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This user currently is not registered with Windows Live QnA account. Click here to learn more and get started. 1/10/2009 Installing a New HD/Bluetooth RadioAt first I thought about upgrading my GPS to include Bluetooth, giving me hands-free phone use in the car. But then, I remembered that the old ‘98 Subaru Forester has a radio with a cassette deck – it’s ancient! So I did some research on car radios, and came across a nice HD Radio that is Bluetooth capable – with great reviews on Amazon. Here’s what I eventually decided on:
When you order this type of hardware from Crutchfield, they provide a free wire harness for your vehicle and instructions for doing the install yourself. I hunted around for Crutchfield coupons and found one that gives you a $25 gift card with a $150 purchase. The whole order was $190, plus I have the gift card – almost like spending $165. Since this was just a touch lower than buying the parts separately via Amazon, and it included the install directions, I went for it. The parts came in recently – so this weekend I installed my new radio! Tai at work suggested that I might have a hard time with the install – in particular getting the trim to look right. Interestingly, I ran into this exact problem as I was doing the install. Turned out I needed to set the receiver a little further back in the harness – not using the same screw holes as the OEM radio. Once I set the receiver back a bit, the trim fit back on fine and the radio looks great! Here is one picture before the install, and two pictures after install. The third picture was taken after making a phone call with my HTC Fuze.
And here’s a cool picture in the middle of the install, with the brake trim, shift trim, and radio trim removed.
Here’s how it all looks after being put back together.
Why a car radio comes with a remote I have no idea – although the kids are pretty excited about using the radio from the back seats. Mom and dad aren’t as excited about that. :-) 8/25/2008 Derick's Favorite Books of All TimeDawn and I were talking about how different our reading sources and interests are. She likes crafting, art, real crime, and non-fiction, and I like science fiction, mysteries (fictional), and horror.
We thought it might be cool to read from each other's book lists on occasion to learn a bit more about each other and what we like to read. But we're both avid readers - reading tons of books each. Where to start?
We agreed to help each other out - by coming up with our Top Five Favorite Books Of All Time.
Well, it turns out this is a lot harder to do than it seems. I didn't think I could even remember all of my favorite books. Ok - so I guess that means they don't qualify as my favorites - do they?
But what about that book you loved in college - can remember the plot and everything - but the name escapes you? It's got a funny name... oh yeah - that's it! Whew, just needed a couple days in the back of my head to remember that one.
Then, once you start to identify your favorites (that you remember), it gets really hard to pick the top five. I found that the Wish List capability of Amazon was really helpful in managing all of these books and their priorities.
Well, I rolled the dice a few times - worked on it for about a week - struggled over final priorities - and finally did it. So here they are for your enjoyment, Derick's top five favorite books of all time:
Thing is, I can't stop here. There's so many other good books and authors that I like. So here are my next ten favorite books of all time.
You know what? I don't actually own all of these books anymore. So what's Dawn going to read? I guess I'm going to have to be a good husband and go pick up the ones I don't have these days. Just for Dawn you see.
 12/11/2007 Telco ManiaOk, big changes going on at home with our Telco options.
First and most important - we've picked up and are now testing MagicJack as a potential replacement to our home phone line.
It's a very cool and compelling offering - for $40 you get a USB device that allows you to plug in an RJ11 phone (I've plugged in our Panasonic wireless phone) and make phone calls anywhere in the US and Canada. No monthly bills. 2nd year is $20.
As someone who's always looking to cut costs (i.e. cheap) I looked at this and thought wow - we could potentially eliminate a $45 monthly charge (basic service plus a long distance package for the US and Canada).
There are some limiations of the system - it has PC and broadband pre-requisites (broadband must be running, PC must be running). It doesn't offer international calling at this time. But hey - we have a computer we keep on all the time (for media storage and services).
We just received our MagicJack yesterday, and I hooked it up with no problems. We've made calls - and we're letting our family and friends know our new number to call during our 'test period'.
So far so good! 7/1/2007 New Van!With the family taking a three week driving trip this summer, Dawn and I have talked about upgrading our wheels to something a little more comfortable.
So I've traded in "Fronty" our Nissan pick-up, and we just bought this nifty Dodge Ram Conversion Van. Gadget alert - it comes with Nintendo 64 controller plug ins!
12/12/2006 Vacation Project #1 - Complete!I rarely do home improvement projects. My wife and I have this understanding - that a little book called the 'yellow pages' is filled with many people more competent and more interested than I at doing work around the house.
Well, this month I've been taking the whole month off - and it's given me extra time and energy to do things around the house that I normally wouldn't consider.
Project #1 - putting in new tiles in the main bathroom. Dawn and I picked out the tiles and grout - we often like the color blue as a 'feature color' - and it drew our attention this time too. Here's a pic of the results - my first time putting in a tile floor.
Note: the different colors in the blue tiles is due to their reflective properties. It looks better in person.
 12/6/2006 Visit A V O N - N WDawn is starting up a new home business based on Avon products.
Have a look at her new web site - http://www.Avon-NW.com
This site was created with Office Live Basics - a very cool online service. http://officelive.microsoft.com
9/19/2006 Breaking the Tivo land speed recordOk. It's been almost 24 hours since selecting 'Clear and Delete Everything' on our DirecTV HD Tivo.
Guess what it (still) says now? "Clearing and deleting everything. This will take about an hour."
Isn't Linux special? 9/18/2006 Made it one whole year!Woohoo - today is one year after my last blog entry - making this one of the busiest blogs in cyberspace.
 Ok - so here I am at my computer, waiting for our DirecTV HD Tivo. "Clearing and deleting everything. This will take about an hour."
You see, lately the Tivo has really been underperforming our expectations - and it had done such a good job of setting our expectations so low to begin with this was quite a feat in itself.
It's only taken two weeks of shows pausing, not responding to remote clicks until 5 minutes later, and then not responding to corrective remote clicks for another five minutes for us to concurr as a family that perhaps something isn't going well with the Tivo. I figure this is probably the Linux/Tivo performance equivalent of hard drive fragmentation... and since the (supported) options for improving Tivo performance are limited, I've opted to go for the "Reset and delete everything and start over" option.
To ensure we get back into our old viewing habits, I've captured a list of our Season's Passes. Since I have nothing better to do - and apparently neither do you - here they are for your reading pleasure.
Note the top four shows - if you haven't seen any of these I highly recommend you check them out.
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