For years I relied upon desktop computers, but I’ve used three different styles of Dell laptop computers at work over the years and a laptop has been my main machine at school for seven years. At home I’ve owned laptops from Toshiba and Averatec and on the road I rely upon a small Asus netbook or my iPad and, of course, my iPhone. This is in, and if I’m not careful that will be true for my wallet as well.
I love the diminutive size of my 10″ netbook and use it to edit photos and videos and create blog posts when I’m out on a day hiking trip. But some of its inherent compromises chafe. The keyboard is slightly smaller than normal and, more troublesome, the screen resolution is 1024 x 600 instead of the 1024 x 768 most software and websites expect. That creates a lot of unnecessary scrolling. And, even when overclocked, the Atom processor and slow hard disk are real bottlenecks.
I made a project of selling books, CDs, and DVDs earlier this year to pay for a decked-out Apple iPad. And it is wonderful to carry about the house for reading news, web browsing, and the like. I don’t find it useful for productivity, however, as it lacks the physical keyboard and applications I need for my photo, video, and blogging work on trips. It is a consumption tool. But it was invaluable for accessing my electronic program guide at a recent National Science Teachers Association conference in Kansas City, and I used Google Calendar with it to plan my sessions and keep up with school emails, etc. In recent months I found I wasn’t using the 3G service on my iPad, so I let it lapse, although I re-upped for a month while in Kansas City since WiFi access in the convention center was spotty.
For my day hiking trips I would love to have a small netbook that had the style, build quality, and instant-on features of the iPad while providing a full-size physical keyboard, software applications, and good screen resolution. And Apple has created just such a machine – at an Apple price.
The first generation of the thin MacBook Air was intriguing but clearly underpowered and overhyped. So although I’d like to get a Mac someday (with dual-boot to Windoze), it did not tempt me at all. But the second generation is another story.
The new 11″ MacBook Air is almost as thin as my iPad and a couple of inches longer. That’s a great size for travel and the machine boasts a full-size keyboard, big glass trackpad, and full-resolution screen with a five-hour runtime on a charge. They used a lower-voltage processor, however, which hampers its performance. But then they compensated with a solid-state 64 GB or 128 GB flash drive system. That’s pricey, but eliminating the bottleneck of a Winchester hard disk is a big boost.
So I’m seriously considering a visit to an Apple Store soon to try out the 11″ Air. Quality comes at a price premium, however, with this thin wedge of aluminum costing anywhere from $1100 to $1600 depending on upgrades. I could buy two or three highly rated Windoze netbooks at that price! But its features might just win me over if I can find a way to slim down the net cost. My remaining old computers and stereo components aren’t worth much on the used electronics market, although I still have a few hundred books I’ll probably never reread which I could try to sell.
Or maybe I should just stick with my Windoze netbook, buy a lottery ticket, and dream. As Spock once said, “After a time, you may find that having is not so pleasing a thing after all as wanting. It is not logical, but it is often true.”
My final day of hiking for Fall Break 2010 began with me checking out of my old hotel in Hot Springs. Next time I visit I’ll opt for a more modern budget hotel outside of downtown, since I did not like the miniscule shower in my cheap room, which came complete with no bath towels. The 1930 building had a retrofitted old ventilation system and original windows which left little to the imagination in the way of a nearby couple’s need for each other and noises from the park across the street, along with the noisy pipes from the building’s plumbing. Thankfully, as a light sleeper and insomniac, I’d packed some ear plugs. I was also annoyed by the lack of any sort of desk or table in the room, which left me propping up the netbook in a cabinet drawer. The hotel did have WiFi, but I could not reliably connect with it again after the first night. Oh well, you get what you pay for!
Naturally there was no complimentary breakfast either, so I drove once again over to the iHop, substituting pancakes for the previous day’s French toast. I ate heartily since I knew I had a challenging morning hike ahead of me and planned to have a late lunch at a restaurant somewhere in southwestern Oklahoma. My plans were constrained by a forecast of a stormy afternoon drive back home and a dinner appointment back in Bartlesville.
Given how beautiful the Little Missouri had been a couple of days earlier on the Winding Stairs trail, I drove back over there to take a section of the Athens-Big Fork trail which is part of the same large loop trail for backpackers. As I wound along a few miles of one-lane roads, I noticed a series of pickups parked in the pullouts. I wasn’t sure if shooting season had begun, so when I arrived at the trailhead I made sure to wear my orange vest. I saw one hiker today wearing a bright orange cap with “Don’t shoot me” scrawled across the front. I obligingly refrained from taking his picture.
