Oct. 31--In the absence of a pressing technology question from you dear readers, I have two things for you.

1. Help with texting on cell phones.

2. Tips when buying wireless Internet for your home.

The texting idea came from today's feature article on this page about the prevalence of texting. Near the beginning of the story I mention one of the slew of abbreviations texters and online chatters concocted.

"lol" for "laugh out loud."

To save every bit of typing effort and time, texters will mangle the English language something fierce and things can get confusing fast. So I wrote a list with some common and not-so common abbreviations for when messages get abbreviated.

bwl -- Bursting with laughter.

eg -- Evil grin.

drib -- Don't read if busy.

hago -- Have a good one.

a3 -- Anyplace, anywhere, anytime

^5 -- High five.

;) -- Wink. (And :) is for smile.)

j/k -- Just kidding.

ppl -- People.

w/o -- Without.

Check out brainmeta.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=4043. This link has a ton of abbrev. that will have you bwl.

The wireless Internet tip comes from the fact I made the leap and went wireless in my apartment Wednesday. It's incredibly easy, even by my 50-year-old parents' standards. You just have to buy a wireless router (about $35-$150 depending on features). Your cable modem or dial up cable connects directly to the wireless router.

The package came with an installation CD that gave me directions. The whole setup took about 10 minutes, and I was on my futon in no time reading espn.com with ESPN2 on television in the background...glorious.

My shopping process led to some tips that could help potential wireless buyers.

$50 was plenty enough for me. Local stores had $80-$100 routers. The bump up in price meant faster Internet downloads and a stronger signal, meaning my laptop would pick up signal from the other end of a mansion compared to across several rooms. I went with a $50 wireless-G broadband router that is just as fast as my Internet always has been. I'll wait to get the more expensive router when I have that mansion and all its space to worry about.

Remember to check if a router is compatible with your laptop/desktop. Mac users especially have to check whether the router will even work for them.

Security. I come from an old-school Southern family that still is iffy on buying things with a credit card online. So they ingrained in me a near-paranoia with online developments, including wireless. But part of the installation process was to set up a password that someone must have to access my wireless. A major league hacker could probably get by that with little problem, but then again, if a major league hacker is after me I don't think a cable modem connection will help me either.

Adam Shull is the Sun's entertainment writer. He knows just enough about technology to explain it older folks. Contact him at 575-8653 or at ashull@paducahsun.com.

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