Internet Tether

I have been very frustrated of late with the dial-up internet connection we have. It's about the only negative thing about living out here in the boonies because the internet just keeps getting more graphic intense and slower and slower for those of us stuck with dial-up.

However, I found out about "tethering" a cell phone to my computer which, in effect, turns the cell phone into a high-speed modem. A friend came over last Sunday afternoon and showed me how it worked and said that it even worked better here than it did at her house! After dial-up and connecting at 28.8kbps at best, using her cell phone connection was pure heaven! She couldn't remember how to find out the connection speed, but I can tell that it's sooo much faster than dial-up!

I put in an order for the special USB cable needed to connect the phone to my computer and received confirmation that it has been shipped! I don't know how long it will take to get here but I can't wait! When I receive the cable, I'll go sign up for unlimited access to the internet through my cell phone provider. This extra access will cost about the same as DSL in this area (where it's available). If I had a laptop computer, I could have high-speed just about wherever I go!

I'll keep you posted on how well this works for me. I'm sure most of you have access to DSL or cable but this could be an option for those who don't.

The internet is wonderful even at slow speeds. I did a search to find out how to store my art paper (see yesterdays blog entry about the Monster Table) and found a couple of good solutions.

One site suggested that the paper be stored with glassine interleaved between the sheets. This is a relatively inexpensive solution and one I may try.

Also, ASW Express has some acid-free storage boxes in their on-line catalog. The boxes come in various sizes and some were even cloth bound. This would probably be a great option for storage in the studio as the description said that they could be used in place of flat files. I'm not sure the boxes that are big enough to hold full sheets of watercolor paper would fit into the storage area of the Monster and I'm not sure I would want them to take up room in the studio. The whole point to the storage space in the Monster was to keep paper handy and out of the way. I'm sure there are probably even more options that I haven't discovered yet but, right now, I'm leaning toward using the glassine sheets.