The more some things change...

...the more one sometimes ends up wishing they'd stayed the same.

Remember about a year or so ago when I stopped in at the KCMO Public Library's Southeast branch and commented on the big table they'd set up towards the back that seemingly could be a boon to the building's laptop-friendliness if they'd wire it for power?

Well, they have...but unfortunately-or actually fortunately for the non-laptop toting crowd that frequents this place-they've employed the table for what they'd apparently intended it for all along-to add ten sorely-needed public-access computers, only one of which is sitting vacant as I write this just after 4:30 p. m.

It just would have been nice if they'd taken my hint and also done a bit more toward accommodating not only patron-owned laptops, but their loaners, since either would go a long way toward alleviating the pressure on their public desktops if there were more places to sit with one, and more readily available power outlets-which is important given that since this is essentially the only free hotspot anywhere around here, you've got to expect patrons to stay longer than they would otherwise.