test from sms

test from sms

UPDATE: It works!

Gmail-to-SMS, finally!

Partially because I'm a geek, but also for the practical and economic purpose of getting email on-the-go for free, I've been trying to figure out if I could check my Gmail on my cell phone without a data plan. Maybe I could send a text message and receive the headers of my newest emails? Then, I could go to a computer and read an email if I deemed it important enough at that moment; or even text back and request one particular message to be texted to my phone. Since I have unlimited incoming calls and texts, it would not cost me any more than my flat monthly bill. Unfortunately, Gmail doesn't seem to offer such an option, among the other sms options from Google (here and here).

After some hunting, I found a page on centennialwireless.com that explained how to send a text message to an email address:

How do I send messages from my Centennial Wireless phone to an email address?
Sending a message from your phone to an email address can be done either via MMS or via SMS. Following are the special instructions to send via SMS: Start your message with the email address of the person you want the message to go to, followed by the message you want them to receive. Then, where you would normally enter a phone number, enter the code 1000. Messages are limited to 160 characters from a wireless phone and 120 characters from an email address.

After following these directions to send a message to my Gmail account, I wrote down the From address, entered Gmail settings, and set up filters to forward certain emails to my phone via text message (I get too many emails a day. I'd be getting hundreds of texts all the time!) Now, whenever I get an email from someone I actually care about hearing from, my phone will not only let me know, but will deliver the email itself, via several text messages. It's bulky, I know, to read eight separate text messages, but that way I won't miss when those William Stafford books on my BookMooch wishlist show up in someone's inventory. The last time someone posted three or four of his books, by the time I checked my Gmail, they had already been snatched up. No more!


...After typing all of the above, I went back to Centennial's site and found this help page I missed the first time around. It makes it a lot easier:

How do I send text messages (SMS) from an email account to a Centennial Wireless phone?
To send a text message from your wireless device to an e-mail address, send your message to: 10-digit Centennial number @cwemail.com Example: (2605551212@cwemail.com) - Messages are limited to 120 characters from an email address.

The upside is I now know how to email folks from my phone, something I didn't know before. It just goes to show, extra research usually ends up paying off. For instance, I might be able to sms-to-email to Blogger, since I don't have mms, which Blogger seems to support exclusively.

The Republic of Geektronica has a post with addresses for email-to-sms for other mobile phone providers, specifically so you can forward your Gmail (or messages from other email service...but really, who needs anything other than Gmail!) to your phone.

Super Bowl XLII town founded by Brethren

The Arizona Republic tells football fans of the origins of Glendale, AZ, the site of this year's Super Bowl:

Founded in 1892, the city of Glendale began as a religious and temperance community started by the New England Land Company for the Church of the Brethren of Illinois. Farmers by trade, church members were attracted by cheap land, a miracle in the desert made possible by the arrival of water after the completion of the Arizona Canal in 1885. The coming of the Santa Fe Railroad in the mid-1890s was another boon, as local produce could be shipped and sold elsewhere.

Who would have thought that midwestern Brethren would join with Yankees to settle out west! (Today's issue of Newsline reports that "there are no longer any Church of the Brethren congregations in Glendale.") It's a small world, and it will be smaller still when gajillions of folks tune in to watch Super Bowl XLII from a town founded by Dunkers!

ACLU lawsuit sounds familiar

The ACLU is challenging the practice of President Bush's handlers to move protesters away from his motorcade at public events. The ACLU's webpage all about the lawsuits reveals this interesting piece of information:

Through litigation, the ACLU obtained a copy of the Presidential Advance Manual. The manual teaches the President's handlers how to keep protesters away from the President and from the media. People on the ground should "ask the local police department to designate a protest area where demonstrators can be placed, preferably not in view of the event site or motorcade route." The manual suggests that handlers form sign-wielding volunteers into "rally squads" who can "use their signs and banners as shields between the demonstrators and the main press platform."

This might sound familiar to some Brethren, as it puts a similar 2001 incident at New Windsor in context of a much wider war on dissent by the White House.

Check out this Huffington Post blog post for some further commentary.

Is it my revloution yet?

A blog at washingtonpost.com writes of the Clinton campaign room during tonight's Iowa Caucus:

Trying to lighten the mood [of her loss to Obama], the campaign put her rally soundtrack on in the ballroom, blasting Dolly Parton's 'Workin' 9 to 5,' but no one danced.

This reminds me of a quote often attributed to Emma Goldman:

If I can't dance, it's not my revolution!

Amen, Sister! I haven't seen any television footage of Obama's victory speech, but I heard it on the radio, and it sounded much more celebratory than Clinton's. As for the Republican's victor, Huckabee, I wonder how much dancing he'll allow, being a Southern Baptist minister and all.