barrenplanet.com : by adam

Friday, January 08, 2010

Wintersports Wonderland!

Trish and I found a dog headlamp (puplight) and have been snowshoeing at night at the Nature Preserve quite regularly. Gee Bee wasn't weirded out by the LED light hanging from an extra collar on her chest. Gee Bee was craving some fun exercise, so now that we all have lights, we'll be going out as much as we can. It was difficult to take her someplace fun before having the lights as the white dog is hard to keep track of in the snow and we both get home from work after dark this time of year... so we're all getting much needed exercise and having fun doing it!

Along with doing a lot of snowshoeing, it's time for ice climbing! Trish was nice enough to hook me up with some of the gear necessary, so I don't have to beg/borrow/steal what I need to do it. There is a demo event going on in DePere at a rock quarry (theicepit)next weekend that we are going to attend and then in early February, we'll be going to Upper Michigan to the Munising Ice Festival (munisingicefest), where we will again demo top end gear and climb some frozen waterfalls. We'll also be doing some more snowshoeing up there.. .it should be a hoot!

My Sunday hockey has actually been somewhat annoying as of late... I think I'm pretty sure that I'll be playing in Oshkosh next season instead of Appleton. They charge too much for what you get and the drive is just too time consuming and costly. Not to mention that I'm very annoyed with some of the rink staff and the team has been somewhat of a disappointment this season. I love playing with them, there are just too many positives for playing closer to home.

So... on to my next dilemma... I have a couple things I'm mulling over. Xbox360 or PS3? and do I renew my Sirius radio? I'm leaning toward 360 because it will do my main goal of streaming netflix, which both will do, but it will also allow me to play some sweet games with longtime friends on xbox live. That said, xblive costs money... whereas currently the sony online stuff is free and the ps3 is a bluray player... so it's a difficult choice. As for sirius sat radio... well I do use it daily and I spend at least an hour in the car everyday.. but the car is equipped with a 6 disc mp3 changer in the dash and ipod dock, so it's not like I don't have alternatives.. but I like bbc world news and alt nation for new music. It's tough.. I listen to Stern too, so I'd be paying $12.99/month for that service.. ugh.. just not sure I want to justify it. I did, however, cancel my ffxi account, so I'm not spending the $12/month on that game anymore... so it could be a wash. Obviously these problems are pretty trivial when you consider the state of the union and the world... so I'll shut up now and go back to work.

Posted By Barren At 3:30 PM •

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Which way is up?

It seems like it was Thanksgiving just yesterday and now it's Christmas already... where is the time going? The slow start to winter ramped up with a couple of good snow storms now with another one heading our way. We've only had a chance to go snowshoeing once so far... but I see many more trips in the near future.

I helped Lisa move out of Trish's on Thanksgiving weekend and I've slowly started bringing more of my stuff in. We made up the guest bedroom already and put the sewing machine in there, next up will be to get the studio setup and we are still slowly but surely working on the game room. We have decisions to make about the cast iron wood burning stove and the radial arm saw that are in there right now...and we need to have a look at fireplace options for that room as well. The finishing touch will be deciding on a pool table.

Other things going on... I've been tempted to buy another catamaran.. I found a sweet deal on a 18 footer that would be great for sailing with 3-4 people instead of my 16 that is really only good for two. We'll see if it's still available come spring, no sense buying a boat in the middle of winter.

Trish and I will be joining Joe and Jeri for the Minnesota Wild v. L.A. Kings game on New Year's Eve! I can't wait! I seem to recall, Ben, Karl, and I did a similar trip back a handful of years and we ended up partying in Eau Claire that night. We won't be driving that night at all as we have a hotel near the rink... so we'll just hang in downtown St. Paul for the festivities!

I'm hoping that Trish and I can make the trip up to Munising, Michigan for the annual Ice Fest, so we can do some snowshoeing and ice climbing. I hope Lisa will join us again too! Also, there is a demo day at a local quarry where you can ice climb... we may be able to squeeze that into our schedule as well. All that in January and Early February.. then Trish, GeeBee, and I plan to make the drive out to Montana for some skiing, snowsports, and good times with her parents.

p.s. I still love my android phone! Go HTC Droid Eris and go Verizon!

Posted By Barren At 3:46 PM •

Monday, November 30, 2009

Rum, Redstripe, and the Droid Eris

Trish and I had a wonderful time in Jamaica, it was very relaxing and a lot of fun! We did all sorts of activities from scuba diving, snorkeling, and sailing to just sitting on a lounger reading a book. We even managed to get in some tennis. Trish was especially proud that she got me to just relax for hours on end, something I rarely do. I'm a bit of a busy body, especially when traveling.

