Back while I was driving truck I got a GPS, and there-in lies a story.
I saved my pennies for over a month, and bought a Rand McNally TND 700. $500, but it was designed and programmed for truckers by the same people that write and publish the trucker maps and truck stop guides, and it was supposed to have the best info built in. Bridge heights were supposed to be considered, trip and route planning with single or a pair of drivers, fuel stops; all these were supposed to be included.
I had been using the GPS in my LG Rumor phone, but I was also very aware that it had no consideration for the size of vehicle I was driving. I was hoping for an easy way out.
After two very short trips, less than 150 miles total, I returned the TND 700 and got my money back. While my cell phone GPS had never steered me wrong, the TND consistently ran me the long way around, consistently led me off the truck routes. And I paid over $500 for this functionality! And I was only clearing $150 a week at the time!
But I still wanted a GPS. The screen on my LG Rumor is too small to see, and it can be used as either a phone OR a GPS, but not both at the same time, which is rather inconvenient. So, I started looking.
Over the Thanksgiving weekend 2010 I spent the night in a WalMart parking lot. I went in the store and picked up some groceries. On Black Friday, this WalMart had the TomTom Ease for $50 or $60 (don't remember now). I figured that was worth a try.
The Ease did me pretty good. I never did quite trust it, and always did my trip and route planning and used the TomTom to help keep me on route and schedule, mostly using it for daily running. I would pick a landmark a few hours ahead and route the TomTom to it so I would know time to my next stop. Worked well. I did rely on it exclusively for one trip that I took in which I was short on time, and didn't do any backup. When it said I had reached my destination in the middle of nowhere I called the customer and asked for directions and told them where I was. The first question I was asked was "Are you using a TomTom?" seems that TomTom users always had this problem.
I've been using it since for navigation learning my way around the Puget Sound. It seems as though any secondary (or lesser) roads that are less than 5 years old it knows nothing about, otherwise pretty accurate and the ETA has always been within a few minutes. And since the vehicle I'm driving has a flaky speedometer (always reads high, between 15% and 50% high!) I've been using it as my speedometer.
But last night when I hit the power switch for the trip home nothing happened. It had been working OK just a couple of hours earlier. Even after charging all last night nothing happened when I hit the power switch.
I need to check the battery voltage, and I might pop the cover off and glance inside for obvious problems. But I'm going to miss it.
Showing posts with label Travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Travel. Show all posts
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Friday, July 9, 2010
Backing Practice
Spent most of the day playing with Big Boy's Toys. Sorta. Since I have my permit, I am now allowed in the truck, along with 63 other remaining members of my class. So, we spent the day, 8 to a truck, 10 minutes a turn, practicing starting the truck, putting it in low gear, pulling it straight forward about 100 feet, stopping, putting it in reverse, backing up STRAIGHT about 100 feet, stopping, ad infinitum.
And yes, we are standing on hot black freshly sealed asphalt, it is 92 degrees in the shade, and there is no shade. I think I have sunburn on my forehead; I didn't have my visor in my backpack and had to go to the dorm to get it. Probably have sunburn on the back of my neck also. I'm sure I will know soon enough!
One of the school trucks backing away from me.
Me about to climb into one of the school's trucks.
And yes, we are standing on hot black freshly sealed asphalt, it is 92 degrees in the shade, and there is no shade. I think I have sunburn on my forehead; I didn't have my visor in my backpack and had to go to the dorm to get it. Probably have sunburn on the back of my neck also. I'm sure I will know soon enough!
Thursday, July 8, 2010
CDL
Got my Commercial Drivers License Learners Permit. Passed the General Knowledge Test at "only" 90% and both the Air Brakes and Combination Vehicles Tests at 100% each.
Next step: Actual driving.
Next step: Actual driving.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Driving
Driving dump truck the last couple of weeks has been a lot of fun, even if Friday was not the greatest. We've actually had 4 sunny, non-rainy days in a row, and the mud all dried up and turned to dust. Thirty hours later, I'm still hacking up mud. Gaaah!
But it has reminded me how much I like to drive, and the fact is, I do handle that truck pretty good for an amateur. And, although I have seriously been working hard at finding steady work in IT, the fact seems to be that I'm not wanted in IT any more. I've had all of two interviews since I left the Hospital. TWO.
I think I'm gonna get my CDL and do some serious driving.
