The search for an excellent hotel room is a hard one for the weary road-warrior.  I thought I had found one, too.  Clean, modern, well decorated.  None of that cheesy grandma furniture.  32″ LCD HDTV…although everything is stretch-o-vision, I can tolerate that…for one night, anyway.  Large work desk, comfy chair…twenty foot ceiling for crying out loud!  Stone tile in the bathroom…marble counter-top…king size pillow-top bed.  Most importantly, it’s within my company-mandated budget!

There’s just one teeny, tiny problem.

An internet connection that feels like dial-up.  It’s painful.  I can’t even watch this week’s Zero Punctuation.  My phone’s EDGE connection is faster than this, and I’d be using it right now if 1) I was in an EDGE service area, and 2) I had remembered to bring a USB cable, or at least my phone’s wall charger.  Makes me wonder…if given a choice of where to stay for one night, would it be the gorgeous decked-out three star hotel (seriously…company budget, people) with a rickety telegraph machine for an internet connection; or a musty, worn-out husk of a burnout motel with a 20mbps fiber line?  It’s a tough question, isn’t it?