[welcome UK]

Reader(s) of the United Kingdom, Welcome to my little slice of the Blogiverse. I like international readers, you make me feel important.

[iPhone 4]

In the last week I've decided that it is time for me to change cell phone carriers. It's been something that I've been considering, but not seriously because I still have about a year left on the contract for my phone and nine months left on Casey's. I don't fancy paying $200 a line to cancel my contract. This being said, I am currently using an internet connection (aircard) that will be terminated in 3 days. This is the most cost effective internet that I can get. My drive is a half mile long, pretty much straight to the street, so cable is out of the question. I don't watch enough TV anymore to even try and justify getting satellite, and use that internet connection. This house was built in the early 1900's and doesn't have a phone line run to it either. Besides, dial up is way too slow for it to be a real consideration.

Once I was told that the aircard was being canceled I tried find a solution so that I wouldn't lose my internet. Nothing worked out, and I feel that I have been lied to and betrayed by the company that I have been faithful to since I owned my first cell phone. I went over to AT&T immediately after leaving Alltel and found out that I was approved for 3 lines with no deposit. Had I found out this out, I would already (theoretically) have the new iPhone 4 tethered to my computer for internet access. Unfortunately the pre-order process was no longer active when I decided to finally switch...

On Tuesday the 29th I'll be waiting in line to get my new iPhone 4. I still haven't decided what time I'll jump in line. As most of the world knows, at AT&T stores they'll be starting to serve customers that did not pre-order this remarkable phone. Right now I'm mentally preparing myself to camp out in front of the store to make sure that I am able to get a phone. I've never done that sort of thing before. I've never arrived super early on black friday at a store to get a super price on a computer, or camped out for a movie premiere. There's a first time for everything though. I'm just hoping that the line at my local store isn't crazy long by the time that I get in line. It's not like I live in New York or Hollywood or anything.

So in Conclusion, and to paraphrase the last line of FanBoys... "I hope it doesn't suck!"\

[clustrmaps]

For my counter on this blog I've been using clustrmaps. It's really cool becuase I can see not only the number of people that are looking at this blog (averaging one or two of you a day), but I can also see where you are from. From the looks of it I have people from Ohio, Michigan, California, and a few states in the middle that I can't decide where you may be because I can't see the actual state outlines on my map. Just recently I've noticed that someone from the Russian Federation is also checking out my blog. I think that's pretty cool. I'm now popular enough to start eliciting international readers.

Thanks for reading friends, and keep at it. I'll try to be more on the ball with posting more frequently, and adding pics as I can. The biggest dilema that I'm facing right now is that I don't have a camera that takes an SD card, so I cant just remove the card and throw it in my netbook to upload the pics. Maybe sometime in the next few months I'll find one on clearance that will suit my purposes.

[you should never let people know how tired you are]

Tired. Working 12 hours a day takes some energy, that's for sure! I've been working for the last month doing two things that I really enjoy, pretty much simultaneously. The normal routine most recently has been waking up somewhere around 7 or 7:30 and letting the dogs out, then getting ready and getting to the maintenance garage somewhere between 8 and 8:30. Normally in the mornings there is a decent amount of pretty basic petty stuff that needs done around this old camp. Move picnic tables, replace burned out light bulbs, fill in holes, spray bees wasps and anything else that flies and stings or bites, move gravel, cut up trees, or supervise volunteers. If I'm lucky, by 10 or 11 I can get on the mower and start knocking down some tall grass. Recently this has been quite challenging with the amounts of rain that we've been having, combined with the fact that I normally have to leave the camp and head to RadioShack by 3 or 4 at the latest.

So of course once I'm done getting all dirty, and sweaty at camp, I have to clean up to head to TheShack for an afternoon and evening of being a salesperson. Just yesterday after walking into the air conditioned store it was only then that I realized how hot and muggy it was outside. Currently Cell Phones are outpacing themselves and becoming obsolete overnight it seems. I've gotten to play with the HTC Evo before it was released, and today watched confidential movies about the new iPhone 4. All I can say is that technology is outpacing itself.

Lately I've become more and more interested in the prospect of doing more "off the grid" For example, I've got a new phone charger that is solar powered. It's made by called a Solio Universal Hybrid by BETTERENERGYSYSTEMS. It has enough storage capacity once fully charged to charge your average phone about 2 times, can charge any number of devices from phones and ipods to GPS units or Bluetooth devices. It is of course also available at your local RadioShack store. I've got mine charged at all times and ready to give my phone a little boost when it's low at the end of the day, which also happens to be in my EMT bag in case of an emergency. This particular guy has a couple additional accessories I'd really like that can be purchased directly from BETTERENERGYSYSTEMS. The LED gooseneck light could be quite handy in just about every kind of emergency, and the suction cup to mount it to a window also seems like it could be very useful.

[life is so busy]

Things have gotten really busy in the last month. Since I've last posted I've traveled to the other world of Michiga for a the wedding of Caseys Cousin, and I've also visited our neighbors to the west in Indiana for our nephew Brevin's 6th birthday. That child is getting big! Working has been sort of crazy, being both at RadioShack, and doing maintenance at Mowana it seems that I have little time for anything but working and sleeping.

One of the nice things about working where I live though is that to a certain extent I can justify doing things around the house and getting paid for it. I'm not talking about tending our garden, or doing small things like changing out screen windows or checking the mail. But mowing and cleaning up the yard seem totally justifiable to me. Lately I've been able to get into a good routine where I work in the morning at camp, have an hour to take a shower and change clothes, and get to RadioShack before my shift begins.

Lately the Mowing at camp hasn't been getting done due to rain. However, with 300 kids being here in the last week, the grass isn't getting as long and hopefully I'll be able to get to it as soon as the rain dies down this week