But it has reminded me how much I like to drive, and the fact is, I do handle that truck pretty good for an amateur. And, although I have seriously been working hard at finding steady work in IT, the fact seems to be that I'm not wanted in IT any more. I've had all of two interviews since I left the Hospital. TWO.
I think I'm gonna get my CDL and do some serious driving.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Quaint
Drove thru a quaint little town a few days ago. Must now be less than 1000 residents, but in a farming region, so I would guess that most of the people that call it home don't actually live in town. Still.
One of the larger stores is the local sporting goods outlet. You can rent your tux for your prom or wedding there, buy your new deer rifle or the ammo for it there, buy work boots, or sit around bs'ing with the good ole boys. The stores name? He-Mart.
Next door to the He-Mart is the local movie theater. Now showing: Inglorious Bast$$$s. Really, that is exactly what the sign said.
And I almost forgot: "Wally's Market - consistently low prices every day" Maybe they were consistent; consistently about double the price at WalMart last time I checked. But the nearest WalMart that I was aware of was over 100 miles away.
Half the Post office is now a local bank. The Main entrance leads into the bank. You wanted to mail a letter? Oh, you want the side entrance.
Met some really nice and helpful folks there. Really, a nice town. If I thought I could find steady work there I would have tried to stay, but I really don't want to be in Ag related work, no I really don't. But it is good to see that towns like this still exist. Places are known by the name of the original owner. "Oh, that's Bjornson's place. I don't recall who lives there now, is it Jackson? Don't remember. They have 600 acres in potatoes."
Half the buildings on Main Street are empty. I didn't notice that any were boarded up, but looking thru the windows you can see that the roofs are leaking, ceilings collapsing. It is sad that small town America has to die like this, but I don't know what anyone can do about it. They are very traditional. When I asked why they did something a certain way, I was told that is the way it has always been done. When I pointed out that there might be a different way I was told that the old way works ok so there is no need to look for a better way. And that was from a farmer with a college degree. So be it. And I liked his bumper sticker, he was laughing at me as he showed it to me: "My Tractor costs more than your sports car". I didn't ask him how much he owed on his tractor. The 5 that I saw were all gigantic, steering by bending in the middle, quad tires on each corner, GPS controlled to within an inch. You tell it what field you are working in and it will run the planter down the exact same rows as it it will run the harvester down in 6 months. No steering, the 'driver' sits there and watches the tractor drive itself. Damn. But imagine what happens if the satellite signal goes down. It does happen in bad weather, then the operator drives it back to the edge of the field, gets in his truck and goes home. Farming still depends on the weather.
One of the larger stores is the local sporting goods outlet. You can rent your tux for your prom or wedding there, buy your new deer rifle or the ammo for it there, buy work boots, or sit around bs'ing with the good ole boys. The stores name? He-Mart.
Next door to the He-Mart is the local movie theater. Now showing: Inglorious Bast$$$s. Really, that is exactly what the sign said.
And I almost forgot: "Wally's Market - consistently low prices every day" Maybe they were consistent; consistently about double the price at WalMart last time I checked. But the nearest WalMart that I was aware of was over 100 miles away.
Half the Post office is now a local bank. The Main entrance leads into the bank. You wanted to mail a letter? Oh, you want the side entrance.
Met some really nice and helpful folks there. Really, a nice town. If I thought I could find steady work there I would have tried to stay, but I really don't want to be in Ag related work, no I really don't. But it is good to see that towns like this still exist. Places are known by the name of the original owner. "Oh, that's Bjornson's place. I don't recall who lives there now, is it Jackson? Don't remember. They have 600 acres in potatoes."
Half the buildings on Main Street are empty. I didn't notice that any were boarded up, but looking thru the windows you can see that the roofs are leaking, ceilings collapsing. It is sad that small town America has to die like this, but I don't know what anyone can do about it. They are very traditional. When I asked why they did something a certain way, I was told that is the way it has always been done. When I pointed out that there might be a different way I was told that the old way works ok so there is no need to look for a better way. And that was from a farmer with a college degree. So be it. And I liked his bumper sticker, he was laughing at me as he showed it to me: "My Tractor costs more than your sports car". I didn't ask him how much he owed on his tractor. The 5 that I saw were all gigantic, steering by bending in the middle, quad tires on each corner, GPS controlled to within an inch. You tell it what field you are working in and it will run the planter down the exact same rows as it it will run the harvester down in 6 months. No steering, the 'driver' sits there and watches the tractor drive itself. Damn. But imagine what happens if the satellite signal goes down. It does happen in bad weather, then the operator drives it back to the edge of the field, gets in his truck and goes home. Farming still depends on the weather.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Weekend
Got to go to Bemidji Saturday and see some of the kids; was a lot of fun. Wish I could have spent more time visiting.
