Our New Cradlepoint 350CTR WiFi System

Our new Cradlepoint wifi system is up and running and we are both wondering why we didn't think to get one sooner! It's very small -- about the size of a deck of cards (I was going to say "a pack of cigarettes," but haven't seen any of those in a long time...!). It has a three hundred-fifty foot range and since Auntie Violet is only 37 feet long, we should be able to use it anywhere in the rig -- or outside. Our AT&T USB aircard plugs into it. Forry bought a six foot extension USB cord for it yesterday so that we could move it over to the window sill totally away from the computer area. We shouldn't have to worry about accidently bumping it and breaking ANOTHER very fragile antenna connection on the aircard. As long as we have a connection with the trucker antenna and aircard to AT&T we should do well.

It was very nice today to be able to spend the 4-5 hours necessary to download the upgrade to 3.0 for my iPhone without the usual erratic connection that often timed out in the middle of the download. And while I was doing that, Forry was able to get onto the internet at the same time with his computer!

A New Antenna Connection!

We stopped at the AT&T store in Spokane yesterday. They gave us a new aircard to replace the one that was just a few weeks old on which the antenna connection had broken. That was really good news as they are $99 a pop!

I have been doing my blogs for the last few days from my iPhone. I'm pleased that I've figured out how to do it, but it takes a whole lot longer with that itty-bitty touch screen.

Almost all of the grain harvest in the area is over (the crops were a bit better then had been anticipated this spring with all of the necessary re-seeding) so last night's rain was much appreciated. Our tenant has his drills up on the summerfallow at the corner and hopes to start seeding wheat this weekend.

I cannot believe the quantity of dirty laundry I am looking at again. I know there were just a few items in the laundry basket when I left for Chicago! I think the soiled items sing a siren song during the night to entice all kinds of other clothing to join them...

And Several Days Later --

I don't know what's going on with my computer -- or the internet at the ranch! I have NOT been able to connect there at all!

I had spent most of the day Thursday in Moses Lake with my dear friend Phyllis while Vic and Pam went to Wenatchee. It was a blessing to be able just to spend time with her. She slept most of the morning, so I was able to connect with Vic's wireless network; get my Norton virus software downloaded; get all the upgrades for both Microsoft and HP. It seemed like everything was going well...

Got home and attempted to access the internet and nada! I couldn't even get the computer to recognise the aircard...

We went to CleElum Saturday morning for the Memorial Service for our friend Dr. John Anderson at the Middle School Gym. The gym was full and it was a pretty amazing tribute. We heard a lot of stories about his Norwegian sense of humor and about all that he had done for rural health. It was good to see my former AHEC colleagues who were there. The community had a dessert reception following the program. There were three tables stretched the length of their school cafeteria loaded with cookies, cakes and other sweet things!

After the service, we went into Ellensburg to the AT&T store. They suggested that I delete the aircard software from the computer and then let the aircard reinstall it. I did, it reloaded just fine and voila! the computer could again see the aircard.

Got back to the ranch, had three bars, connected just fine, but then again it would not connect to the internet!

We flew to Columbus, Ohio today for the biennial Mennonite Church USA convention. We are at the Crowne Plaza Hotel and when we checked in I did get the password for their wifi system hoping that I could get it to work at least. I plugged in the computer, tried the aircard and it worked perfectly! I just don't understand what is going on!

And on to Spokane...

Forry had an appointment this afternoon at 2:30 in Spokane, so we headed up there just in time for a stop at Arby's before his appointment. We were just casually talking and suddenly realized he was supposed to be there in ten minutes! We quickly took off, drove to the office building, switched drivers, he ran inside and I went to find a place to park.

Then we ran errands: to Group Health pharmacy to pick up a prescription; to Spokane Wireless to pick up a connector for the new booster we had gotten last week; to the AT&T store to see if they could figure out why I am sporadically having such a time -- especially during the daytime -- connecting to the internet; and to Auto Zone to pick up another inverter so that I can use my computer in the car without running the battery down (we've either loaned the one we had to someone or just plain lost it...).

The fellow at the AT&T store was not much help. Of course, the laptop and the aircard worked just fine there! He did pull up the map of coverage for all of the cell towers to see if we had coverage at the ranch and we do. He couldn't figure out why we were having problems. Scott at Spokane Wireless thinks maybe they are putting a new cell tower into service and have powered down the one we use so as not to "blow it out" when the other one comes on line. Perhaps they'll power them both up slowly?

We ended up taking Son Sean out to dinner at Chan's Dragon Inn on 3rd. It's one of the oldest established Chinese restaurants in Spokane. I had seen an ad where they were featuring asparagus this week... The food is typical Chinese, but it sure was quiet there. I don't think it's a real good time to be in the restaurant business.