Arezow, Ty, Mikey At Bubble Chews

As we continue to ping Wi-Fi locations on this ongoing tour, it is tough to decide which is best — the consistency of corporate chains or the charm of the mom/pop shops. (Note: moms get top billing. Who said chivalry is dead?)

Anyway … corporate consistency is nice in its own right … I don’t know, say maybe like Starbucks for example … But sometimes it is difficult to get corporate America to move quickly, for our strategic purposes.

Timing can be everything. This week, PingWi-Fi was hit up by a news team to discuss our ongoing branding issue — as we attempt to defend our logo in a classic David vs. Goliath, trademark court thing. Could we do the TV interview at Starbucks, where we do most of our best blogging? Ha! That would take about a week to get approval … IF we could get approval.

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We’ve all heard a motivational spiel about “bad things happening to good people” … and “all things working for the good” …

I was a key player in a case in point, just the other night.

Like a fool, I was carrying clean laundry down the stairs, when I learned the hard way that a light was burned out at my place. Like a stuntman, I tumbled down a few steps on the dark, hot, hard cement. Like most everyone would, I popped up embarrassed and looked around to see who had seen me crash and burn.

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If every person in my old hometown followed me on Twitter, the followers of @pingwifi would double … the bad news? The number would still be smaller than the calorie intake in my frappuccino.

And then, if those followers from Twitter migrated to this Web site, which is my goal … well, who knows what could happen. “It could become a movement.”

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Sarta Worldwide Broadcast Team

The idea for my first blog, The Wi-Fi Guy back in 2002 or so, came to me when strangers continually approached me in Starbucks and asked how in the world my laptop was on-line — there among the coffee grounds and the pseudo intellectuals.

Now I have a new icebreaker. Not since the infancy of Wi-Fi have so many people struck up a conversation with me over a random topic — my new Apple iPad. Love or hate them apples, everyone seems to be interested in this toy/efficient tool.

The other day in Millington, Tenn., I was approached by another hotel guest at the morning feeding frenzy (hotel breakfast buffet, with waffle maker).

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Back in my newspaper days, occasionally the editor would give me “Man on the Street” interview assignments. “Great! Where can you find 20 people who have enough spare time to comment on celebrity gossip, trade embargoes or a new strain of e-coli?”

The first time I manned up on the street, it took me about 3 hours to get enough interviews. People were just too busy.

There had to be an easier way. “Where can I find people sitting, bored, and willing to chat?” (This predated nouveau coffee shop craze …) I discovered the waiting room at the full-service car wash. Soon, MOTS interviews were completed in 30 minutes.

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What celebrity do people say you resemble?

That is my all-time favorite icebreaker question when I meet a stranger. I even prefer that question over “What is the best rock concert you ever saw?” I must say, I have a pretty high success rate when I meet someone and then guess to which celebrities they have been compared.

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Moral convictions and personal hygiene/bodily functions are taboos, in my opinion, when it comes to blogging. I try to tread lightly. Normally, I wouldn’t bring up a moral issue because they are so charged with emotion. In addition, I find bathroom humor to be bad form.

However …

This true story compelled me to make exceptions.

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Well, I made it through Memphis In May and lived to tell about it – if only I had a little time to tell about it … Been way busy with my Dirty Gig (cleaning up flood damage). Ha … By what I hear on local media, it really is somewhat of a feat to survive here. There have been some terrible crimes – police shootings, pitbull attacks, bank robbers, etc., etc.

Today, one of the headlines is about a 70-year-old golfer who was attacked and robbed on a golf course. Ha! Memphis hypes its PGA event – The St. Jude Classic – in a slightly different fashion than my hometown Colonial. I can’t remember a single fairway shakedown back in Cowtown … but I could be wrong. I do know this, Colonial is all about plaid, but here in Memphis, I am about to experience seersucker Sunday. Fore! IF the tournament comes through with the press credentials, I will be tweeting as @CaddieChat.

Oh … before I forget it. They interviewed the elderly golfer and he invited the hood to come back for another round – one which will feature a new weapon in his golf bag. You go, pops!

I digress …

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When I was a youth, the newspaper could never get it right.  One basketball article referred to me as “Pingelton.” Ha!  I considered changing my name to “Pringle,” after hearing that one so many times.  Another basketball article — my favorite — reported that “Pingelli” scored 20 points in one game.  My best friend’s dad — himself a newspaper man — used to borrow that one.  When I scored a basket, he would wait until the gym quieted a bit, and yell “Ping-GELL-eeeeeee.”

My friends, and later my fraternity brothers, shortened it to Ping, early on.

In college there was this hot little friend of a friend who actually had the last name Ping.  If for no other reason, I wanted to marry her so that she would one day be Tonya Ping-Pingel.

Anyway … I named this blog PingWi-Fi to incorporate my nickname, my passion for wireless and my mission — to find Wi-Fi as it runs rampant in our culture.  It is almost like a sonar sounding.  I go out and I ping coffee shops to see if they have Wi-Fi.  I ping college bowl games to see if there is Wi-Fi in the pressbox and/or the sidelines.  I have pinged ferryboats, commuter trains and airliners on a regular basis.

It what I do.  For the most part, it is quite positive and usually well received … at least among people who have entered the computer age.

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Make no mistake, I am on record for saying disco was the darkest era of rock ‘n’ roll history. I mean. Let’s be serious — it was people dancing to songs about dancing to songs about dancing …
Disco … that reminds me. Have you ever heard about that DJ in Chicago who staged a burn your disco record rally, and it turned into a riot? I almost slashed my wrists when I missed that beautiful fiasco — j/k.

Disco Demo Night

Ha … while I am on the topic of Disco and burning that mutha down … that promoter later gave me a shout out after one of my guerilla PR stunts — one which also received some ink and some criticism around the country. I was pretty flattered. In my PR stunt, a company offered a bounty for any NBA player who took part in the basketbrawl between the Detroit Pistons, Indiana Pacers and fans — offering $10K to players who participated, if they would tattoo a company logo on their fist. No takers.

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