Early on, the editorial board of this blog decided not to post comments on the fly, from all readers.  However, all are invited to send in comments for our consideration.

For example, I received a nice note from the people at The Garden District coffee shop on in Austin, after my tongue-in-cheek remarks earlier in the visit to SXSW.  No matter what I said … great place.  I want to go back.  Our biggest point of contention was that TGD shuts off their Wi-Fi.  Well .. there is a good reason.  See the comments I received from a reader, below:

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Austin is way too cool to sit in a room full of bloggers (for very long), so I slipped away to go “Keep Austin Weird” in my own way.  As you well know, 6th Street is the place to be (although there are some pretty cool things popping up on South Congress …).  And, overlooking 6th Street is a gem of an old hotel — The Driskil.

Handheld Groupie @SXSW

On my very first journalism trip, even before they let me out of J school, several writers and I stayed at the hotel.  I remember two things — an immaculate lobby .. and a lounge singer named Donna Menthol.  Wonder if Donna still got those pipes …  After a few spins on the mountain bike and some random photos, I headed to the hotel.

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On this fine Saturday morning, PingWi-Fi is doing “speed dating.”  What I mean is, my first venue shuts off the free Wi-Fi at 10 a.m. I stormed through the doors of The Garden District at 9:30.  I grabbed a great cup of joe, fairly quickly, in spite of the family of tourists who recited their usual Starbucks order to no avail — holding up the line.

Gotta Get Back To The Garden -- Timed Wi-Fi

Funky place!  What do you expect … Austin, South Congress, and surrounded by hippie horticulture?  This coffee shop is about a half mile north of St. Edward’s University.  I don’t know why they shut off the “juice” at 10 a.m., but I have no choice but to abide. The Garden is furnished with velvet paintings, rock posters and garage sale furniture.  I think I saw Wavy Gravy sitting in one corner.  The best art in the place is on the calves and shins of the postal worker sitting on the couch.  Thank goodness she has legs like a line backer — makes for a bigger and better gallery for her skin art.

The Garden District is certainly my kind of low-key place, but shutting down the wireless is a cardinal sin.  I took off one Hail Mary on their score card for that.  Another point was deducted because although they have a chess board, they ain’t got gammon — 5 pings.

Know what I sayin?

Does anyone find this potato as interesting as I do?  LOL. Is this how Weston skyrocketed his photo career?  What was I thinking?  I could have sold this tate on eBay!

Baby Got Spud

I have an idea for an upcoming blog regarding the rash of cover songs there are these days.  Devo’s regurgitation of The Stones’ “Satisfaction” will not be on the list.  It will forever be in a class of its own. (“Babybabybabybabybabybaby …”)

This just in … one of the more enjoyable news releases I have seen in a while. (Namely, I like that the band chronology spans from Kent State to Kentish.)  I wonder if I can still fit into my spud collar:

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Ever wonder why the word “random” is such a part of our everyday conversation lately? I think I have found the culprits — first stream-of-consciousness blogging and now the TV-dinners of blogging — tweets … those 140-gram appetizers on Twitter.

Unfortunately, I have run across some people who are still TI — Twitter intolerant. Assuming everyone is reading blogs now, I thought it might be fun to post some tweets that were flagged as faves by readers. Here are some highlights from @pingwifi on Twitter.

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When I arrived in Eastern Standard Time a couple of weeks ago, I took note that my Blackberry didn’t adjust itself to the new time zone. Easy fix. I was glad to help out a handheld.

View From Dirty Jobsite With iPhone

Well, last night as I remembered Daylight Saving Time (for once), I prodded the Blackberry forward 60 minutes. Guess what. Some time during the night, the T-Mobile phone also moved ahead one hour automatically. So, I was up bright and early this morning at 5 a.m., wondering where everyone was — especially my Belgium friends (waffles).

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Don’t tell me there is nothing new in Wi-Fi.  Today in Exton, Penn., I encountered the wireless wonder at a Subway and at The King’s place too. (So is Jared a computer geek, in addition to being a dork?)  I am sure there are lots of SWs and BKs that have W-F, but I ain’t seen ’em.  Back to that in a second …

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As I prepare for the twice-a-year confusion/ritual known as Daylight Saving Time — how in the world is “spring forward” supposed to help me? — I am checking out Wi-Fi at hotel chain that is new to me.

Comfort Suites. in Exton, Penn.  Suites, inns … lots of hotel chains are lumped together in my mental storage space, but it appears there are some differentiators. (Doesn’t Exton sound like an Internet start up?)

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If you have read along, you know that I have a new side gig … not unlike Dirty Jobs on TV.  If you don’t know what I mean, scroll down a few posts.

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