Just finished the first 10 days on the Virgin Mobile 3G internet system and it did all I had hoped. I tried the connection in several locations inside and out and never had any problems so I’m satisfied that technically, we have a solution. We started with a 100mbyte, 10 day top off card to get a feel for just how much usage that is compared to what we normally expend. All the satellite based systems plans I had looked at give you a limit in terms of megabytes and I really didn’t have a clue as to what those numbers meant in terms of our actual needs. Relatively speaking, I’m sure we’re light users – a daily check of email, a peak at the market for me; some FaceBook and quilt site surfing for Nancy. We ended up using the 100mbytes but actually surfed more than usual the last couple of days to use up what we were going to lose. We probably used an extra few bytes making the transition from AOL to Gmail. Still hit the library wi-fi one day and will continue that to do the heavy loads such as downloading software upgrades or Nancy spending hours trying to find a 25000 mile frequent flyer ticket to Salt Lake. Some of those downloads could suck up the whole month’s worth. I had purchased a 1Gbyte card to check the next 30 days but it looks like that’s a large overkill for us so at this point my thinking is to get 300 mbyte/30 day cards. I’m reckoning that some months that will be totally adequate and some months it may run out sooner but on average, 8-10 mbytes/day is where we are.
Tom and the family came up to the lake for Father’s day. Lots of swimming, computer tuneups, and pleasant chatter. Nancy cooked Rigatoni featuring garden fresh sauce and Tina brought up a Hummingbird cake – reported to be the most asked for recipe of Southern Living magazine. As usual, we ate well. Simon described an interesting gardening class he’s taking where the Prof encourages the students to bring along guests for lectures. Not only encourages, but he would get to drop his lowest test score if he brings a guest to class. I’m sure I’ll be a guest at least once and wonder if the prof will change his policy after having me there. The other gator news is that Simon landed a coveted position to get football tickets. Student tickets are offered in a lottery system and it’s nearly impossible for a freshman to win a lottery spot but Simon did.
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