The road was blocked since a flood had washed out a large tinhorn at the trailhead, but I maneuvered the car into a suitable parking position and headed north along the trail. It paralleled a deep creek which flattened into a series of leafy pools as I ascended, with me posing for a self-portrait in my vest. The trail took me up a steep gradient on the south side of Big Tom Mountain and I quickly broke a sweat despite the cool overcast morning as I rose 300 feet. From the mountain top I could look north through the trees and see the ridge of Brushy Mountain, which I would soon ascend to the Eagle Rock Vista.
The trail led me down the north side of Big Tom and eventually reached its low point along the Viles Branch, where it briefly followed the Viles Branch equestrian trail, a broad flat area which was a sharp contrast to the narrow mountain trails I had been negotiating. Then it began the ascent of Brushy Mountain. This portion of the trail was a wider old roadbed and no doubt the old postal route. My trail book had mentioned a cave below the trail somewhere on the south side of Brushy Mountain, but I was unable to locate it.
I reached a trail junction and took a short spur to the southwest to Eagle Rock Vista, where I sat on a convenient log with my back against a tree, sipping a drink and cooling down. I was now at 1650 feet, 400 feet higher than the trailhead. I heard two shotgun blasts from the south and west while up there, so I was glad I’d worn my vest.
To the east I could see the Viles Branch valley etched between the Brushy and Big Tom ranges. My panorama of Big Tom Mountain doesn’t do justice to the broad sweeping overcast view. I zoomed in to catch the dim rays of sunlight filtering through the cloud deck. The overcast sky never cleared while I was at the Vista, although later as I descended Brushy Mountain the sky opened up for about five minutes of sunlight. The photographer’s lament – if only I had caught that brief window of good light when I was up top.
I walked westward on a rim trail for a bit and when I returned to Eagle Rock Vista two fellows joined me at the rim. They had no packs and were perspiring heavily, so I knew they probably were backpackers who had shed their load to come see the view. Sure enough, when I returned to the trail junction I spied their large packs. I placed my little pack next to theirs to illustrate one reason I’m a day hiker rather than a backpacker.
Retracing my path I returned to the Viles Branch horse trail and bushwhacked a few yards south to follow the Branch itself for a bit since it was fairly dry. Then I walked back over Big Tom Mountain. On my descent I encountered more hikers than I’d seen altogether throughout three days of hiking. A troop of scouts huffed past me. One portly fellow remarked, as he patted his ample stomach, that he might just have shed all of his fat by the time he reached the top. Many of them looked rather weary.
When I reached the car I was weary too since, although the hike was only four miles, I had climbed three mountainsides. I made sure no one was around and washed up, changing all of my garments in the backseat of the car. I knew I was a couple of hours from a decent restaurant and wanted to be refreshed. Then I drove west into Oklahoma and had a tasty pizza at the Mazzio’s in Heavener at about 1:30 pm.
A smattering of rain drops had fallen from the overcast sky along the drive, and as I drove past Cavanal Mountain just west of Poteau the clouds bulked up beautifully. I had to stop near Shady Point for some shots, since the clouds made it look like Cavanal was a volcano belching light ash. It was a magnificent sky.
Light rain accompanied for much of my trip back to Bartlesville, footsore but elated after three great days of hiking in the Ouachita Mountains.
After driving 20 miles to the lake, I stopped in at the visitor center to pick up their trail maps for the Caddo Bend trail and Little Blakely trail system, all of which are along peninsulas sticking out from the lake’s eastern shore. It was a short walk to the Caddo Bend trailhead to start the walk westward down the peninsula.
The trail soon ran by a boulder field and then dropped to the lake shore. The sun struggled to break through the overcast all morning, so the light was not ideal. You will spot some rocks intruding onto the gravel shoreline – the peninsula is known for its geological variety, with a folded mixture of rocks, including quartz.
After considerable struggle, I finally reached the cave and posed for a shot. At one point on my journey I had to shimmy down a steep rock face, so I knew I would not be returning that way. Thankfully ahead I could see eroded bedding planes rising up toward the wooded top of the peninsula. Walking up them I found more quartz and tree stumps as I groped my way up through the brush to finally rejoin the trail.
