A Living Magazine - Day 328 - Homecoming - Westfield: Something Afoot, Not Quite

This would turn out to be a gloomy, somewhat frustrating day. I woke up and took a shower then, expecting to be able to work all day, went and paid for another night. By doing this, I was sacrificing the ability to do a laundry, by, yet again, spending the rest of my money. It was the lesser of two evils.

Then, I had to get some food on this morning so I wouldn't have to leave later. The only stores were a mile and a half away, which meant it would take at least an hour to go out and come back again. I dumped out everything from the backpack and headed out. 

It was sprinkling on and off. While it would have been really nice to go to a supermarket, none were close enough, so I settled for Dollar General and Walgreen's. And, I stopped by a pizza place, buying a twelve inch pepperoni pizza for later. By the time I got back the rain was coming in fits and starts. It was nice to not be slogging in it.

I made a quick sandwich and turned on the computer. The Wi-Fi worked for a little while and then kept crapping out; troubleshooting showed that it was connected but I was getting no signal. Checking the details of the report, it looked like the router needed to be reset. I struggled for a couple of hours of almost getting online and then losing the connection. Finally, with laptop in hand, I walked over to the office--pretty much knowing how this exchange would go. 

After a bunch of times ringing the buzzer, the same manager who had checked me in the day before came out, looking irritated. I told her about the problem and showed her my screen. She said in her forceful broken English that there was nothing she could do. It was working fine for them (supposedly). I asked her if she might just press the reset button on the router. I knew she understood what I was asking for, but she pretended not to have a clue, looking wide-eyed, and saying "I know nodding about deez dings!" I surrendered to the inevitable, not wanting to be that guy.

So, I walked slowly back to my room, defeated and frustrated. This similar situation had happened before at another motel. Sometimes it was simply a matter of waiting a few hours for either the problem to correct itself, or for the "Administrator" (motel manager) to realize she can't use it either and actually press the reset button. 

With no internet, I clicked on the TV in the inevitable pattern of American droneism. And I processed pictures and videos on my computer offline, while watching the Travel Channel and the Food Network. I also took a break to show you all the condition of the room...

Wires on the dirty walls. Fridge on 2 x 4's.

Badly hung wallpaper covering the still wood paneled walls.

Bathroom mirror cracked in half.

Duct taped toilet.

The bed wasn't bad, actually, although resting on an old box spring.

I had vetted the place at BedBugRegistry.com (as I always do) for issues. None were reported. 

Nice clean chair, not.

Please understand that the above pictures - in this case - are not meant to be me complaining or ranting about the place. This is what one expects from a motel like this. One must be good at rationalizing the relativity of things with the "at leasts." At least: I didn't have to sleep outside, had a refrigerator, the shower was strong and hot, the TV worked... The thing I missed the most was having a desk. I made one out of the luggage rack and a bureau drawer. And, of course there was the smoke smell. It was the first time I'd stayed in a smoking room in the last two years. The smell actually reminded me of the 1970's when everything smelled like cigarettes (motels, hotels, restaurants, airplanes, etc...).

Occasionally, I would try to get online and make it to a site, only to have the screen lock up again. There was no relief from this internet issue for the rest of the day. When I'd done everything I could do offline, I just sat and ate my cold pizza (which didn't bother me--I like cold pizza) and watched TV. 

As I surfed in between commercials I found a station that was playing the movie, War Games. I hadn't seen it since way back in the 1980's and enjoyed watching it, noting how many things had changed since then. But, also appreciating that that movie along with a slew of other cultural movies, documentaries, music and art in the late 80's was part of what turned the tide, brought about the end of the Soviet Union, and made the world much safer (perhaps only temporarily). It showed what can be done when the public is so concerned and focused behind one mission (eliminating the risk of nuclear war), that culture changed the governments of the world, rather than the other way around. It is an excellent example of bottom-up change. And, in case you've forgotten, that is probably the biggest theme underlying this blog.

By about 11:30 p.m. the internet suddenly flashed on and worked perfectly. By this time I was too tired to do anything more. I packed up everything except for the laptop, so that I might do some work in the morning and then went to bed. I slept well.