I went to Kansas (along with my folks) so that I could set up high-speed internet access for my Grandmother (hi Grammy). Now, since my grandmother lives in a tiny town in NW Kansas (Bird City, population approx 450) getting high speed internet might seem like an impossible feat, but the local cable company is doing a surprisingly decent job of making high speed access available in my Grandmother’s part of rural Kansas – it was just a matter of finding a time to get the family geek (aka, me) out to Bird City to set everything up.

And to my great pleasure, setup was a breeze. Somebody from the cable co. came and set up the outside antenna that was needed (it’s some kind of wireless system that I’ve never really seen or heard of before) and I added a network card to my Grandmother’s computer (she’s not a net newbie – she’s had dial-up internet for several years – go Grammy!), set up a wireless network for family to use with laptops, and… everything worked. Yay!

Now, I’m not saying that the digital divide is a thing of the past (I’ve got friends and classmates who hail from the Navajo reservation, which is still very much unwired – I know how far we still have to go in some areas). But I do think the fact that my Grandmother now has megabit internet service in her home in rural Kansas is a sign that we’re moving in the right direction.

Next up, my trip to the Bird City public library.