Archive for December, 2005


The dumbest thing I’ve seen in 2005

12/23/2005

This one takes the cake, no doubt about it. The AFA has a boycott pledge against Target stores.

Were Target stores cited for treating employees badly? Nope. How about inappropriate discrimination? Nope. Price gouging? Nope. Most annoying logo? Nope. Target doesn’t do or have any of those things (’cept for the annoying logo part).

This boycott pledge exists because Target does not use the word “Christmas” in any of its advertising. Evidently, that’s bad.

Not that I defend large corporate enterprise or anything like that, but I applaud Target for completely ignoring the AFA’s request. Know why? What Target has done is take some of the commercialism away from Christmas - and THAT’S NOT A BAD THING. I would absolutely love it if no companies at all used the word “Christmas” in their advertising. Christmas is too commercialized as it is.

A big company decides not to use the word “Christmas” to sell its wares. GOOD. That’s one down and about a million others to go. Keep Christmas as it should be: A celebration of Jesus’ birthday - not a free-for-all advertising blitz. Anyone that says “Yes! Put “Christmas” in your advertising to sell your stuff!” needs to examine that mode of thought and consider what they’re actually saying.

Target’s message is not “We’re banning Christmas”, rather, it’s “We’re not selling Christmas”.

– edit –

Found more that aren’t “selling Christmas”. Good!

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Garmin StreetPilot c340 and 2720 review

12/24/2005

On this Christmas Eve, Santa came by (better known as the UPS delivery guy) and delivered my Garmin StreetPilot c340 and Pop’s Garmin SteetPilot 2720. Here’s my review on both.

First of all I should state that I’ve been using the Garmin StreetPilot i3 since it was introduced so I will be comparing the bigger units to the smaller i3. In actuality I’m comparing three different units from Garmin. A small one (i3), a bigger one (c340) and a premium model (2720). If you want more in-depth review of the i3 just search my site; I’ve written plenty about it.

On to business..

Here’s what I noticed about the c340.

1. The display is huge when compared to the i3. The display is extremely easy to read and beats the i3 by leaps and bounds.

2. The text-to-speech voice is below par. The i3’s voice is very easy to understand while the c340’s “Jill” is a little too “computery” sounding. I believe the reason for this is because the i3 has recordings of voices, while the c340 has an actual text-to-speech engine which isn’t as clear sounding. I can understand it but you can definitely hear the difference in the negative direction. In future models this will probably be improved. Only when you have a language selected that is text-to-speech is when the voice sounds crappy. You can select the pre-recorded voice which sounds MUCH better.

3. The touch screen completely kicks ass. When compared to the i3’s wheel/scroll/click way of doing things, you can find stuff much faster and easier.

4. You have to go through a few menus to set a custom POI on the c340 while on the i3 it’s just one click, but it evens out when you consider that you can “type” the name of the POI on the c340 while on the i3 you have to do that wheel/click thing which is very time consuming.

More detail on this:

You want to set a custom waypoint/POI for where you are. This is how to do it.

With i3: Hold wheel button. Unit bleeps and saves waypoint. You can opt to name it now or later.

With c340: Where To? / My Locations / Save. Unit saves waypoint. Same as i3; opt to name it now or later.

Both units save waypoint initially as a numeric title, like “003″ until you rename it.

5. Trip computer is wonderful. Makes it look like you’re driving K.I.T.T. from Knight Rider. The digital speedometer (which even shows a needle) is way cool.

6. The fields at the bottom left/right are clickable - YES! And it will tell you how long it will take both in time and distance until your next turn (the i3 doesn’t have that) in addition to when you will get there.

7. The mount is much more study. This thing ain’t goin’ nowhere. :-)

8. When setting the mount on the dash it looks like a huge robotic arm. While the i3 would lay “squat” on the dash, this one extends upward. It’s good but I wish there were a way to set it lower.

9. Suction that means business. When this thing sucks itself on to the glass or the plate mount, it definitely stays there and there’s no way this thing is coming off (unless you unmount it manually of course).

10. The fact the unit is preloaded with the entire USA, Canada and Puerto Rico is darned convenient. No more loading stuff from DVD (which you have to do with the i3). The only time you even need to load anything is if a new DVD is released, and even then it’s optional.

11. Calculates routes faster. I can tell this thing definitely has a better processor in it.

And now, things I’ve noticed about the 2720.

1. Display is not as big as I thought it would be. I thought this thing would be larger than the c340’s display, which it is - but it’s only wider, not taller. A bit of a disappointment.

