Phillip Nagle Makes It Home after Cycling 8,200 Miles to Raise Money for Cancer Research

We were all waiting by the side of the road, looking into the sun, waiting for the headlights of the police escorts. The news vans and hundreds of people stood on the side of the road waiting for him to arrive. And there he was.

After 8,200 miles through 48 states, Phil completed his journey. He slammed on his breaks, and lifted his bike above his head, but he wasn’t the man that left Tipp City 57 days ago. His body has completely transformed as the result of 8,200 miles of sheer willpower and determination. He grabbed his bike and lifted it over his head in victory with his huge infectious smile. He made it. He’s home.

I watched Phil get swarmed by cameras as he enjoyed the moment and I too snapped away happily, feeling completely inspired, and admiring the human desire to put your head down and grind through it… and realizing that no matter how hard things become, in the end you will cross the finish line with the sun from the west shining on your back. Thanks Phil! You have been an inspiration for us all.

DONATE: http://www.go48in48.com/

View Pic’s from Phil’s return home!

Phil Nagle Reaches Eureka, Nevada. He is riding his bike through 48 states to raise $48K for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

Phil is in the huge state of Nevada. Yesterday he battled headwind gusts at 30 mph. Let me digress here. When you are on a bike trying to get somewhere and you have that kind of a headwind, it feels like someone put about 50 lbs on your bike. You turn the pedals and you just can’t go anywhere. Your legs are on fire, and you are going nowhere. But Phil just keeps pedaling. I can honestly say, I am absolutely amazed that his body is still going. But for Phil, it isn’t about what his body can do, it is what his mind is telling his body to do.

Here is a note from Andrew O’Dom, Team Manager:
“We are currently in Nevada and will be for the next 3 days. This is our 33 state and we are well over half way done with our trip. Phil is doing amazing as he has cycled for over 4,500 miles in 33 straight days. He has set a trip record with 185 miles in one day! He has also hit speeds as high as 53 mph! Simply amazing, but we need your help.

With the trip just over the half way point we are trying to make a final push towards raising the $48,000 for LLS as well as raise enough funds to complete our mission.

If you can find it in your hear and your wallet 🙂 please help us meet our goal with your donations. You could make the difference. Donate to LLS using the link on our facebook page. Or donate directly to us at www.go48in48.com. Donations made to us will be used for the trip as well as put towards our goal for LLS

Thank you all for you support without you we wouldn’t have made it this far.

Thanks,

Andrew”

To hear Phil’s updates online or to be added to the phone notification list, go to http://go48in48.com/onecall.

Phillip is also posting pictures on flickr

From the Telegraph System to Twitter! What’s Next?

Everyone’s a-twitter about Twitter. Tweets are showing up in the ticker section on our favorite news channels so we can read what everyday people are saying about the latest events while watching and listening to the TV news broadcaster. We all waited anxiously to see Ashton Kutcher win the race against CNN to be the first to have 1 Million followers. (He has a lot of friends.) The founder of Twitter was a guest on Oprah, which makes it seemingly everywhere. So, about a month ago, like everyone who dares to go into the world of Tweeting, I signed up for a new account… and just sat there, waiting. “Where is everyone? Don’t they know I am here?” A few days later, I went on vacation to Key West. I thought it would be the perfect time to Tweet various happenings on lazy beaches, with lizards and the sunshine—and yes, a few times I did Tweet about what I ate.

Then it happened… My Blackberry buzzed, and it read, “SoAndSo (SAS) is now following your updates on Twitter.” Hmm!? Who is So and So, and why are they following me? They actually care that I have a sunburn?

And so it began. Before I knew it, I was following people with similar interests, and they, in turn, followed me.

I am not alone. Twitter has experienced staggering growth— from 475,000 members in February 2008 to over 7 million members in February 2009 (source: Nielsen NetView, 2/09, U.S., Home and Work). TechCrunch reports that Twitter is up to 25 million members as of May 2009, and growing rapidly since the Oprah appearance.

There are hundreds of Twitter applications available for free, including mobile applications so you can Twitter on your cell phone, Tweet Grid (search on multiple subjects at one time), and more. You can even embed your Twitter updates on your blog. There are also mashups (two web applications that are integrated into one program) including YouTube Tweeter and Twitter Jobcast. You can find all of these online at Twitdom http://twitdom.com/, a consolidated database of Twitter applications.

My favorite Twitter application is Tweet Deck. It is exactly what it sounds like. It is a personal browser that sits on my computer screen so I can watch my Tweets go by. I found many churches who were Twittering, so I started following them. Any time I like I can pull up my Tweet Deck and scroll through inspirational messages from churches all over the United States, click through to their websites and learn more about them… all for free —for now. Twitter has also been mired in buyout rumors: The latest rumor is that Apple has offered $700M to buy Twitter. Google and Microsoft were also previously rumored for a Twitter buyout. Biz Stone, co-founder of Twitter, did state on The View that the company is not for sale. In 2008, the social networking giant Facebook did make an offer of $500M, and was turned down.

Soon after I realized the significance of the Twitter communication trend. 25 Million people are sitting in a virtual room, connected, sharing information, communicating in twittering snippets that point to blogs, Facebook and other social networking sites for more information.

Communication is traveling and changing at increasing speeds; changing our culture and the way we view the world we live in. Samuel Morse first demonstrated the first working telegraph system in 1838, and by 1844 the first long distance telegraph line ran from Baltimore Maryland to Washington DC. By 1870, the telephone was a reality with the transformation of speech into an electric signal by Elisha Grey and Alexander Bell. In1880 more than 32 million messages were traveling by 291,000 miles of wire.” (History of Communications http://www.fi.edu/learn/case-files/communication.html) Note: In 2009 One Call Now has dialed over 47 million phone numbers, and it is still Spring!

The first computers began to hit the scene in the 1930’s and many inventors have contributed to the evolution of PC’s and operating systems since then. In the 1960’s we saw the discovery of transferring data-packets within a network, leading to the development of the Internet. Then there was the 90s dot com boom and subsequent bust. Now, 171 years after the first demonstration of the telegraph system, here we are in a virtual room of 25 million people with the latest phenomenon— Twitter.

Something to think about… The amount of data currently contained in the Library of Congress is transferred over the Internet every second. It begs the question, “What’s next?”

You can follow One Call Now on Twitter… http://twitter.com/OneCallNow
We have found that Twitter is a great place to announce new features and community involvement, and to talk to people who use One Call Now. We hope you’ll join our conversation!