So Mike has informed his travel agent (that would be me) that he wishes to attend the Hugh Jass Train Show out in West Springfield, at the end of January.  We decided a few years ago that this was way too much for a day trip.  So he will be taking Friday the 23rd off from work and we’ll drive out to Sturbridge that day.  We always stay in Sturbridge for this thing, it’s not that far a drive to West Springfield the next day, plus we know of motels there that are probably cheaper than staying near the show venue.  It’s being held, as always, at the Big E fairgrounds, and everything around there tends to be overpriced.  Plus, we get to visit Old Sturbridge Village!

Since our preferred place to stay, the Sturbridge Heritage Motel, is closed for the winter, I booked us a room at our alternate place, the Motel 6.  This is the only Motel 6 we’ve ever stayed at, and it’s really okay, not dirty or skeevy or scary or anything.  It’s clean, comfortable, and cheap, and it has a firdge for my beer.  What more can I want?

Well, it would be nice if the free WiFi there worked for once.  But they keep putting us in the back of the building, and I can never get a signal unless I sit outside on the deck.  Well, in January, it’s too cold to sit outside.

But I noticed that they have a jack thingy on the phone, for dial-up internet.  I didn’t use it because for one, we didn’t bring the regular phone cord that is needed, and for two, we just had Mike’s work computer, which has no dial-up software installed on it.  But this time I will bring Mike’s ancient laptop, which is now sort of mine, as he never uses it.  I have Juno dial-up service on that, I pay a small fee for it every month as a backup, in case we lose power, or our DSL goes down.  It’s come in handy quite a few times!

Dial-up sucks, but it’s better than nothing. Now, watch, we’ll bring the old computer, and we’ll get a room in front where the WiFi works!  So I think we will bring BOTH computers!

You see, I won’t be going with Mike to the train show on Saturday the 24th.  I went with him once, and that was enough.  So, as I did last year, I will stay behind in the room for the day.  I’ll drink beer, watch TV, surf the web, read, and maybe if it’s not too horrifically cold out, I’ll take a walk over to the Sturbridge Scrapping Corner, which is several blocks away from the Motel 6.

But sometimes we stay at places with no internet access at all.  I still like to keep up with email, but I don’t want to pay the high costs of something like a BlackBerry.  That is why I was excited to learn about a nifty little gadget called the Peek.  It’s kind of like a BlackBerry, but all it does is email.  The cost is just $100, and the monthly service fee is $20.  Not bad at all.  I so could use one of these!  I found a contest where I can win one…read on…

Win a Peek at jenn.nu! Participating in the Peek giveaway is as easy as creating a blog entry that links to the giveaway and to getpeek.com. For more information, see the official giveaway blog entry: Win a Peek!

I hope I win, but if I don’t, I am so going to buy one of these things.  In fire-engine red, of course!