top506

Finish line of the 2011 Trek Across Maine.

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noglider 

I took a picture of some text and use that as my phone wallpaper. The text:

Please return to
Tom Reingold
[home phone]

Emergency:
[wife's name]
[wife's cell]

eschlwc

i'd try to make some silly remark about this, but with my luck, you suffer from severe narcolepsy, and lose your phone regularly. B^)

noglider 

A year and a half ago, I fainted inexplicably. Luckily, I was with family and friends. I want to be prepared if it happens next.

embankmentlb

CroMo Mike 

Most Excellent!

RobbieTunes

We had that when I was a kid, for long distance only. You had to ask for the operator or dial 0, and then give the number. I've heard Siri can do that. Full circle. Siri's probably getting paid well, somewhere in there.

However, in regards to a party line, yes, growing up. "Darlene, get off the line" was heard quite a bit, because she listened in on everyone. Sort of like Facebook, again, Full circle. You picked up the phone and if no one was talking, you could dial out. In fact, where Bartali was held in 2014, iab's folks would have been on the same party line.

It was a good theory, but was based on people being courteous, which they no longer are, and not quite as nosy, which they no longer are, and not with criminal intent, as they no longer are. Those "they" people, ruin everything.

I'm not a big fan of the grid. The next "serious" warfare will start by removing it.

If I need a cell phone, I'll get a burn one, or take an old one in to some off-the-wall place and load minutes onto it.

jimmuller 

I stand on RT's side of the fence. What's a smart phone?

I have a cell phone. It will run a month or more on a single charge. In contrast my sweetie has to plug in her iPhone every evening. My coverage provider wants me to "upgrade". That seems like a downgrade. I don't need the mapping or GPS feature because I almost always know where I am (it's a genetic capability for those of us who grew up in the south). I don't need to check a website to find out if it's raining. My dmb fn snds n rcvs txt msgs.

I think I'll write a book: Lvng Wtht Vwls - Prnsl Xprnc.

noglider 

@jimmuller, you are so good at making me !

tashi

No bikes (gotta have some space without a bike, right?), but Brisco was a classic.

[IMG]IMGP0485 by tashipeacock1, on Flickr[/IMG]

I love the new pup, but I've worked through this pic making me sad and now it makes me smile almost every time I look at my phone so I don't know if it'll ever get changed.

Sorry, so off topic. I just can't resist sharing my B with folks who weren't lucky enough to meet him.

jimmuller 

That is such a cool picture. You've shown it before and it deserved to be shown again.

eschlwc

might as well ask, "what's a personal computer?"

my smartphone is the thing with which i'm writing this post, surfing the web faster than the desktop pc i bought a few years ago.

my bro just texted me on it, and sent me a link i looked up on its web browser. so -- a thing that quickly brings family together.

it stores most all my music, some 400+ albums on a 32 gig 'card' smaller than my thumbnail. the stuff that doesn't fit is accessed via free cloud storage.

if i take mass transit, it tells me if i'm late or early ... or lost.

it tells me where the nearest atm and coffee is located in the town i'm visiting and gives directions.

it's a book reader in case i want to look up that favorite passage from my favorite classic.

it's a decent digital camera in a very small package.

i can listen to nearly any radio station anywhere in the world ... for free.

i can watch any espn game or tcm classic film either live or in replay.

and i can brush up on my texas hold 'em with others all over the world, in prep for my saturday poker night.

yeah, it's basically the greatest invention since the bicycle.

top506

And when you surrender it at a security point you're lost.

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eschlwc

it's not my brain. it's my phone.

fortunately, i'm not trying to escape an evil dictatorship with its sd card full of incriminating political information.

i forgot to mention one of its best apps, ebay. i like my phone app much better than the ebay website, especially when bidding on that perfect campy nuovo record rear derailleur at the last second while away at dinner.

73StellaSX76

Is artwork from a racing journal cover by Paul Ordner. One of my favorites. I've long lost where I came by it though, so no photo credit available.

jimmuller 

Thank you. Lfng s gd!

Rollfast

It was an honor and a pleasure.

stardognine

I held out forever, never wanted even a basic cell phone, then a few months ago, on a whim, I grabbed a Microsoft Lumia (formerly Nokia) windows phone. Talk about culture shock. For quite awhile, by desktop was a crappy pic of about 2/3 of a '89 Trek 330, from the CL ad where I bought it. I just recently accidentally deleted that pic, lol, so updated to this cool pic of a baby Blue Jay & it's momma. I just saw 4 of them yesterday, in my back yard, so did a search, & learned a lot. Seems only about 20% of the Northern Blue Jays migrate, most live around the Great Lakes year-round.

eschlwc

^ good choice. love corvids.

but they're rather easy to dislike if you have fruit trees in your yard.

stardognine

No fruit trees, lol, an old large-ish oak, for acorns. It has at least 3 knot-holes, which I've seen used by squirrels too, probably stealing acorns. Edit: I meant to say, oak among others, there are 5 different trees in the yard. And a bird bath, that gets a LOT of business, especially in the summer. I usually have to refill it at least once a day, often twice. But I enjoy the birds, it's like having about 100 pets.

Dave Cutter

I won't post it here... because of all the personal info. But I use an iPhone which has an ICE (in case of Emergency) screen at the log-on screen. Not everyone knows about that or how to use it. So since I created my own start-up(?) screen before that screen option became available I kept my own home-made emergency info start-up screen.

I started with a selfie image of me with my bicycle helmet on. Off centered it so a sky-blue dominate the right side of the image. I then used an image editing app to add my name and address, wife's name and contact info, as well as my email address.

So.... my picture ended-up looking something like this:

tarwheel 

Here's a screenshot of my current wallpaper.

smontanaro 

Some advice: stop trying to lose them. They are smarter and more resourceful than you.

Bikerider007

Great pic but I would also like to see this ride in HD!

If I ever get back to your neck of the woods I would like to meet you, seem like such a great character.

On that note, I passed out for the first time on my life a few years ago. Some kind of allergy and was having a beer with my buddy out front in lawn chairs, enjoying the weather and chatting. I coughed until I could not breathe...put my arms out catch myself and of course he grabs my beer so I would not spill but lets me fall flat on my face. I don't know if I should have thanked him or killed him.

I just got a new phone this weekend and my wife took my bike off, slipped a picture of us on it when she set up. You guys don't want to see my ugly mug so I have to update.

redneckwes

I stole a picture of a 60's "Le Tour" cover with Bobet on it from the C.R. list.

I genuinely dislike being attached to my smart phone, but as long as I have to make money i have little choice.

Someday I am going to throw it away and disappear.