Once you get enough gadgets you can do just about anything. For example, on Saturday I got a new smart card for my satellite receiver to replace my old one which was probably too easy to hack into. When I replaced the card about a quarter of my stations disappeared. I ran some diagnostics and figured out that half of the stations from one satellite (the “odd” transponders, the “even” ones came in fine) were not coming in at enough strength (the dish receives signals from satellites at two different locations in the sky about 9 degrees apart which I think is amazing). Technical support said I needed to fine tune the aim of the dish, which made no sense to me since the only thing that had changed was I put a new card into the receiver. And since I was getting the even transponders it didn’t make much sense that I couldn’t get the odd ones. But it’s hard to argue with people who know what they are talking about.
Petsmart
When I was at Petsmart recently a funny thing happened. I don’t bring my dogs, but it is allowed, and I always like seeing people bringing their dogs to the store. I noticed a lady there with a boston terrier near the toy section as I was going back to get food. When I came back she was trying to pull a toy away from her dog. I don’t know if she gave the toy to the dog or if he got it off the shelf but he was loving pulling on that toy. Somehow before I got to the checkout this lady and her boston terrier were in front of me and the dog still had the toy in its mouth. I guess the lady had decided to buy the toy. As they were checking out the dog tried to walk out the front doors with the toy without paying for it, but he was on a stretchy leash and was stopped before he could get out the door. He really wanted to get out of there with the toy. His owner paid for everything else and now the cashier needed to scan the toy. But the dog wasn’t going to give it up. The owner tried to get it from him but he just pulled on it and growled. So the cashier just leaned over and scanned the tag on the toy while it was still in the dog’s mouth. And finally the dog got to leave with its toy!
Colorado
I got back from Colorado Sunday night. We spent two days in Denver and then two in Manitou Springs (Pike’s Peak) and the last three near Granby in the mountains. I had a reunion of the Peace Corps group I was in while in Thailand. There were 13 of the original group of about 40, but with kids and everyone else it came out to 28 people and two dogs. On the way back we drove through Rocky Mountain National Park on roads that still have been cleared of up to five feet of snow. I’ll start work on a web page pretty soon but I’m still going through the pictures. For now here’s a sampling.
Band Pictures
I found these on 99-X’s website today.
AirClick
Griffin Technology, maker of the iTrip that Eric has, makes something called the AirClick, with one piece that connects to the top and receives signals from the other piece, a remote to control the iPod. That way you can hook up the iPod to the stereo and still skip songs and control volume from across the room. Also you can keep the iPod in your pocket or somewhere that isn’t that convenient to get to and then use the remote to control it. It uses radio signals instead of infra red to control it, so it doesn’t need a clear line of sight to work. The remote comes with a strap you can attach to your bike or steering wheel.