It seems absurd now, but when I first heard about this new thing called “Wi-Fi” years ago, my first thought was, “What’s the point?”  These were heady days not far removed from the crackle and screech of dial-up 14.4 baud modems, and the idea of removing the wires altogether seemed strange.  Was it really worth the money spent just to have a little less clutter under my desk?  It didn’t help that all the early reports indicated that wireless routers were notoriously unreliable (not everything changes). 

Why couldn’t I see the potential for Wi-Fi?  It’s simple:  Back then, everyone I knew that jacked into the Internet was using a big, boxy desktop CPU.  Laptop computers were for total chumps—you couldn’t even play a decent game of Doom II on one of those toys!  Unless you were some hack novelist or a sports writer or something, laptops just wouldn’t cut it in the days of Windows 95—at least, that’s what I believed.  Who needed wireless Internet when all our computers were immobile lumps of plastic?  Nobody was rushing out to lug their Compaq Presario down to the coffee shop.

Today, of course, I wouldn’t be caught dead purchasing a big, boxy desktop CPU.  I love my Toshiba Satellite like a member of the family, and Wi-Fi was officially crowned the greatest invention in history the first time I checked my e-mail from the bathroom.  Thanks to today’s deal of the day, the AirLink 101 ASB-10DA 2.4 GHz 10 dBi Indoor Directional Patch Antenna, I can make sure there’s not a single spot in my vast mansion where I can’t get a quality signal, so now I can finally surf the Web from my attic.  Just goes to show that as an Internet visionary, I make a great cheapskate bargain hunter.