No Internet is not so bad

This is the first time in five days that I have logged onto the Internet.
I haven’t been so disconnected in years.
But for five days as I toured the eastern half of Michigan’s sparsely-populated Upper Peninsula on a bicycle, I couldn’t log in.
And you know, it was’t so bad?
It took two hours to clear out all the e-mail when I settled into a hotel with wi-fi in St. Ignace last night but near as I can tell, the world is still there and I missed nothing that I can’t catch up on. I was able to truly unplug and get away from everything - e-mail, cell phone calls, the news - and I haven’t been so relaxed and refreshed in years.
And that despite the fact that I’ve spent those five days riding 250 miles on a bicycle.
Here’s a slideshow of the trip.
Today, it’s back down below the bridge and back home.

The joys of wi-fi and digital cellular

I’m up “across the bridge,” as Michiganders refer to the Mackinac Bridge that seperates the Great Lakes state’s two peninsulas.
Here in the U.P. - Upper Peninsula - town of St. Ignace, I’m delighted to find solid digital phone signals on the Sprint-AT&T Network. That won’t last as I venture out on a bicycle trip that leaves tomorrow around the eastern half of the U.P. where remote and undeveloped is an understatement.
But here in St. Ignace, I’m also finding lots more tech access, compared to my last visit two years ago. My hotel - the Quality Inn on U.S. 2 -is all wi-fi and several other places in town also offer it free.
The hotel just ports over an Internet conection through routers in the hallway. There are no annoying advertising screens to go through, either. Just boot up, and your wireless card zaps you on the Net.
Mackinac Island just offshore offers wi-fi in the marina and from the porch of the sprawling Grand Hotel.
Meanwhile, I note that down below, over in Southwestern Michigan near Kalamazoo, there are some fledgling experiments underway with WiMax, or wi-fi over larger areas. Wide Area WiFi Tested in Michigan Towns.
Traverse City in northwestern Michigan has wi-fi throughout much of its downtown, and Grand Haven further down the Lake Michigan coast is totally wi-fi with citywide coverage.
Add that to work to turn much of suburban Detroit and Ann Arbor into a huge and seamless wi-fi hotspot and Michigan is emerging as a pretty wired state.
Meantime, look for scarce postings here for a couple of days as I burn some vacation time peddling around the U.P.
If I find Internet access, I’ll update a fitness blog I keep with some pictures of the ride.

Mighty Mouse is evolutionary

I’ve been using Apple’s Mighty Mouse since it was released Wednesday. It’s very impressive, except for one thing: Mighty Mouse is smart, but that tail’s got to go
Meanwhile, if you want to see what’s inside it, check out this dissection report.

Will Podcasters be next to feel RIAA wrath?

Record labels are worrying that the podcasting craze may turn into another Napster debacle. When listeners download a podcast, they “are getting a copy of an entire program … an unprotected copy that they can do whatever they want with,” says Steve Marks, a lawyer at the Recording Industry Association of America. Storm clouds gather over podcasting - Yahoo! News

Amazing Falling Woman

This is the one of the most unusual things I’ve ever seen onine. Use your mouse to help control the woman’s body. Thanks to reader Ray Cavaliere for sending it to me.

Online fitness motivation

I’ve been training all season for a long distance bicycle ride next week across the eastern part Michigan’s Upper Peninsula called the Tour da U.P. As part of my exercise and nuitritional plan, I’ve been logging what I eat and how much I train. To help me, I’ve found a slew of Web sites that keep me motivated and on target. I write about that in my column in today’s Freep. MIKE WENDLAND: Need motivation to drop pounds? Web sites can track ups and downs

ICE campaign getting traction thanks to Net

An idea from a paramedic responding to last month’s terror attacks in London is spreding fast thanks to the Net and chain e-mail. It’s called ICE - for In Case of Emergency - and the idea is to enter in your cellphone under an ICE heading the names and numbers of family or friends who should be contacted in the event you’re seriously ill or injured.

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