Wild and Wonderful Hello!

Hey all, checking in from Wild, Wonderful (and windy) West Virginia. Thought I’d let you all know I’m still breathing, still riding, and yes indeed still having lots of fun playing with the ponies.

I doubt I’ve posted since the re-loaded wedding this summer,

we’ve been busy playing catchup on all the farm stuff we let sit while preparing for and escaping from the festivities this summer… and we’re still dragging our heels here and there on getting pictures up from said extravaganza.

That, and setting up for the sale or refinance of my house in Front Royal… if anyone wants to buy a house in an awesome riding area; send me a PM. It’s right about 5 miles from the BRP in FR and on the AT.

Been a strange year. I’ve ridden horses more than motorcycles this year, but had adventures on both. Been blessed to meet people and ride on some farms with trails and scenery that take your breath away, and had both horse and bike riding through Antietam battlefield.

About the only thing I can possibly think of to complain about… my commute is too short… although really, really fun… to ride to work. It takes longer to get suited up than it does to get to the office. 5 miles. 6 minutes including the trip down the driveway. But on the weekends, fun can be had in all points of the compass.

So, with running a farm and all, I’ve been pretty much lurking via iphone in downtime between feeding and fun,

Friesians and Fords,

horses and iron,

Belgians and Belg…

Our best to all,

Mark & Kirsten

iPhone apps I would love to see

There are a few apps right off the top of my head I’d love to see available for iphone…

1) OpenSSH. I admin enough remote servers that if I had SSH of some form it would greatly increase the iPhone’s long-term utility

2) Some sort of Multichat aggregator client. Yahoo, MSN Messenger, AIM, etc..

3) xchat. It’s the only irc client I want 🙂

4) A 24 hour, daylight display world clock. The kind that costs 6000$ for an on-the-wall kind.

5) Thunderbird. It’s more forgiving.

6) Firefox. It remembers my fields.

That’s a good list for now.

We are Locutus of iPhone. You will be assimilated…

Well, I did it. I took the iPhone plunge. So far, I like it. I’m still having some difficulties setting up my various and diverse IMAP logins for email, but I’m pretty confident that iphone has a rigid compliance spec while t-bird is a little looser. Hey, t-bird can afford mroe lines of code than iPhone can… “if mail_admin=$LOONY then accept_anyways…”

Really, I like the phone. I Really, REALLY like the browser. I’ve got webmail as a backup, and I can use it, so that is cool.

Phone sounds great, but I need a new antennae solution for the car… I have 3 major dead zones that an antennae helps for 2 of. Or Cingular/ATT can drop a couple more towers in place 🙂

There is a learning curve, but it makes logical sense, so the curve is shallow and short.

That’s all for now…

Thoughts on the Iphone…

So I’ve been thinking about getting the iphone for various reasons. But I can’t help but be really, really picky before I make any rash decisions. I see that today the iphone is now sim-unlockable, and of course, the recent news that 200$ was knocked off the price isn’t helping much.

What I’d really like to see or know… is whether or not the really usefull apps such as Firefox and Thunderbird are or will be available, I really -don’t- like the native Apple apps. Sorry guys, I just don’t. I also think we can do better than 8gb, and be truly on a 3G network… but if it’s 3G capable, I’m good with it. 🙂

Honestly, it’s a great idea in concept for motorcycle riding, especially on long trips. Dragging the laptop around on the longer ones can be a pain, and something small, accessable, and 2 way would be nice, that also limits the amount I have to carry… and especially CHARGE… on the road.

We’ll see…