Went with Patty and Evvy and Phillip to Paul Bunyan Mall to see "The World At Night" exhibition. I sometimes wonder if I've seen it more than most of the locals; I'm absolutely fascinated by some of the photography. Pushed Phillip all over the Mall. Had a great discussion with Patty about English Litt.
Today (Sunday) I went up 38 and stopped at the Laurentian Divide site. Took the hiking trail and got to see the ice road and some huge fungi growing out of rotting stumps. It was nice and calm and peaceful back in the woods, a nice contrast to the way my life has been lately. Spent most of the day dreaming under the trees. Still not too good at having fun by myself but am re-learning how to relax.
Gorgeous weather this weekend, mid 70's with light fluffy clouds; perfect for spending time outdoors.
Went with Patty and Evvy and Phillip to Paul Bunyan Mall to see "The World At Night" exhibition. I sometimes wonder if I've seen it more than most of the locals; I'm absolutely fascinated by some of the photography. Pushed Phillip all over the Mall. Had a great discussion with Patty about English Litt.
Today (Sunday) I went up 38 and stopped at the Laurentian Divide site. Took the hiking trail and got to see the ice road and some huge fungi growing out of rotting stumps. It was nice and calm and peaceful back in the woods, a nice contrast to the way my life has been lately. Spent most of the day dreaming under the trees. Still not too good at having fun by myself but am re-learning how to relax.
Gorgeous weather this weekend, mid 70's with light fluffy clouds; perfect for spending time outdoors.
Friday, August 28, 2009
PBM
Was in Bemidji most of the day today, while there I stopped in Paul Bunyan Mall for a bit. Right in front of JC Penny is an exhibit called "The World At Night" which has all sorts of fascinating photographic images of the night time sky, stars, aurora, etc. My two faves were "Top of Mauna Kea" by Wally Pacholka and "Analemma" by Tunc Tezel. "Mauna Kea" is a panoramic image of the milky way that has both Polaris and the Southern Cross in it; and "Analemma" is exactly what the name means; a photographic record of the suns travel across the sky over a year. What makes this photo unique is that it includes a total eclipse of the sun that occurred during the analemma. Wow!
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Durham, NC
- Celerra
EMC's facility here is an R&D one, so there isn't much to see. Some students took advantage today to attend a demo of some alpha code. I skipped it because I don't consider myself qualified to comment on it and I felt that my time would be better spent working on the labs. Besides that, I've seen plenty of alpha code; what I'd like to see is some mature code just once in a while. I know, it will never happen.
I had hoped that I might drive down here, but my employer insisted that I fly. So, I'm limited to traveling where I'm willing to pay the cab to take me, which is basically around the block.
So, here is a collage of some of what I've seen. Nothing special, just things you might see anywhere. There's nothing in this picture that is essentially NC. Doesn't look like I'm going to be able to find anything that is; it's not a sight-seeing trip.
A little trivia: You will note that, although it's mostly written as "EMC", the correct name of the company is EMC2, which was supposed to symbolize “Eagan Morino Computing Company". Pretty clever, eh?
This area is known as RTP, for more info see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Research_Triangle_Park.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Titanic
News update from the Science Museum of Minnesota; we are going, just need to figure out when. Special admission prices apply, even for members such as ourselves, but ticket prices are lower in June then go up to a higher price July thru January.
Individual tickets will go on sale on Tuesday, April 14, 2009. This is the 97th anniversary of the fateful day that the luxury ocean liner struck the iceberg.
Ninety-seven years ago, on an otherwise calm April morning in 1912, the world's largest ship, the White Star Line's RMS Titanic, sank during her maiden voyage after a colliding with an iceberg in the North Atlantic.
On board were 2,228 passengers, including titans of commerce and industry, artists, senior members of governments, immigrant families dreaming of a new life and more than 890 members of her crew. More than 1,500 people died. No one believed it could happen.
Today, this epic story is revived through Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition. Viewed by more than 20 million people worldwide, the exhibition is among the highest attended in history.
