We went camping this past weekend at a campground called Evergreen Trails. While my definition of camping is putting everything you need into a pack on your back and heading into the woods, this place has cabins, furnished with the basics: electricity, heat, beds, and a refrigerator. There are different styles and sizes, but the one we stayed in was a 4-person cabin, with a small refrigerator, hot plate, and a coffee maker. We had a water spigot outside of the cabin, and our own fire pit and charcoal grill. The community bathrooms were quite nice as well. Each rest area had a set of bathrooms, and each of those was a full bathroom, complete with a pay shower. All of these amenities are just a bonus for me; I would have been just as happy heading off into the woods on Friday night and not coming back until Sunday afternoon, but the rest of the family really enjoyed themselves.

The trails were decent as well. Nothing too long, just day or half-day hikes, but they seemed to be well maintained and they took us through some interesting scenery. They weren’t always that well marked, though. There’s a separate map you have to pick up for the trails, and just walking around the campground they’re not obvious.

Their website says they’re under new ownership. Since we’d never been before, we can’t compare what it is now to what it was under the old owners, but it seems like a great place. The cabins were very clean, and to my surprise, the community bathrooms were spotless as well… all weekend… Everything seemed very new as well, from the cabins to the appliances in them. So, while I’m not getting to camp MY way, it looks like we’ve found a spot where the family can all enjoy “camping”.

I’ve been around the instant messenger block more than once in my years. I can remember when ICQ was the biggest thing at RIT and that’s all everyone used to instant message. Now all of the big players have their own platform; AOL, Microsoft, Yahoo!, Google, and so on, and there are many others with more specific purposes, even some for enterprise use. You almost need to have an account on each of the networks to keep in touch with all of your friends.

There are a few clients out there that help to organize the chaos of multiple IM networks. To name just a couple, Trillian and Meebo both have solutions that do a good job; Trillian being an installable client and Meebo a web client. There’s a new client on the horizon that’s really caught my attention and is promising to beat any of the others, at least in my book. Digsby allows users to connect to multiple IM networks to organize them into one client, but also allows you to interact with some of the social networking platforms, and check, send, and read emails all in one very customizable program. I’m proud to say also that the concept originated with a fellow RIT student.

I’ve been using Digsby for a little while now, and from what I’ve seen it’s got a lot of promise. It’s not without its bugs, but they will be resolved in time. I’ve been (and still am) a huge supporter of Trillian and have been beta testing Trillian Astra for quite some time now, but Digsby has the potential to rival and surpass Trillian’s functionality. I’m very excited to see how this plays out, but for now I’m happy to test Digsby and provide my thoughts and comments, and I suggest you do the same!

Go to the Digsby homepage

I will once again be doing the MS Walk this year. The walk is this Sunday (5/4/2008). This is a cause that means a lot to me, as my father has had Multiple Sclerosis since I was little. Anyone interested in sponsoring me can follow this link.