Wireless Safari
I'm safely back from my LA excursion. The Burbank airport remains one of my favorites thanks to a very small terminal and virtually no hassles. We stayed at the Safari Inn on Olive, which is a far cry from five stars, but provides all the amenities I care about. A clean room, complete with shower and a small refrigerator makes a great place to spend the night, especially considering most of the trip was spent at various places throughout the greater LA area. Free WiFi was a pleasant surprise. And thanks to some help from Travelocity, the room rate was around $50 per night.
To My Surprise put on the best show of the night playing to a packed house at the Roxy. The opening act reminded me of a more talented Wendy O and the Plasmatics, while headliners Metal Skool was just plain silly. Metal Skool is apparently a popular LA cover band, playing some of the worst songs to come from the 80s hair metal scene, when they aren't attempting to get a laugh from the crowd with long-winded banter. Still, if you want you band to be seen by 200-300 people, playing in front of Metal Skool is a good way to make it happen. To My Surprise should be one of the hottest bands of 2004, with an outstanding live show and a handful of catchy pop melodies that will remind listeners of the Cars, Cheap Trick, the Beatles, and a laundry list of other pop icons, all without sounding like any of them.
Wireless networking gear keeps getting cheaper, which is good for those of us who want a fully connected home. In a recent shopping visit to Amazon, I noticed they are running a special with Linksys offering rebates on tons of networking products, in honor of 16 years of Linksys. All networking products are discounted from regular prices, with an additional rebate honoring another year of Linksys.