Last week I was in California and I took a walk along the beach in Carmel. I returned to my car and pulled up my Instagram page on my phone to post a picture. 
Of course, when you have your phone Wi-Fi turned on it continually searches for networks that you can connect to. Well, the networks that immediately showed up on my phone were FBI Surveillance Van #1 and FBI Surveillance Van #2.
Upon seeing these “Wi-Fi options” so many things came to my mind. My first thought was, naturally, “Where are these surveillance vans?” I mean, the mini-van parked in front of me, with clear windows and without people inside, didn’t appear to be a surveillance van. Actually, there weren’t any vans, cars, or motorcycles close by that looked to be likely suspects.
My next thought was, “Isn’t it kind of hard to stay undercover when you’re practically announcing yourself to the neighborhood with your Wi-Fi connections popping up on everyone’s phone and laptop?
Of course, I also wondered whom the FBI was investigating in this particular neighborhood—one of the most expensive real estate areas in the United States. The Mafia would be the only ones who could afford to own a house in this locale, which I suppose could be the case.
After ruminating on all these possibilities, my mind took off for some fun. “Hey,” I thought, “a person can name their Wi-Fi network whatever they want. Maybe we should rename ours to CIA surveillance van, FBI surveillance van, or at the very least, Goodhue County surveillance van!” Wouldn’t that be fun? Then, when the neighbors, their friends, or someone stalking the neighborhood pulls up their phone, they would see a network name far more interesting than my grandparent’s surname (which it is currently called), and wonder what’s happening in our neighborhood.
Then again, this could be what one of the residents along Carmel beach has done—named their own network FBI Surveillance Van—maybe the Mafia house!
Maybe renaming my Wi-Fi Network isn’t such a good idea after all. I certainly wouldn’t want to attract the Mafia to the neighborhood. But now that I’ve come up with all these ideas everything normal just seems so boring!