July 08, 2005
A Short Commentary on Our Times
by psuWe drove from Pittsburgh to Burlington for a friend's wedding over the 4th. We drove through 3 states and stayed in 3 hotels and one cousin's house in 4 different towns. The towns ranged from medium sized college towns to a small Albany suburb, to a rural population center in the middle of nowhere in northern New York. This last place was small enough to not even have a Starbuck's.
Every single place we stayed had high speed network. Two of them wireless. Two out of three hotels gave us the service free (ok, the cousin's house doesn't really count). Surely this is a commentary on our times. A geek toy like the interweb, which only a few freaks had heard of a little more than ten years ago, is now more ubiquitous than a triple venti two pump decaf vanilla no whip mocha with sprinkles.
Posted by psu at July 8, 2005 08:19 PM | Bookmark This"Surely this is a commentary on our times."
Not to be a naysayer, but "no it isn't".
Motels, hotels, and Holiday Inns have always tried (or "tried") to recreate some of the comforts of home, as those comforts between more ubiquitous in actual homes. Witnesses the oft-seen signs on motels for:
"Hot water" (I kid you not)
"Telephone"
"TV"
"Color TV"
"Free HBO"
"Free high-speed Internet"
And, in this same year, Verizon still looks at me funny when I ask them for high-speed internet.
Posted by Derrick at July 8, 2005 10:53 PMYou people are such pessimists. And to think everyone says that *I* hate everything.
Posted by psu at July 8, 2005 11:40 PMSheeit, my hate could level whole continents.
Posted by rmitz at July 9, 2005 12:57 AMI think it is interesting thatthere are hotels (like the Holiday Inn in Downtown Toronto where my parents stayed this past weekend) offer free wireless but not free local telephone calls.
Posted by Stewart Clamen at July 12, 2005 01:13 PMHey, what small town/suburb of albany?
Posted by geo at August 2, 2005 11:32 AMPlease help support Tea Leaves by visiting our sponsors.
