31/13 Or, The Tricks of the Trade

These days, I live on the road.  I am learning (and remembering) the radio stations I like in San Diego, LA, and Fresno.  I have found that Special K cereal makes a good “stay awake” snack, as do apples and bananas, but Post Select Grains is too hard to eat while driving.  I love cruise control.   Unfortunately, my car does not have its own wireless network, and I can’t afford service for a satellite ethernet card for my laptop.  For this reason, I rely on

and

for free internet.  If you register a Starbucks gift card, you can create an account and get online for free.  At Panera, it’s just free.  I depend on both of these establishments for when I need to read and send emails, find directions to my next meeting, or turn in school work.  Preparation for my trips includes finding the nearest Starbucks (easy!) and Panera (not so easy, but easier than you might think).  These are my tricks of the trade.

What about 31/13?  My computer keeps track of the networks it has used – currently I am writing from Starbucks in Bakersfield, the thirty-first Starbucks where I have used the free wireless.  From El Centro to San Diego to Oceanside to Lomita to Los Angeles to San Luis Obispo to Fresno to Visalia to Bakersfield, I have visited 31 Starbucks and 13 Panera Breads in the last four months.

Random fact, perhaps.  How many Starbucks have you been to in the last four months?  In your lifetime?