New in St. Paul! When Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition opens at the Science Museum of Minnesota, it will feature the worldwide debut of artifacts from RMS Carpathia, the ship that answered Titanic's distress call. These newly-recovered items paint a picture of the historic rescue that captured the imaginations of people around the world.
June 12, 2009 - January 3, 2010
Individual tickets will go on sale on Tuesday, April 14, 2009. This is the 97th anniversary of the fateful day that the luxury ocean liner struck the iceberg.Ninety-seven years ago, on an otherwise calm April morning in 1912, the world's largest ship, the White Star Line's RMS Titanic, sank during her maiden voyage after a colliding with an iceberg in the North Atlantic.
On board were 2,228 passengers, including titans of commerce and industry, artists, senior members of governments, immigrant families dreaming of a new life and more than 890 members of her crew. More than 1,500 people died. No one believed it could happen.
Today, this epic story is revived through Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition. Viewed by more than 20 million people worldwide, the exhibition is among the highest attended in history.
New in St. Paul! When Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition opens at the Science Museum of Minnesota, it will feature the worldwide debut of artifacts from RMS Carpathia, the ship that answered Titanic's distress call. These newly-recovered items paint a picture of the historic rescue that captured the imaginations of people around the world.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Museum Trip
Had a fun weekend learning some history and science around the Twin Cities.
We went down Friday and along the way stopped by the AWAM museum (http://www.americanwings.org/). The website said they would be open "First Saturday after New Years’ thru mid-May Friday & Saturday - 10:00am - 4:00pm", but when we arrived it was rather obvious that they were closed for the winter. I was rather disappointed. I once had a logbook of some of the first trial flights of the OV-10A, given to me by one of the pilots from the test program (I believe it was his personal logbook, rather than an official one) and had been looking forward to learning more about the aircraft. No such luck.
After staying the night in a hotel (more on that later) we visited the Minnesota Transportation Museum's (http://www.mtmuseum.org/) Jackson Street Roundhouse. It's amazing what the group of volunteers has been doing here. The Roundhouse is full of restoration projects actively being worked on, with more in the yard awaiting time and space. They are restoring a steam engine from the ground up, have a train that runs out of Osceola during the summer, and we took a short caboose ride in the yard there. They also have several ancient pullman cars that visitors can walk thru, really cool.
Just by chance, I think we caught the last day of an incredible exhibit, a huge LEGO train set.
After spending 3 hours at the Jackson Street Roundhouse, we traveled about 2 miles down the road to the Science Museum of Minnesota (http://www.smm.org/). After spending half an hour puzzling out the most efficient way to buy tickets we headed in to see the dinosaurs. Fascinating museum. Everything is very hands on. For example, want to see how waves act as the ocean and beach depth change? Have a seat at the controls of the wave machine and you can change the shoreline slope, change the speed of the wave action, change the length of the waves.
We also went to a showing of the Omni film "Grand Canyon", which is severely mis-labeled. We had expected to see stunning vistas of the walls of the Grand Canyon, aerial shots and so on. Instead, the film should have been entitled "White-water rafting thru the Grand Canyon, with extensive commentary about how Man has destroyed the ecosystem". All in all, a very disappointing film. It was technically challenging, I'd love to know how some of the photography was accomplished, and I'd like to make the trip someday, but NOT what was expected. And, for my first Omni film, not a good way to sell me on the advantages. I had a very sore neck from trying to look up and behind me the entire time, and there was nothing there that couldn't have been shown just as well on a flat screen .
We spent about 6 hours in the museum, and if we had been able to we could have easily spent that much more time, but everyone was exhausted.
Sunday morning we headed for the Mall of America (http://www.mallofamerica.com) What an experience. We walked across the Nickelodeon Universe to the LEGO store, with plans to come back and do a few rides. After an hour spent oohing and ahhing at the LEGO displays, we headed down to the Underwater Adventures Aquarium. What a fascinating tour! Everything from turtles, Koi, alligators, salmon to sharks and an octopus. Really neat. By the time we got out it was after 3PM. I took lots of pictures, but the low lighting (it IS underwater, after all) and moving animals made decent photography difficult.
We had been hoping to be home by 4PM, but 7PM was the reality. A really fun trip. I took about twice as many photos as I've posted, and others took photos also that I am going to try to get copies of to add to the gallery later.
