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The internet's not working!

By Ann Althouse

So here I am in Madison, and, dammit, I'm at Starbucks. How the hell did I end up here? In New York, I'm stuck going to Starbucks, because there are no indie cafés with WiFi in my neighborhood or in the places I go around Manhattan. But when I come back to Madison, like this weekend, I shun Starbucks. But this morning (and last night), Charter Communications had a regional outage ? I tried calling ? so I left the house first thing in search of a café.

It was like in this "South Park." You get up, you try to get on line, you freak out ? the internet's not working! ? and you head right out to a café to get your morning internet. In the "South Park," they actually go to a Starbucks. (Why does their Starbucks have free WiFi? I've never encountered free WiFi at a Starbucks.) So I run downtown, heading for one of my favorite Madison cafés, but it's Saturday and it's not 8 yet, so, that's the one niche that Starbucks fills in Madison: It's open all the time.

But now it's after 8, and I can café hop. I can't find an electrical outlet here anyway, and I'm down to the last 11% of my charge.

Am I addicted to the internet? Let's just say that "South Park" ? which you should watch ? hits close to home.

IN THE COMMENTS: George said...

It's worse than you think, Professor?You're an addict, and you're dealing the stuff.

Ah! You're right! Bloggers are the dealers in the world of internet addiction.

Greg in Madtown said:

It's even easier on the near-east side of town. Three independent coffee shops within four blocks of my house, and Escape Java Joint (with free wireless, of course), is only closed 6 hours/day (midnight-6am). I'm not advertising -- I don't work there -- it's just great to live in a city where I can pay for internet by the cup, even on Christmas. (Again with those atheists!)

Thanks for the tip! And, look, my favorite Madison food blog has reviewed it:

Rooms lead on to rooms all painted mellow colors. Our original guess was it used to be a dentist's office, but according to the barista, before Escape was a coffee shop, it was an arcade and a thrift store in the recent past (which we vaguely remembered), and in the more distant past a machine shop and wagon maker.

Wagon maker. Layers of history.

Full post as published by Althouse on April 19, 2008 (boomark / email).