This is my new traveling companion. And I must tell you that I am in no way ungrateful that my parent’s gave me this to take with me on my trips. You see they saw this story on the news and I got a Carbon Monoxide Detector to take with me on my trips. It is important to have carbon monoxide detectors in your home. The issue I have with this thing is that it is huge, I have to remember to take the batteries out when I leave my hotel room and before I go to the airport. This thing makes the most ungodly loud noise, which of course is what it is supposed to do. I would hate to be going through security with my suitcase and have this thing go off. I’d get the full body search for sure. But I appreciate that they gave this to me. I may need to check on something more travel friendly. And now my airport rant. You know how those things end up happening.

Why don’t airports have FREE Internet access?

I am so frustrated today. I have been participating in a contest sponsored by HP and run through PayPerPost. It is now 12:06pm EST. I am in Chicago; I started my morning at Providence. In providence they have T-Mobil hotspots and you can pay $9.99 for access. I checked the locations for other T-Mobile Hotspots and they were listed as being in Chicago. So I figured I would buy Internet access in PVD and then be able to get access in Chicago. WRONG!!! Well, sort of. I sat on the floor outside the Admirals Club because everywhere else in the airport there is some other provider. You can sign in to use their Internet for $6.95. Should I have waited to get to O’Hare, maybe but I was working on a contest and had no idea when it would end, it could have ended last night as I slept. However it did not end last night. All the pieces were released plus a “Puzzle Key” today at 12:00pm EST. I was fairly successful for about a ½ hour in front of the Admirals club. I updated the Boards with my whereabouts and I found all but 3 of the puzzle pieces. On principle I was not going to pay for the Internet again. Sure there is $1,000 on the line and I know I will not be the one to win it but it was the participation that I was so excited for. Just being part of a cool thing online was enough for me. I loved getting pieces and putting them together working with people I’d only met online. I hope that someone from the boards wins this contest. It is only fitting and I would be very happy for them.

But I am very annoyed at the airport. I was supposed to be able to get connected once I got to Chicago. Here is what happened. I landed in Chicago, fired up the laptop, logged into the very good wireless system called concourse. A company other than T-Mobile hosted it, but it had an option to do roaming from T-Mobile, however the T-Mobile I purchased in Providence didn’t count. I kept getting told that my name and password didn’t work. Fine. I’m annoyed. I head over to the Admirals Club between concourses H&K. I fire up the laptop again; this time I see t-mobile as and option on the list of wireless networks. I sign in okay with the name and password from earlier in the day. It works! Great! Then it stops working about 10 minutes later. This happened for about an hour and a half. Kept going until I was totally out of juice in the battery, there were no outlets anywhere. This puzzle game has made me insane. I would never have bought Internet access if I had known I would get screwed like that and if I wasn’t participating in this online game. I hope that I can snag some opps tonight to make up for the wasted money.