Oh yeah, the hotel. We stayed at the Prime Rate Motel in Burnsville, found a VERY GOOD price on it thru Priceline.com. Two of my criteria were free wireless internet and a pool. The wireless internet worked great. When we arrived on Friday about 5 PM we were told the pool was closed for maintenance but would be open about 7. OK, so we went and got dinner. About 8 we headed for the pool and found it still closed and the whirlpool was filled to nearly double the posted capacity. We were told the pool would be opening Saturday night. So, when we returned Saturday from the museum, we found a cold (but open!) pool and both it and the whirlpool were heavily over-chlorinated. I lasted about 15 minutes.
The rooms were very small. The beds were extremely hard. The nightlife was loud. It was very good to be back in my waterbed last night.
We went down Friday and along the way stopped by the AWAM museum (http://www.americanwings.org/). The website said they would be open "First Saturday after New Years’ thru mid-May Friday & Saturday - 10:00am - 4:00pm", but when we arrived it was rather obvious that they were closed for the winter. I was rather disappointed. I once had a logbook of some of the first trial flights of the OV-10A, given to me by one of the pilots from the test program (I believe it was his personal logbook, rather than an official one) and had been looking forward to learning more about the aircraft. No such luck.
After staying the night in a hotel (more on that later) we visited the Minnesota Transportation Museum's (http://www.mtmuseum.org/) Jackson Street Roundhouse. It's amazing what the group of volunteers has been doing here. The Roundhouse is full of restoration projects actively being worked on, with more in the yard awaiting time and space. They are restoring a steam engine from the ground up, have a train that runs out of Osceola during the summer, and we took a short caboose ride in the yard there. They also have several ancient pullman cars that visitors can walk thru, really cool.
Just by chance, I think we caught the last day of an incredible exhibit, a huge LEGO train set.
After spending 3 hours at the Jackson Street Roundhouse, we traveled about 2 miles down the road to the Science Museum of Minnesota (http://www.smm.org/). After spending half an hour puzzling out the most efficient way to buy tickets we headed in to see the dinosaurs. Fascinating museum. Everything is very hands on. For example, want to see how waves act as the ocean and beach depth change? Have a seat at the controls of the wave machine and you can change the shoreline slope, change the speed of the wave action, change the length of the waves.
We also went to a showing of the Omni film "Grand Canyon", which is severely mis-labeled. We had expected to see stunning vistas of the walls of the Grand Canyon, aerial shots and so on. Instead, the film should have been entitled "White-water rafting thru the Grand Canyon, with extensive commentary about how Man has destroyed the ecosystem". All in all, a very disappointing film. It was technically challenging, I'd love to know how some of the photography was accomplished, and I'd like to make the trip someday, but NOT what was expected. And, for my first Omni film, not a good way to sell me on the advantages. I had a very sore neck from trying to look up and behind me the entire time, and there was nothing there that couldn't have been shown just as well on a flat screen .
We spent about 6 hours in the museum, and if we had been able to we could have easily spent that much more time, but everyone was exhausted.
Sunday morning we headed for the Mall of America (http://www.mallofamerica.com) What an experience. We walked across the Nickelodeon Universe to the LEGO store, with plans to come back and do a few rides. After an hour spent oohing and ahhing at the LEGO displays, we headed down to the Underwater Adventures Aquarium. What a fascinating tour! Everything from turtles, Koi, alligators, salmon to sharks and an octopus. Really neat. By the time we got out it was after 3PM. I took lots of pictures, but the low lighting (it IS underwater, after all) and moving animals made decent photography difficult.
We had been hoping to be home by 4PM, but 7PM was the reality. A really fun trip. I took about twice as many photos as I've posted, and others took photos also that I am going to try to get copies of to add to the gallery later.
Oh yeah, the hotel. We stayed at the Prime Rate Motel in Burnsville, found a VERY GOOD price on it thru Priceline.com. Two of my criteria were free wireless internet and a pool. The wireless internet worked great. When we arrived on Friday about 5 PM we were told the pool was closed for maintenance but would be open about 7. OK, so we went and got dinner. About 8 we headed for the pool and found it still closed and the whirlpool was filled to nearly double the posted capacity. We were told the pool would be opening Saturday night. So, when we returned Saturday from the museum, we found a cold (but open!) pool and both it and the whirlpool were heavily over-chlorinated. I lasted about 15 minutes.
The rooms were very small. The beds were extremely hard. The nightlife was loud. It was very good to be back in my waterbed last night.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)