The Single Greatest Invention...

I've been in California for less than a week and I have thought of the world's greatest contemporary idea at least a dozen times. Right now, with a goodly amount of work finished on my computer and NO WiFi to load it up to the web, I'm ready to head out in search of another place to lock in and get my work done.

The single thing standing in my way is my beer that is more than half full and which I neither want to guzzle, throw out or leave behind. What I need at this moment is… say it with me… A GO CUP!

On second thought, I think that we may have a tie here… Go Cups AND Free WiFi… these are the two single most wonderful inventions of the last fifty years. Forget all the other things, because they don't matter without Go Cups and Free WiFi… believe me… I know. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we've actually seen a man walk on the moon (so what actually came out of that besides a great video and Tang!?) and the end of many deadly diseases (we've also seen the creation of some even deadlier diseases, but, again, that's another story), but what can any of this possibly mean when held up against the incredible reality of freely taking your drink out the door and freely accessing the communication nexus of the modern world.

It's been a rough day for me in The City... Free Wifi spots that are supposed to be prevelant and helpful have been largely nonexistent or too weak to trust. The only solutions, like those in Newe Orleans, are the ones put in place by businesses looking to gain clientele. Frankly, I think this is a more trustworthy solution than the grand plans of both SF and NOLA to make WiFi a government supplied service. Nice try guys, but I have my doubts. In BOTH of my favorite cities, my best connections to the internet have been provided by the "market sector" and almost always come with either coffee or beer.

But then, MOST things of value come with either coffee or beer.

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Of course... we might add potable drinking water to the list, especially water, like San Francisco's, that runs from a reservoir high in the Sierra Mountains. After the chlorine infused, always dubious post-Katrina water in New Orleans it's kind of nice to be in a town where you can get good tasting, relatively safe, clean H2O right out of the tap.

Of course, it meant damning and flooding one of the most beautiful places on earth to get that water. Things always seem to have two sides now, don't they?