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Freebird

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Everything posted by Freebird

  1. Freebird
    OK...I read it wrong...whewwwwwwww.........I was just scared that there was false information being spread around here. We just can't have that. We need to practice responsible journalism.
  2. Freebird
    "Big Tom is alright"? Robin, I am glad that you are on here posting this morning but apparently you are on some pretty heavy pain killers. "Big Tom is alright"? I recommend another day in bed. I am glad that they found the problem and got it taken care of. We will continue to keep you in our thoughts and prayers.
  3. Freebird
    Yes, tethering for free is why I like PDAnet Won't work on the Iphone so I still use my Blackberry for that. I think the email is a Blackberry issue. I will be updating it to a different phone as soon as I decide what I want. May very well try the new Razr simply because I can't use PDAnet with an Iphone. Thanks Eck....yes...I've sent them an email before but don't think I ever got an answer. If so, it wasn't very memorable. At any rate, I think there is very little they could do about this issue. You stay out of this. Nobody was talking to you.
  4. Freebird
    I got a new one a few months ago. It is a powerhouse. Intel I7 Quad, 17.3" screen, 500GB SATA drive, 6 GB RAM...really a nice computer. It's getting a GREAT signal even here. It's not the wirless connection that is causing the problem. It's just the hotels service provider. I actually wonder if their service provider is throttling their usage. No big deal...I'll be out of this one in a couple of days and will hope for better next week.
  5. Freebird
    Yes, I have checked out of many hotels over the years. The first thing that I do when I get to my room is to check the Internet connection. If it isn't working, I leave and go somewhere else. I can remember one Monday a couple of years ago when I checked into three hotels before I stayed at one. I can tether my Blackberry and do it every day. I use it during the day when I need to access the Internet for something when I'm out seeing customers. It works good for that but is not nearly as fast as I would like it to be. The other issue is that using PDAnet with my Blackberry, I can access the Internet and can download my email using Thunderbird but it won't let me SEND an email using my email clients. I can go to Webmail to do it but I truly hate using Webmail. I agree with what you say but in this case, none of that matters. They have wirless and hard wired here and even the hard wired connection exhibits the same problem. The wireless signal is EXCELLENT but just like the hard wired, it works fine for a few minutes and then is non-responsive for a few minutes. I agree that more and more hotels are WiFi only but I still find a few that have both available. I much prefer the hard wired as they are typically better in the hotels due to their poor placement of the access points. I'm sure that they use as few as possible to cut down on the installation costs. If there is a hard wired connection available, I plug my Apple Airport into it and always have a GREAT wireless signal. Plus it gives me another layer of security. The hardwired connection with my own wirelss router is my number one choice when traveling.
  6. Freebird
    No problem. I knew that you meant well. We have all done that at one time or another.
  7. Freebird
    It depends on your budget. If money is not an issue, I would go with the hidden hitch from Diamond R Accessories. Otherwise, check in the classifieds as there is a member who sells a good one there that is very affordable.
  8. Freebird
    Yes, it often helps to be close to the office. That is because many of them don't properly set up the access points throughout the hotel. In this weeks case though, it doesn't matter. I actually tried it from the lobby this morning with the same results. The clerk last night told me when I called that she had received no other complaints. The clerk this morning showed me a list of room numbers that had called to complain. She also told me that she brought her own laptop in yesterday and had the same issues.
  9. Freebird
    This week I find myself in yet another hotel with very substandard Internet service. As many of you know, I travel on a weekly basis and actually spend more nights in hotel rooms each than I do at home. Now I'm not all that picky and the company that I work for is fairly conservative when it comes to how much I should spend on hotel rooms so I stay in mid grade hotels and about 95% of the time, I stay at Comfort Inns. There are really only a handful of things that I expect. A very clean room, a coffee pot and decent Internet service. I keep pretty good records of which ones are pretty good and which or not and won't return to one that doesn't meet my few expectations. Now, ALL Comfort Inns have either wireless or hard wired internet service. Some have both. I find that about 40% of them actually work pretty darn good, maybe another 30% are acceptable and the remaining 30% make me want to Now HERE is my biggest complaint. If I am at a hotel that is having a problem with their Internet service. Most of the time, about 99% of the time, they give me a phone number for their service provider and want me to call them. That is my rub. It is NOT my problem...it is THEIR problem. I know that my computer is working properly. I have no desire to spend one to more hours on the telephone with THEIR service provider helping them troubleshoot THEIR problems. I have done it once or twice and it ALWAYS turns out to be a problem with either the provider or the hotel hardware. It has NEVER...not a single time, been an issue with my computer. So, why should I...a paying guest...be asked to call and spend my evenings helping to troubleshoot THEIR issues? You all know the routine...."have you tried restarting your computer"...OK...."let's go into your settings"...."do you how to run a command from a command line prompt"....yadayadayadayada.......................... "OK...the problem seems to be on our end...............".... YOU THINK? It happened again last night and sure enough, they wanted me to call the service provider. I said no thanks, I don't work for you. Please call them yourself and get the problems resolved. About 10 minutes later, the service provider actually called ME. He asked if I was using Wifi or the hardwired connection. I told him that I had tried both with the same results. I get an excellent Wifi signal and have no problem connecting. I also have no problem connecting via the hardwired connection. In both cases though, it works and then stops and then 3 or 4 minutes later...works again. I click on a link and it times out...I click again and it opens. "OK sir.......have you tried restarting your system". NO...I have NOT restarted my system and I'm NOT going to either. I'm also not going to open my settings.....I DON'T WORK FOR YOU or the HOTEL! You guys figure it out. GOODBYE. OK.....rant mode off............