Soon I was walking eastward along the peninsula’s north shore. There were a couple of footbridges to save me from winding my way back every inlet, and my low approach to one of them inspired me to shoot the leaves along the deck, with the bridge railings emphasizing the perspective.
The remainder of the trail was uneventful, so after hiking in silence all morning I finally flipped on an audiobook as I wrapped up the four mile loop.
Then I took gravel roads to the north out of the park to reach the Little Blakely Trail System, a series of loop trails on the next peninsula to the north. Several loops run along old forest roads, and there are helpful marker maps at each trail junction to help you navigate. I decided to walk the South Loop since I’d found the south shore of the Caddo Bend peninsula more interesting than the north.
Just after the trailhead was a picturesque creek. The wide road trail worked its way up through the forest down the peninsula and then turned south, finally offering a view of a small wooded island out in the lake. I stopped near a large pine tree to dine on another turkey sandwich I’d picked up at a convenience store. A break in the trees offered a better view of the island beyond.
This section of the trail was not an old road, so it was considerably narrower. At times the growth forced me to sidle sideways along, but thankfully most of the trail was quite clear. The trail wound around multiple inlets, with the gravel shore tracing various past lake levels. I took a side loop that ran out to a point and snapped shots of a downed (or should I say drowned?) tree and a quartz fire ring. The view of the lake was entrancing with its undulating shoreline.
This side trail ran along steep hillsides and was the most challenging part of the hike, except for my bushwhacking adventure along the rocky western shore of Caddo Bend north of Point 50. A footbridge with interesting suspended rail bracings brought the hike to a close.
I then drove back into the park, stopping at the Three Sisters Spring, where three springs emerge in close vicinity and their waters are channeled into three rivulets. I was amused that whereas people used to drink from each spring for different ailments, the state now cautions visitors that the water is not potable. At least it doesn’t stink like the springs at Oklahoma’s old Platt National Park, now the Chickasaw National Recreation Area. Above the spring was a picturesque abandoned pump house falling into ruin. I must say that the whole setup at Three Sisters looked suspiciously like they were just pumping water rather than relying upon natural flow.
The day ended with me driving back to Hot Springs to shower before heading out to dinner with my friend and fellow science teacher Betty Henderson and members of her extended family. Betty and one of her brothers, with his wife and son, had been digging crystals all day at the Ron Coleman Mine up north of town. They said they had enjoyed the long day of digging in the mud for the glistening quartz and had gathered some sizable crystals, but I’m glad my own geological adventure was scrambling about the rocks at Point 50.
Tomorrow I plan to hike a bit on the Athens-Big Fork trail, an old mail route just west of Winding Stairs Trail.
Along the Winding Stairs Trail (click image for slideshow)
I have a new favorite trail in Arkansas as of today – the Winding Stairs Trail at the Albert Pike Recreation Area 60 miles west of Hot Springs. It is a lovely trail, although the nearby camping areas are shuttered after many tragic deaths there earlier this year.
Yesterday was our fall inservice day. Afterwards I checked on a friend in Tulsa who had just been released from the hospital and then drove on to Ft. Smith, where I spent the night at the low-budget Baymont Inn, listening to the nearby roar of trucks down I-540. This morning began with the typical waffles and cereal at the inn, and then I asked Trixie the GPS app to steer me to Albert Pike RA.
True to her name, Trixie decided we should not go the obvious route down I-540/US 71, but instead steered me eastward to the faster highways in Oklahoma. Since I wanted to hit the trail as early as possible, I consented to travel yet again through Poteau and Heavener before turning back east in the Ouachita Mountains.
Then Trixie played another game, choosing to lead me on the north side of the forest, rather than looping around to the south. I later discovered that meant that I had exchanged paved highways all the way to Albert Pike RA for highways followed by a 12-mile drive down a gravel one-lane forest road to my destination. I truly did not mind, enjoying the backwoods and being somewhat startled when asphalt returned as I entered Albert Pike.
Much of it was roped off since the Forest Service has closed the campgrounds after the terrible flash flood of the early hours of June 11, 2010. The flood rapidly submerged the campground under 23 feet of water and, although dozens of campers were rescued, about 20 lost their lives. Understandably the area is now only a day use facility.
I crossed the Little Missouri River and drove on a rough gravel road up over a mountain to reach the trailhead, where I found two other vehicles and set out on the hike.
