Driving around Ottawa, looking for somewhere to live, we managed to hit 838 different wireless networks between 2:58pm and 4:30pm. Leaching off networks, calling numbers in windows, and trying to arrange times to have a look inside makes for a very active feeling afternoon.
Joyce’s help was very much appreciated. Without it, I couldn’t possibly have seen so many different possible apartments and parts of the city.
[10:00pm] Given how useful it was when choosing parts of Ottawa to consider living in, it seemed natural to query the hive mind about my apartment search. Perhaps I will find someone who knows of a really good place about to be put on the market; alternatively, I might find some flatmates. I want to pay down a good portion of my student loans this year, which means affordable housing is a critical thing to locate.
[Update: 15 July 2007 4:40pm] This afternoon, we found a place that looked really good: huge, but a tad on the expensive side. Even so, I submitted an application and deposit. Unfortunately, so did the people who looked at it half an hour before. Unless they are rejected for some reason, they will get the flat. There have also been two much more marginal places available. The search continues.
By 5:20pm, we managed to pass through 1309 wireless networks: dozens of them completely open to the public.
Just as you’ve left Vancouver, the NY Times is featuring it.
Here is a WiFi related initiative of mine. We will see how it goes.
There are few forces more powerful
than geeks desperately trying to get
internet in a new apartment.