2. Does not operate on battery. If it ain’t plugged it, it won’t turn on. In addition, to use the USB connector, you have to plug in the power cord first, then the USB cable, else the USB cable gets in the way of the power port.

3. Will not power on USB alone. You need the power adapter and there’s no way around it. The c340 and i3 can be powered on USB alone.

4. Seeing the actual satellite trajectory is way cool. On one of the screens you can actually see what satellites the 2720 is polling information from, and what the signal strength is. It looks like the same thing air traffic controllers look at. Geeky to the extreme - just the way I like it. :-)

5. Buttons on the right are very nice shortcuts, particularly “Map” and “Menu” which directly jump to those functions instead of plodding through a bunch of menus or hitting “back” ten million times.

6. Bean bag mount is great - and should be mandatary on all GPS units. Easy to place, easy to position and there’s never any sticky stuff on your dash or those infamous circle marks from where you suction mount other units.

7. Takes more clicks to do what you want to do. “My Locations” is a good example of this. You click a “Favorite”, then it shows the location with a “Go to” button. Why the extra step? Probably more of a functionality thing for extra features.

8. WAY more customization. This is where it’s worth the extra $200 for this unit (compared to c340) comes into play. You can customize every single thing on the 2720, including text size (towns, streets, cities and darn near anything else you can think of), color of routes (nice touch) and lots of other things. Setting avoidances goes into way more detail as well.

9. Same “computery” voice as c340. For something this price I would have expected better voice clarity - and it’s a darn shame the i3’s voice sounds so much better compared to a premium model that’s more than twice its price. Only when you have a language selected that is text-to-speech is when the voice sounds crappy. You can select the pre-recorded voice which sounds MUCH better.

10. Ability to turn fields off. Nice option. Normally you will see black fields on the bottom right and a green field at the top right and so on, but you can easily turn them off so the map takes up the entire display and I like that. You can also easily turn them back on.

11. No speaker physically in the unit. The speaker is on the power adapter plug for the car. It’s a good size speaker and can be easily heard (truly), but I prefer the speaker to be in the unit (like the i3 and c340) rather than external. That’s just a personal preference.

12. Not meant for smaller cars. It’s a good thing my Pop owns a truck. The 2720 would take up way too much room in anything smaller than a sedan. If space is a concern, consider the c340 or the i3. When you go for the big screen you obviously get a larger unit that takes up more space on the dashboard. Keep that in mind.

There are lots of other things about the 2720 (including the handy remote) that I haven’t tried out yet, but yes, it is a premium unit as Garmin says it is. It has all the toys and is definitely meant for the “power user”. Pop bought it primarily because of the large display, and yeah, it’s bright. It’s also cool it has the auto day/night function (like the i3 and c340) so it isn’t a blazing beacon of light at night.

Both units calculate routes fast, recalculate routes instantly if you miss a turn and are truly ready to use out-of-the-box just like Garmin says they are. Both units are not larger versions of the i3; there are tons more features in each which make for much easier and enjoyable GPS navigation.

I’ve given my “old” i3 to my sister and now she is enojoying GPS as well, so now the whole family is GPS’d. Cool. Sis said at first “I don’t need this” but after using it for less than a week she can’t drive without it now. Once you get hooked on GPS you never go back. :-)

Oh! Almost forgot to mention (check this out):

Using MapSource (and if you own a Garmin GPS product, GET THIS, it’s free), I was able to download all the waypoints from the i3 and send them to both the c340 and 2720 very easily. It was AWESOME that I was able to do that.

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She was almost cute

12/25/2005

I went to the convenience store today to pick up a soda. Inside near the coffee machine was this really cute blonde girl. She wasn’t supermodel beautiful but she was just really attractive. I caught a few glances as I passed by her to get my soda. She just seemed to have everything put together and she was dressed in classy clothes too.

When I turned around after I got my drink she had dropped something and bent over.

Her tight pants rode down her ass a little bit and what did I see? One of those darned small-of-the-back tattoos.

First thought in my head: A depressing sigh.

A beautiful pretty girl.

Ruined by one of those tribal batman-insignia looking tattoos.

Seriously, if you really look at these tribal things, it’s not too far off from the Batman logo. Just add a few more sharp edges and lines.

Bleah.

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2005 - The year in review and New Year’s resolutions

12/25/2005

Has this year been any good? Let’s review (using pluses for good, minuses for bad).

(+) Finally moved out of the mouse to Maine.

(-) Failed miserably at finding work where I moved to and had to move back in with family.