Soon I reached Blaylock Creek, where a wooden footbridge was swept away in a past flood, leaving only a timber piling out on a bar in the middle of the creek, next to an enormous boulder. With the help of my trekking poles I balanced on rocks out to the bar, finding a shred of blue material stuck to it which served as a sad reminder of how workers found bodies and shredded clothing up in the trees above the Little Missouri after the recent flood.
I shook off the mood and enjoyed the pretty rippling water, settling down to eat a turkey sandwich I had bought back in Ft. Smith. Soon a deer forded the creek upstream of me, and then a high school age couple forded the creek by me, saying they were enjoying a day off from school. So was I, and I was glad to see some people, although I would not see another soul for the rest of the five-hour 8.5-mile trek.
It wasn’t hard to spot the recent flood damage, including some uprooted trees beside the trail. But their surviving brethren, towering above me and around me, lifted my spirits. No such luck for the autumn leaves, however, which cascaded down around me whenever a gust blew. No flowers had made it this far into October, although I did spy some berries.
The trail rapidly ascended to a bluffline, along which I spotted two turtles out in the middle of the river far below, but my superzoom camera brought them closer. Then the trail slowly descended back to the riverbed, where I saw leaves running the tiny rapids just upstream of where I would finally have to ford the Little Missouri.
Flood damage made it hard to follow the trail here, and on the first pass I missed the double blaze indicating the ford, traipsing on to where a side stream had chiseled out the rock. But soon the trail faded away and I realized I had missed the ford, and backtracked. I wandered along the shore, trying to find a spot where a series of rocks and much support from my trekking poles might allow me to avoid dunking my feet. I finally picked a spot and managed to fully immerse my left foot, although on the return journey I improved and stayed completely dry. Thankfully it was a warm sunny day and my boot and sock dried rapidly.
The trail ascended to a deep moss-covered overhang and then joined the Viles Branch Equestrian Trail. Part of this area was particularly flood-ravaged, requiring extensive clearing since last June. Several armadillos were grubbing around the area.
The trail wound onward, finally ending at Musgrove Hole, where I climbed to a rope tree swing. Having never succeeded with the hanging rope in junior high gym class, I did not actually try to use it. I wandered along the rocky south shore of Musgrove Hole and came across the first all-terrain-vehicle tracks of the hike. Sure enough, an ATV road lead away south.
In my wanderings I’d stretched a 3.6 mile hike to five miles. It was time to reverse course and, although I prefer loop trails, it was nice to review all of the sites along the Winding Stairs Trail. When I reached my car it was alone at the trailhead, having the spent the time gathering a leaf collection.
After a quick torso wash and changing my shirt, socks, and shoes, I drove 1.5 hours east to Hot Springs and checked into my tiny room at the old Park Hotel across the street from the national park’s Grand Promenade. I was beat, so I took advantage of their 20% entree discount at the Angels in the Park Italian restaurant off the lobby. Still thirsty after dinner and finding the hotel’s vending machine out of service, I strolled downtown to buy a Sprite and then returned to my room for hours of photo editing, posting, and blogging. I interrupted the effort with a trip to my room’s tiny shower, which was just as cramped and feature-free as the one in my parent’s one-bedroom vacation home off Table Rock Lake when I was growing up. Some memories need not be revived.
Tomorrow I’ll probably start with a trip to a McDonald’s for breakfast and spend the day hiking at Lake Ouachita.
Time for another installment of my HDTV saga. At the start of 2008 I cancelled my cable TV subscription and purchased a Tivo DVR so that I could watch and record over-the-air HDTV broadcasts on my 2003 30” CRT HDTV. Augmented by my original Apple TV, that satisfied my video needs quite handily. In addition to watching live and recorded TV broadcasts on the Tivo, I have rented and purchased movies and some television shows using the Apple TV, watched YouTube videos on the Apple TV, rented TV shows via Amazon Video on Demand on the Tivo, and used the Tivo to watch streaming Netflix movies. For years I was on a 3, 4, or even 5 disc-at-a-time plan on Netflix. But having seen most of the classic movies I was interested in, I found myself going weeks without touching a Netflix disc. So I finally dropped down to the one-disc-at-a-time Netflix plan that still provides unlimited streaming.
