So here's the deal.  Up until this point I've flashed the firmware to OpenWRT, added ExtRoot to put the filesystem on an attached USB drive formatted to ext4, and added support for the ALFA adapter as Radio1.  I've tried to keep a journal via readme.txt in the folder on my computer where I store all the firmware backups which I make every time I change ANYTHING.  I got it to connect to my home network via Radio1 as a client, and pipe data through to Radio0 as a master.  It stayed alive indefinitely and all was good.  But at work, where we have guest WiFi, it only stays alive for a few minutes and then becomes unresponsive.  Part of that problem (I think) is in the Guest WiFi because my phone has similar problems where it will remain connected to the AP but no data passes through.

If anyone here has exhaustive experience with OpenWRT, I'd love to hear from you for your insight and ideas.