(+) Rekindled a relationship with a girl I broke up with. She said she had a job waiting for me if I moved in with her in Indiana.

(-) Moved to Indiana only to find no work and that she had lied the whole time. Moved back in with family. Again.

(+) Bought a new truck.

(-) Because of all the traveling I’ve been doing on it, it’s already past the 22,000 mile mark - but still running great.

(+) I still have my health.

(+) I have been very good at not reading other people’s blogs and/or web sites that I can’t stand.

(+) I finished the treatment for my screenplay.

(-) I haven’t finished the actual screenplay and have been very lazy at actually getting to it. I have no idea why because I have all the time in the world right now to do it.

(+) I turned 30.

(-) I’m constantly reminded that there is so much I’ve missed.

(+) But I’m still young and I still have plenty of time to make up for lost opportunities.

(+) The older I get, the more of a snob I’m turning out to be. I don’t consider this a bad thing.

(+) Finally got GPS for my car. It’s one of the best (if not the best) automotive accessory purchase I’ve ever made in my life. With the recent gift of a bigger better GPS it’s now even more fun to travel.

(-) I’m still ten pounds overweight (at least to me).

(-) Pop got his left big toe amputated.

(+) He feels no more pain in that foot at all, ‘cept when he tries to do too much on it.

(-) I’m still smoking cigarettes.

(+) Starting to realize that the less I say, the more people are interested in what I have to say (’cept when I blog, then the “wordiness” is acceptable).

(+) Will be relaunching my biz in ‘06.

(-) Did not go to a movie theater once.

(-) Did not go swimming once.

(-) Did not go to the beach once.

(+) Finally got a good laptop. Best computer purchase I’ve ever made.

—

New Year’s Resolutions for ‘06:

Quit smoking. It’s bad for me.

Lose ten pounds.

Run a successful biz so I don’t have to work some shitty job just to survive.

Get a place of my own - and stay there, as in not be forced to move back with family… again.

Finish a screenplay, sell it and make tons of money.

Pay off my truck.

Pay off my credit card (Yeah right. Well, I guess that’s why they call these resolutions).

Spend more time screenplay writing and less time blogging.

Get a girlfriend. A nice one. Who’s short. And cute. And doesn’t lie, cheat or steal. And treats me nice.

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First screenplay - DONE

12/27/2005

Well, I finally did it. I made a screenplay. It’s very tiny, only seven pages long.

But I got it done.

I’m so proud. :-)

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POI’s for DL

12/28/2005

I just made some POI’s which are on the main site. I did some Wal-Marts in CT, baseball fields and NASCAR tracks. When I was doing them I thought that maybe some people out there would be interested in getting them. I dunno. They’re there.

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The pupil becomes the teacher

12/28/2005

Pop has been having issues figuring out his Garmin StreetPilot 2720, citing that the “manual sucks”. Right.

I had him take the 2720 out of his truck and place it right next to my c340 in my truck. I told him to pick a location and he can learn it as he goes along riding shotgun. I figured this way he could learn it better considering he wasn’t the one doing the driving.

I turned the volume on my c340 and let him do his thing, giving pointers along the way. I think he’s got the hang of it now.

I didn’t particularly like the 2720’s display. I like my c340’s much better. Just seems more clear.

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Looks like a notepad…. sorta

12/29/2005

I just changed the templates for my blog and went with a notepad lookin’ thing. Everything is in a typewriter style font too (scratched that idea.) Looks cool. It’s different; kinda like pages you would see back in the late 90’s. What can I say, I’m old school. :-)

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Biz site almost ready for launch

12/29/2005

Last night I spent many hours programming the FSP site. I finally decided what to do - which incidentally is the hardest way to do it - make the entire site a single PHP web page with all script contained within.

This was a severe pain in the ass to do, but the end result is that I have a single script/page running the entire site. The code alone for this thing is over 55k(!) I tried to shrink that size down as much as I could, but I had to put comments in the script just so I could go back and know where things were. I consider it an amazing thing that I was able to get everything in one page/script. PHP is incredible; no doubt about it.

I’m trying my best to beat the deadline (Jan 1 ‘06). I have just a few days but I think I’ll be able to do it. After that… well, we’ll see what happens, won’t we?

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Biz site almost ready for launch part 2

12/30/2005

Been working all night on the biz site. It’s about 90% done. I just have to do up some content for a few more “pages” and then I’m done and it’s ready for launch.

Can’t believe how much work I’ve put into this. Hope it pays off! (grin)

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