Would you believe...

Latté Land
1201 Main, Kansas City

802.11g
SSID:  Latteland

Well, the great staredown between the owners of this coffeehouse chain and the pashas of the Power and Light District is finally over, and now the titanic tiff between the aforementioned chain and That Big National Brand With A Location Across The Street is joined.  And for the sake of the home team one can only sincerely hope that what happened when I dropped in this afternoon is not a harbinger of things to come.

After verifying the presence of an open router and noting the SSID, I ordered up. But no sooner had I taken my small mocha in hand and started for a chair close to one of the many convenient power outlets along the walls of this obviously intentionally laptop-friendly location than the lights went out and the fire alarm started blaring.  It was bad enough that it was already twenty past five and the place closes at 6.  I ended up having to finish my drink on the sidewalk after it was suggested the premises should be evacuated "just in case."  Not that the management can really be blamed for being so cautious in these litigious days, of course, and besides, the power apparently went out to the entire block, indicating an issue beyond their control.  However, it's definitely not the sort of thing I'd be comfortable with if I were in a life-or-death struggle against the biggest competitor in my field without getting a thorough explanation from the responsible party or parties and assurances that it won't happen again.

Anyway, before the "Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?" moment, I did make note of the aforementioned power outlets liberally sprinkled along the walls.  Despite the corresponding seating being right up against the windows for the most part, remember that this location sits in the heart of downtown surrounded by much taller buildings, and since the windows face north and west they won't get direct sunlight except perhaps briefly late in the day. 

And apologies for not being able to borrow Macenstein's cell phone camera.  Perhaps, unlike Mac, I ought to consider actually going ahead and digging my ancient SLR lenses out and finding a digital body to pair them with.

Well looky here, will you?

Guess which public library system around town no longer appears to be ashamed of the fact that its locations are all unwired.  

Took them long enough, if you ask me.  About a year and a half, I think.

Now how much longer do you think it'll be before they provide a bit of useful information to prospective users-like the SSID, maybe?  Or the fact that access is free and open to everyone?  A short how-to-connect tutorial for new and inexperienced laptop owners might also be appreciated.  And, of course, adding the standard declaration and disclaimer that the relevant portions of the library's acceptable use policy apply to Wi-Fi users and that they're on their own as far as tech support and security are concerned would serve to keep the lawyers happy-which is why I'd look for this last change to show up well before the next website makeover.