  10. Freebird
    OK....first of all a warning for TX2STURGIS. Please stop reading NOW. This is already hard enough. After using the Iphone for a couple of weeks now and becoming more familiar with it. I have to publicly admit that I am kind of starting to l......uh....li.......I mean....lik.........heck...I just can't say it. OK.....it's not so bad. It pains me deeply to admit that I've actually downloaded a couple of apps and am having a bit of fun with it. I actually download the free version of AmpKit yesterday. I later stopped by a Guitar Center and picked up the IRig for connecting my guitar to the Iphone, plugged in a set of headphones and played for an hour or so last night. The built in effects in the AmpKit are pretty dang nice. I read some very mixed reviews for the IRig and apparently there are better interface choices out there but this one uses no batteries and actually worked pretty well. I may keep it or return it and try something else but I'm relatively happy with it. What pains me even MORE is to admit that I actually PURCHASED a couple of apps from the app store. Both guitar related and cheap but work well. That being said, I am STILL not happy with the fact that I have to buy and install any apps through the Istore. I will very likely jailbreak this thing just as soon as they come up with a jailbreak for the 4s. Primarily so that I can install PDAnet to use it for a hotspot. If that doesn't happen soon, I will still likely try a Droid for replacing the Blackberry on my other line primarily so that I can install PDAnet and also get 4G speed when available. I feel that surely the IPhone 5 will be 4G but I don't know when that will be available.
  11. Freebird
    As another year winds down, I just want to wish all my VentureRider friends and your families a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS. At my house, we could find some things to complain about I guess but I would rather focus on the many things that we have to be thankful for. We don't do the exterior decorating thing but I did get the tree up last weekend. Let's see some pictures of all your trees.
  12. Freebird
    When we lived in Dallas, we had a full blown state of the art security system. All doors and windows had sensors. There were glass breakage detectors. There were motion sensors...you name it. We armed the system before leaving on a vacation once and we weren't gone a day when we got a call from the police department. They had responded three times to an alarm at our house and the last time, heard a loud screeching sound from inside that was setting off the glass breakage detectors. Well, at the time we had a very large Umbrella Cockatoo that apparently did NOT like being left alone. She was screaming loud enough to set off the detectors. The police told me that if they made another trip to our house for a false alarm that they would have to start charging us. I told them to ignore all alarms until we returned. I don't think we ever set it again after that. Luckily the system was already installed before we bought the house so I wasn't out any money.
  13. Freebird
    Good idea. I copied it to the "Known problems and things to look for" area of the tech library.
  14. Freebird
    I can't believe that it has no bids. I'm really surprised.
  15. Freebird
    I agree with the battery powered ones. Some of the new LED models are plenty bright and draw low current so the batteries should last a long time.
  16. Freebird
    I had an electric smoker years ago and it worked very well. The heating element finally burned out. For whatever reason, I never did replace it and a couple of years ago finally bought a new combination unit. It has a gas grill on the left, a charcoal grill beside that and the smoker box on the side of the gas grill. I really do like it. The electric smoker was easier though.
  17. Freebird
    Yep, it worked this time Peggy and very cute pictures.
  18. Freebird
    Are you using Firefox? Firefox does not show the red x on my computer but IE does.
  19. Freebird
    To the best of my knowledge, you will not be able to use it without activating the phone. Jailbreaking allows you to use a phone on a different carrier than the one that the phone was purchased from and sometimes to install software that could normally not be installed but I don't think there is any solution to allow it to be used unactivated. I haven't researched this so maybe there is something that I am unaware of.
  20. Freebird
    Peggy, It's not showing for anybody else. Did you link it from somewhere or upload it as an attachment? Should work either way unless you linked it from a folder on your computer, email or somethig like that.
  21. Freebird
    Well, while it may not work 100%, it likely works to some extent. If they do it like the do the red light cameras in most places, they really won't care so much if it works 100% or not. Most of the red light cameras, at least the ones around here, are installed free of charge to the cities. If I remember correctly, it is an Australian company. They install the cameras free of charge and then the revenue from tickets is shared between the company and the city. So what it it is only 50% effective? The city is still making money with no or very little cost. Probably some administrative costs is all.
  22. Freebird
    It sure wouldn't surprise me to see it showing up elsewhere. Can you imagine the local revenue that it would generate say at all the various bike weeks?
  23. Freebird
    I think that your conclusions were well stated and honest. You clearly identified the shortcomings of how the survey was presented. Good job.
  24. Freebird
    Great news folks. I got a message from Rose last night that Dano will be going home on Friday. I know that he will be so much more comfortable at home. He still has a lot of hard work ahead of him before his recovery is complete but he is making great progress.
  25. Freebird
    Seats are the hardest thing I know of to recommend to another rider. I had the stock seat on my '99 and hated it. I then tried the pillow top off a later model and hated it. I then bought the Travelcade Road Sofa and hated it worse than any seat I have ever owned. I then found a used Corbin and have been pretty darn happy with it for many years now. They are not for everybody but it's the best seat FOR ME that I've ever owned on any bike. It does take a few thousand miles for it to break in for you though. One seat that I haven't tired because I really never liked the look of it that much but I have heard that it is very comfortable is the Russell Daylong. I would like to try one at some point.
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