therodemanns We May Not Have It All Together But Together We Have It All!

I’ve never been a fan of RF modulators so that you can listen to your iPod in the car. In any metropolitan area there are just too many radio stations to interfere with whatever frequency you choose. This is what led me to purchase the DICE Electronics iHOND3 iPod interface for my car. Not only did my iPod touch charge in the car but I could control it using the wheel mounted audio controls. Life was good. Then I got an iPhone and life was no longer good, it didn’t work in the car.

Enter DICE Electronics. I emailed them and Travis in sales got back to me right away. They explained that the 3G wouldn’t charge at 12V like the original iPhone. He asked for the serial number from my unit and after giving it to him he again got back to me right away. He gave me 2 options:

Option A-Send the module box and the cable that goes to the iPhone back. They’d upgrade the software, install a 5V chip, and get a corrected cable. It can be done now and only take a day or 2. $99

Option B-Wait until mid December for a new cable that will make it work as is. No software upgrade. $45

I choose to wait until mid December as there wasn’t any additional functionality in a software upgrade. I wanted to post about all of this because of how responsive DICE Electronics and Travis have been. You don’t purchase their products directly from them, they work through dealers, but they sure do have a way with making customers feel valued.

Posted under Technology

My BIL Matt

Beauty eh?

My BIL Matt loves pickup trucks so much that the alley behind his house in Dilworth resembles the set from Sanford and Son. Today he asked if I’d help him pick up another one, this one has plaid valve covers which makes it special apparently. It’s a ‘62 GMC and it looks and acts every bit of it’s age. No clutch or brakes. “So would you rather be in front of the truck with no brakes, towing it, or be driving the truck with no brakes?” in hindsight, I should have chosen the lead truck. To make a long story short the trip involved a red light, Matt moving out of the way in the hope the tow strap would stop me, the strap breaking, entering the intersection of a major highway on a red light while scrambling to find a gear to stop the truck, and finally locking up the wheels and coming to a stop while blocking half of the eastbound side. I’ll never forget the look on Matt’s face as he waved to me while I passed him on my way to the intersection. Ah, the fun of a Saturday in Dilworth with your BIL!!

Posted under Personal

It has all gone by so fast. Our trip this year to New York for our 10th anniversary has been a blast. The weather has been rainy every day but when you come to New York you don’t sit around waiting for the weather to clear. Looking back on our time here the thing that strikes me the most is how many famous people we’ve run into while we did our thing. We didn’t go searching for them, they just happened to be where we were. First it was Tate Donovan from the TV show Damages, then we saw them filming a scene from the show, then Beyonce came walking around the corner doing a photo shoot. Elle MacPherson got out of a cab right in front of me and Bono had all of the tables at the restaurant we want to eat at. We saw John Lithgow, Diane Wiest, and Katie Holmes in a Broadway play. In addition to all this fun we saw the Metropolitan Museum of Art, found an anniversary ring for Heather in the diamond district, looked at the city from the top of 30 Rock, saw 3 Apple stores, discovered Greenwich Village, ate a lot of wonderful food and met a lot of wonderful people. The atmosphere here in New York is so friendly, everyone is outgoing. Tomorrow is the last day. We miss Grace and it’s time to return to our wonderful, normal life. I’m not sure all of the famous people with only one name can handle seeing so much of us.

Posted under Personal

This week Heather and I will be leaving for New York City. Our 10th anniversary is Thursday Friday (oops) and the trip is our celebration. We went last year in late August and that was my first trip there. We had a great time. The banner on top of the home page is a picture that I took from the top of the Empire State Building. I believe I am all set with the lastest in technology for the trip. I will be able to post our current location using Twittelator on my iPhone. That will update to the home page here as well as to my Facebook page. Pictures that I take with the iPhone will be uploadable to Flickr and then will be on this site also. The iPhone camera is not the best so most of our pictures will be taken with my Canon EOS xTi and Heather’s Sony point-and-shoot. I am very excited to be going, we have plans to take in a Broadway show, get a massage, walk across the Brooklyn Bridge but mostly we plan on exploring different neighborhoods. If you are interested check back later in the week to see where we are!

Posted under Personal, Technology