My three-year service contract on the Tivo expires in January, and six weeks ago I was speculating about whether or not the Google TV might allow me to let that go too. What I’ve seen of Logitech’s Revue Google TV box has not impressed me, however. If I keep the Tivo going, I’ll either have to pay up front for a 1, 2, or 3-year service contract or incur a $13/month charge. My old HDTV lacked a digital tuner and HDMI digital inputs, so the Tivo has been crucial to watching the impressive over-the-air HDTV signals from Tulsa. But now I find myself almost exclusively watching podcasts and a few episodes of The Venture Bros. on my Apple TV, and hardly ever using the Tivo except for some Netflix streaming movies.
So when I saw a good deal on a Sony 40” LCD HDTV at Sam’s Warehouse a few weeks ago, I bought it. The new box has plenty of HDMI digital inputs, has VGA and mini-jack audio inputs for a computer, and a tuner for over-the-air digital broadcasts. I bought a WiFi add-on module for it, which allows me to access video from YouTube, Netflix, and Amazon and listen to Pandora internet radio. So the only thing left for the Tivo to do is record over-the-air digital broadcasts, which isn’t worth much to me since I watch so little broadcast TV.
So I’m planning to drop the Tivo service in January, saving $100-$155 annually. To give me some additional viewing options, I reinstalled the latest hack to my original Apple TV which allows it to browse the internet (not very worthwhile when I can just use my iPad on the couch) and adds the Boxee service. Boxee allows me to easily stream videos from my desktop PC to my television through the Universal Plug-and-Play feature with Windows 7’s Media Center. I can also use Boxee to watch TV shows from Hulu and other internet sources. It even duplicates some of my Sony TV’s functionality, providing an alternate way to access YouTube, Pandora, and Netflix. I control Boxee with its iPhone and iPad apps.
My mishmash of living room devices would drive me crazy were it not for my Logitech Harmony Remote, an older 880 model which I’ve programmed to make it easy to operate my TV, Blu-ray player, Apple TV, audio receiver, Tivo, and VCR. Yes, I still use an old analog tape VCR for a bunch of old workout videos. I never transferred them to DVD, since that is actually less convenient. My analog VCR tapes have about 10 workouts on each of them, and I can just stop the tape after a workout and start it up the next morning for the next installment, which beats remembering where I left off on a DVD’s menu. Some of the tapes are 17 years old but still going strong. It seems possible that the DVD+R discs I use for videos at school may stop working before my old VCR tapes wear out.
It will be interesting to see how much I’ll miss having a DVR. If I miss a good broadcast TV show, I can hopefully use Hulu, iTunes, Amazon, Netflix, or a network’s own website to view it later. Perhaps what I’ll miss most is fast-forwarding through commercials. If it gets too annoying, I’ll either reactivate the Tivo service or look into turning my computer into a DVR.
My next project is to boost networking speeds in the living room by running a long Ethernet cable from my office router to a switch in the living room. I’ll then hardwire the television, Blu-ray player, Apple TV, and Tivo box to my network. But I’ll still rely on my home WiFi for my iPhone, iPad, Kindle, and netbook computer. Can I guy have too many gadgets? I didn’t think so.
LATER UPDATE: I bought a cheap 75′ ethernet cable from monoprice.com and ran it from the office to a D-Link DGS-2205 switch in the living room. The switch required no configuration at all and allowed me to use that cable with my Sony television, Sony Blu-ray player, the old Apple TV, and the Tivo. I find myself using Pandora more on the television for background music, while I use the old Apple TV for viewing video podcasts and the Boxee hack to watch Twit Live. And I like watching Netflix streaming on either the television or the Tivo. As for broadcast TV, at first I couldn’t get the television’s built-in TV Guide listings to work, but I finally re-initialized the TV Guide application and got it going so that I don’t have to fire up the Tivo to see what is on. And my new TV is able to play back audio and video from my desktop PC in the office via Windows Media Player.
12/1/2010 UPDATE: Today TiVo came through with an offer to upgrade my existing box to Lifetime Service for $99. That meant I can keep using it until it has a physical failure for the same cost as about eight months on their month-to-month plan. The offer was only available via phone, so I gave them a call and made the investment. (Essentially I was getting Lifetime Service for the same cost I would have paid for it when I first bought the box three years ago.) Given that the box is still working fine, I already invested in an external drive to boost its capacity, and the features on their new Premiere box are not compelling to me, it struck me as a good deal.
Meador Manor 