Okay – I gave up. Mostly. I returned the WSB24 (Wireless Signal Booster) I bought from Amazon, and bought another at Best Buy, because the one from Amazon just *had* to be a freakish dud. But no, the Best Buy unit exhibited the exact same behavior. That is, I hooked it up to my WAP11 (Wireless Access Point), and the signal strength actually DROPPED throughout my apartment. Yes, DROPPED. As in the OPPOSITE of “Boosted”. What’s got me most upset is that I can’t even come close to explaining how that could happen. I’m no electrical engineer, but…

Anyhow, I returned the second unit to Best Buy (Linksys should hate my guts by now), and then went out and bought a great big (low-tech) DRILL BIT. I’m gonna run CAT5 through the fresh holes in my walls. I’m still going to run wireless, but this should let me get the access point WAY closer to the current Dead Zone that is the Library. We’ll see… It’ll be a few nights of toil (at 30 minutes of toil per night, methinks) to get the cables run and test things out.

On the plus side, it still managed to be an amazing weekend. The weather was fabulous – especially because as a transplant I *really* appreciate being able to go the beach in early March, which we did.

Let’s see… Saturday we slept in, then went for breakfast at the Ebb-Tide Cafe. Yummy. Then a couple of errands, then off to Baker Beach to just sit on the sand and look at the Golden Gate Bridge, and be thankful we’re not back in Toronto. Well, that sounds harsh – Toronto’s great, but the weather and scenery at that moment *definitely* couldn’t compare. I took my camera along (except to the beach), and took pictures – mostly of the Mission district (where we live), and the strip of cool shops/clubs/restaurants on nearby Valencia Street. The pics are up the in the gallery, under the “San Francisco Photos” album.

Today was nice, and low-key. More sunny and mild weather. Some work (as in Tectura work), some ice cream from Maggie Mudd’s on Cortland, some errands (like returning the second WSB24 and picking up a Sony Clie for Em), and then off to see City of God, which was simply amazing. Now it’s (almost) time for bed…