calepwhoward.com

In my last post I made mention of apathy being the primary reason I don’t write here any more but it is actually worse than that. I have been making status updates on Facebook and I have been essentially ignoring this site. That’s short-sighted on my part but quite sloth-like so no one should really be surprised by any of this. As with the last post, acknowledging that I have a problem is half the battle.

Over the past few months I have noticed several changes for the worse taking place on the Internet:

1. Performance sux – We’re supposed to live in the greatest country in the world but we have about the worst Internet performance of the so-called developed world. And it appears to be getting worse – not better. Is the infrastructure completely over-taxed or is it just completely inadequate? My money’s on completely inadequate when the available ISPs are all throttling performance so they can charge more for meaningless incremental performance tiers.
2. Internet Merchants suck – The proliferation of Internet storefronts means anyone can go online and accept credit cards for goods. Unfortunately I’m encountering all the jackasses who don’t have their shit together when it comes to fulfilling orders. So far I’ve discovered two merchants who are reliable. The rest suck.
3. Internet content sux – I mean seriously – this web site is a perfect example of how pitiful web content has become.

What to do?

1. Don’t pay for incremental performance gains from your ISP. Don’t pay them anything else until they remove the performance restrictions. If you vote with your dollars they will listen and don’t give them any more dollars until they make the Internet perform like is needs to.
2. Don’t shop online unless you absolutely have to. Support local merchants and give them a chance to try to meet Internet prices. If you must shop online try to find people that have had good luck with the online merchant you select. And when ever possible DO NOT use PayPal. That puts another layer between you, the merchant, and your credit card company and trying to get resolution on a PayPal dispute is next to impossible.
3. Come up with content better than this crap!

This morning I decided to give the local Scooter’s Coffeehouse a try. When we want to go out for coffee we usually go to one of the many Starbuck’s or when we want wifi outside the house we go to Panera. I’m not a fan of Panera’s food, coffee, or atmosphere and the only wifi option at our local Starbuck’s is T-Mobile hot spots (like I’m going to pay for that!) so I checked out Scooter’s online last night and saw that they have free wifi so I decided to give them a try.

So what’s the verdict? The coffee is OK, their pastries are OK, and the wifi works so it’ll do. They’re no Coffee Girls but I can’t get to Coffee Girls on my bike on a weekend morning so they’ll be an acceptable weekend option. Starbuck’s coffee is better but the wifi isn’t free. The pastries at Starbuck’s and Scooter’s are a toss-up. And the atmosphere at both is pretty much the same – nondescript.

If distance wasn’t a consideration I’d spend my weekend mornings at Coffee Girls. The coffee is great, the pastries are great, and the atmosphere rocks. And being in the Crossroads district they have cool art on the walls. True sometimes their music choices make my ears bleed but that’s better than the vanilla crap playing at Scooter’s or Starbuck’s on any given day. Thank God for my noise-canceling headphones!

Here are some guidelines for the appropriate use of the apostrophe.