out this morning and mentioned this (as well as the nonfunctioning lights) to the desk manager.

"Oh, you didn't have an ibridge?" he asked.

A what? I've been working on networks for over 20 years now, and if it's a network component, I've never heard of it. I sort of asked, "ibridge?"

"I guess they didn't tell you," he said. No, I guess "they" didn't.

"So, some special thing you have to plug in to use the 'wireless'?" I asked. "And probably PC-only? So, you have wireless... but you don't have wireless? This was the only reason I stayed here."

Oh, well. Why the hell have wireless if you have to hand out little dinguses to guests, collect them back up, and all that? Might as well just have RJ-45 jacks in the rooms. I don't even carry a Cat-6 cable anymore because wireless is so pervasive, but I could probably find one in the car if I looked hard enough (as I said, I've been working on networks for over 20 years).

Of course, I still did have wireless, and it performed perfectly well. I fell asleep listening to old jazz on WNCU, from Durham, North Carolina, over the internet.

This morning, I get to listen while a bunch of Hispanic breeders come up with loud ways to keep their toddler entertained. I'm hoping they leave soon, so I can have a relatively peaceful breakfast. I had thought about going to brunch at a place outside DC later on, but realized (a) I probably wouldn't get there in time and (b) the last thing I need today, after last night's dinner, is to pig out on waffles and mimosas.

Do they even have mimosas at Easter Sunday brunch?