Dateline: Milwaukee

Good news, I suppose: America has not been completely homogenized. This turned into something of an inconvenience while we were in Milwaukee. I had to teach my class online, and to no one’s surprise, there is no wireless internet in my grandmother’s house. So after some discussion, we wound up getting a hint from my aunt and uncle to go to a Starbuck’s on Highway 100 and Greenfield Avenue.

The Wife and I drove there, and did not see any Starbuck’s. A few more blocks down Greenfield, and we determined that there were no coffee houses anywhere. Every block had at least three taverns, though. West Allis – and indeed most of Milwaukee – appeared nearly devoid of coffee houses. So we tried driving by Marquette University and then UW Milwaukee.

Near UWM, we found two places with wireless internet – and both were closing when we walked in because it was 7:00 p.m. on a Sunday night when we showed up. What kind of coffee house closes at 7:00 p.m. on a Sunday night? So back we drove to West Allis – and this time, we found the Starbuck’s. Then I had to buy an internet account at Starbuck’s. It didn’t work properly for a while until I could reconfigure my computer and made it work. Fortunately, it did eventually work, and my students did not need much trouble.

So it was back to my grandmother’s house where I wrote one of two final exams that I need to write this week, and The Wife and I sat with my grandmother watching a broadcast of Woody Allen’s farcical Shadows and Fog.