I do spend some time with my white collar on, CEOing my empire. I still occasionally put in a full morning or afternoon getting my hands dirty on a ladder while delivering the magical interweebs. These are the stories and views provided.
The legions have spoken and I am ANSWERING! It has been 6 months since my last ladders post but I have seen my share of heights, spooky attics, and strange houses since then.
Previously, on The Ladders I Climb: While installing the most economical and local of internet connections, you can imagine I see our town from some strange angles and have entered the scuzziest flops to the nicest homes in town. To me, it is work I do to get outside and make money, so it is a little mundane. The pictures I take of my unique little town, across the globe from most of my followers and friends, is one of my unique ways of providing a unique perspective and story on the blog.
Here are a few from the last couple weeks!
This Canadian town usually spends a couple months deciding between fall and winter. Still many days until autumn officially ends, it looks wintery enough from this north-looking shot from an overhang on the south side of town. The sun does still hold some warmth when the cold wind isn't blowing and I will likely dream of a day like this when I am on a ladder in the middle of February. If you would like to play 'spot the access point', at which I am aiming my antenna, it is on the pole just to the left of center in this pano.
Once I finish drilling, pulling, crimping and climbing, this is the moment of truth. Will I have done a perfect job the first time? Will the technicians have configured the antenna properly? Will I be able to wrap up and screw off or do I spend a bunch of time troubleshooting and fixing? Well, 55 down and 30 up is all I need as they cap the service at 20/20 anyhow.
This glamorous locale is facing east towards the same water tower you can see in the last install. Neat rust-proofing and truck bed lining business run by a nice guy. I am not even sure where the access point is here but think it is somewhere past the Erb truck.
The download speed was a solid enough but I managed to run the speed test before the antenna fully shook hands with the network. By the time I was finished up, the internet was humming along and I had discovered another small business with a need for some digital marketing expertise.
Movin' on up! To the 4th floor that is. This apartment installation is about a mile north west of the garage in an area with some bigger houses. Here, that means they are either nice big homes, or bigger ones like this one which have been chopped up into apartments. Sometimes, they do an alright job while others make you picture the original builder spinning in his grave. This is one of the latter but there are a couple friendly dogs helping me out so I am good.
I saved the best for last. This was yesterday and you can see the snow has melted off over here on the west side of town. Not only that, but this is a nice spacey ranch style home with an indoor pool and a kitchen that seems to be constantly producing amazing-smelling stuff from the oven.
This was no walk in the park though. The wire had to be run to an interior room so that means TO THE ATTIC in a house without a basement. It was a tight space with plenty of the foam insulation and a string of lights which I usually do not get to see. Often, they have that shitty powder insulation and I am crawling with a flashlight.
SOLID connection after we are done. Nice older folks with a solid internet connection for their shows and skype call with grandkids makes me happy. Money well earned.
As a second wave of the pandemic forces the government to impose on tighter restrictions on neighboring bigger cities, demand for internet as a means of productivity, communication and entertainment will increase in the next while. Unluckily for me, that will likely mean more brisk work in the coldest months of the year. Luckily for you, that will mean some exotic winter wonderland shots and perhaps stories of mistresses in lingerie who fancy the internet guy. We can dream can't we?
