Blackmans on the Web (log)

The WordPress for iPhone app was released for the iPhone today. It allows posting to WordPress hosted or self hosted WP blogs directly from your iPhone. Doesn’t have much in the way of administrative support but I don’t think I’d want to try and do that on the iPhone anyway. Using it to post this as a matter of fact.

Time will tell if this gets me to post more often or whether it results in me posting more junk that no one wants to read!

UPDATE: Actually had to do final updates on the computer. The app on the phone does make adding a picture easy, but you can’t adjust site or position without adding html to the post. Typing html on the iPhone is a beast. Nearly impossible to do with any accuracy. And clearly accuracy it rather critical when manually typing code – yes?

Well we finally did it. We all got iPhones last weekend. We waited for v2.0 of the iPhone to come out because I was just sure v2.0 would be better. It is in many ways. No so much in others. But we’re all still thrilled to finally have one to call our very own.

Despite all of the doom and gloom reported in the press, the wait wasn’t too bad and the activation process also went smoothly. Though I admit that the average person would still think that waiting in line for 2 hours to buy an phone was crazy. But our wait was different. We had fun. We met some nice folks and it was generally a pleasant experience.

I struck up a conversation with the guy in front of us because he was using a Kindle and I was curious to hear what he thought and to get an upclose look at it. It’s a pretty amazing e-book reader but does much more. AnyWho – turns out my Kindle buddy is also world famous Judson Laipply. World famous you say. Who the heck is Judson Laipply you say…..ever heard of the Evolution of Dance? THE most viewed video on YouTube EVER. I’m talking 92+ million views. Yes million.

Judson is an Inspirational Comedian and an all around nice guy. I think it’s safe to say that the Evolution of Dance was truly the first video to go “viral”. Popular term these days for videos that everyone is talking about around the water cooler (and, boy, does that term date me!). People are always asking him “how do I make my video go viral.” I suspect if he knew the answer he wouldn’t have been standing in line waiting for a iPhone! Seems to me that that’s the essence of viral video: it just tends to come out of nowhere. Amazing stuff. Shows the power of word of mouth these days – for good and for bad. In Judson case I think it’s probably all good.

You can learn a lot more about Judson at www.theevolutionofdance.com. Thanks for hanging out with us Judson! (That’s Judson in the aqua shirt between Alex & Sam)

Been a little side tracked. Realized I hadn’t put up other pictures from Alex’s graduation weekend. I’ve added a movie and photo gallery. Click on the picture of Alex on the stage getting his diploma for the movie and the picture of Alex on the scoreboard for the slideshow.

10:45pm Update: Great party! Lots of friends who have been important in Alex’s life were there. We are all grateful to have such wonderful friends! Alex was pleased with the turnout and – of course – pleased with the thoughtful gifts.

1:00pm: We’re having a party for Alex today. You can click on the picture to see updated pictures that refresh every 5 minutes were taken throughout the day. You can also go to http://www.ustream.tv/scottblackman to see a live stream starting around 3:30 central time.

We went out for dinner with our friends Kurt and Peggy last night. Planned to come back to our place after and watch a movie. Got home to find that Toby and Shadow had had a little “cage match” brawl in our bathroom. They’ve gotten in to it from time to time, but this is the first time it happened while we weren’t home. This one was pretty ugly. Frankly looked like we’d sacrificed a chicken in the bathroom. Blood and hair everywhere.

Long story short we took them both to the Animal Emergency facility near by and Shadow ended up needing 10 stitches. Toby had some minor damage to a paw. They’ll be fine, but it will certainly cause us to be a little more careful about how we separate them while we’re out.

A couple weeks ago Ann and I went out to CGS to help put together bunk beds in the 5 new cabins at Main Camp. Hard work, but great to see the new cabins. Ann arranged for us to use one of the cabins for Memorial Day weekend. Sam had been wanting to share CGS with Sarah since he’s so enjoyed going there all these years. So we invited Sarah and her mom and dad to join us for the weekend.

We had a great time. Climbed to the top of Johnsons Peak, took a barge over to Hells Gate and climbed up Devils Island. We had a nice campfire on Sunday night and had “Hobo Packs” for dinner. All in all, a nice relaxing weekend

<< Click the image to see some of our weekend photos.

Alex, Bobby Lish, Jo Archin and Kim Roy have been friends for years. Alex, Kim and Jo were in St. Francis’ church school starting in 5th grade. Ann and Jo’s mom (Mayra) were their teachers. They continued their friendship in the St. Francis youth group starting in 9th grade. Alex and Bobby met at Camp Grady Spruce and struck up an instant friendship.

We got them together last week for a little senior “group picture”. The plan was to put them in cap and gown but everyone hadn’t gotten theirs yet. We all had fun.

Click the image to see a slideshow

We finally got around to taking some “senior pictures” of Alex this week. We’d been talking about making time to do this since November. Figured if we didn’t hurry he wouldn’t be a senior anymore. Graduation is in two week!

Click the image below to see a slideshow.