Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, CA

Today Morty is in Anza-Borrego State Park for a little more desert exploration. On the way we passed the Salton Sea which was formed in the early 1900's when the Colorodo River was diverted for several years. The temperature was rising into the 70s and there was mist rising from the low sea which obscured the bases of the mountains in the distance -- very beautiful. When we turned off the highway we still had over twenty miles to drive through some spectacular desert. We stopped at the Visitor Center of the Park to see what we should be looking for -- pictures follow.



As a desert park, this one is very enjoyable. We have full hook-ups, at least for one night. The WiFi is free to AT&T Uverse subscribers -- lucky to have remembered to bring my account name and password and lucky to have a site close enough to the ranger station to have a good signal. With all the free WiFi, we are running the Sling-Box to catch up on all our cable and late-night shows -- it's still a little fantastic to think that we are instantly controlling our cable box at home in frigid snowy Ohio and watching the output in sunny desert-dry California. The plumbing is very new and nice, but no soap in the restrooms, and the showers not too surprisingly are twenty-five cents for two minutes. The sites are large, level and the neighbors quiet. The rate is $35 and there is a $2 senior discount.

Phone Number Change -- Google Voice

On our last trip, I wanted to switch off the desktop computers for economy and safety. That inadvertently also switched off the phone answering machine. As a result, our home voice mail reverted to an older phone that was having fits, and called my cell several times a day. We also probably missed many legitimate phone messages. In looking for a better system, I found Google Voice which requires a new phone number, but is free.

I was lucky to be able to get a new number, 614-859-9365, which is only 1 digit different from our old one which had the 855 in the middle.

There are some game-changing features that come with Google Voice:

Free long-distance calling in North America

Incoming calls ring on multiple different phones that you set up

Voice mail is transcribed and sent as text to your Internet page

You can initiate calls from your computer

You can read about all the features here: Google Voice

The drawback, is that you have to request an invitation, and that can take some time. In my case it was only a couple of weeks. Anyhow, we will see how well it works -- stay tuned.

Benjamin Franklin

I had to get my iPod Touch replaced last week because of a broken home key. In getting the replacement set up, I rediscovered the free Kindle app, and that led to finding some free books on Amazon. One of the first alphabetically was the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. Here is the link, but the price is up to $0.99: Amazon So, I selected that while on the elliptical machine at the Y, and "boom" there it was. I started reading it and was "hooked" immediately.

From what I've read so far, his main focus is on his early years from about age 16 to 23 and how he purposefully developed his skills and character through some enormous hardships. Every time it seemed like he was about to get a break, the rug was yanked out from under him. Life lessons galore -- should be required reading for every teenager who wants to amount to anything. There are some gaps like during the course of the Revolution. The examples he set, both then and for now are remarkable. Life experiences in the early cities of Boston, New York, and Philadelphia is vividly portrayed, including the scheming and politicking of the more prominent.

There are huge advantages to reading on the Kindle on the Touch: large easy to see type, quick turning pages, one-hand manipulation, and background music. The feature that I don't much care for though  is that you never know where you are in the book physically -- there are no page numbers, or whether it is about to end. When electronic books add such a feature -- "here's how much you've read and how much is left" -- they will become much more popular.

The autobiography is something I highly recommend. So much, that I've added a Benjamin Franklin quote gizmo to this blog's right column.