The trip wasn't without a few hurdles but even I was in "no problem" mode and we just rolled with it. A flat tire on our bus barely slowed us down on our trip to the resort. I managed to get my hands dirty to help get us on the road again.

The resort was amazing! A very nice renovation took place over the last year at Couples Tower Isle (Ocho Rios), and it maintained it's old world charm while bringing some very nice, new accommodations. I really enjoyed the relatively small size of the resort, it allowed the staff to become familiar with us an even learn our names and our favorite drinks! I have to say, my favorite part of the resort is a toss up between the amazing food and the private island, with the service being a close third. They really do treat you like kings and queens.

I have a flash gallery above for your viewing pleasure, but if you want a more detailed view of our trip, check out my GALLERY.

Now on to my new toy... Since Verizon joined forces with my cell carrier, Alltel, I was a little unsure whether or not I would stay with them or move to ATT so that I could buy an iPhone.... the downside to moving is that I am under contract until August 2010... so it would be a long wait or a painfully expensive transition. The other option was to pray and hope that ATT doesn't renew their iPhone exclusivity deal with Apple, although from what I've read, it sounds like they are already talking about the renewal. I don't think ATT can afford to not do it, regardless of what Apple wants, that said... I'm pretty much not going to get a iPhone, at least not in the near future. The problem is that I'm really starved for a smartphone right now.. it's been a year and a half without one and I really want one and until recently, there really weren't any iPhone alternatives that wow'ed me.

Along comes the Android operating system from Google and a few new devices. The initial android phones weren't all that special but with all the hype around the Motorola Droid, I decided to take a good look at the android options with Verizon. A co-worker bought a moto droid a few days after it released and I was able to have a first hand look at it and some of the apps that came out for it. My initial thoughts about the moto droid were that it was a bit heavy and clunky feeling but the apps and apps to come would be very nice since Google is the force behind the product, it's not going away. A far less marketed phone was the Droid Eris from HTC. It released the same time as the Motorola Droid and really has a lot to offer the Droid user community. The hardware is a bit slimmer and a lot lighter. It doesn't have a slide out physical keyboard but really that isn't a downfall since the on-screen keyboard is amazing! I think the keyboard on the moto droid is one of it's biggest downfalls! It makes it thicker and very heavy in comparison. The only negative so far on the Eris is that it released on Android 1.5 instead of 2.0 that the moto droid released with although they promise that it will be upgradable in the near future once they work out some bugs with the HTC Sense User Interface. Sense UI, is a really good selling point of the Eris, I really like it! It has a lot of options and a lot of screen real estate to work with! Another selling point is that it's only $99 with contract renewal after a $100 rebate. $100 less than the moto droid... Thank you very much! Also, since Verizon and Alltel joined forces, it seems that Verizon is happy to offer some incentives to get you on a Verizon phone plan rather than having to keep the Alltel offerings around... so they happened to send out a letter offering early renewal of contracts with the discounted phone options.

So I received my HTC Droid Eris on Friday and I really really like it! The on-screen keyboard is great! I was worried about that but after spending a few minutes at the Verizon store messing around with an Eris, I was happy that I could type very quickly on it. The reseller store that I had planned to make my purchase in was a bit wish washy about honoring the letter saying I could upgrade, so I ended up doing it over the phone with Verizon directly and it was a great experience, by far, the best customer service I've ever received from a cell phone provider. So far the Droid Eris is a 10/10. The user interface is great, the apps are great with more being released daily, I was able to use active sync to connect to my personal exchange server for email, plus gmail, and the browser is amazing... it even has the "pinch/unpinch" zoom/unzoom functions. And it has a trackball/pearl type thing for those who don't want to always touch the screen... a nice addition for sure! I won't say iPhone killer, but really the Eris has a lot to offer and can really play with the big boys! Now they just need to hammer out the "RSA" and encryption issues for Exchange Activesync for corporate use. It works fine with SSL and Activesync but if you require on-device encryption, I don't think it will work for you just yet.

I'm sure I'll post back more feedback regarding the Droid Eris later... Is it time to go back to Jamaica yet?

Posted By Barren At 10:01 AM •

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

We be jamm'in mon!

Trish and I have finalized our vacation plans for next month, we are going to Ocho Rios, Jamaica, more specifically, Couples Tower Isle. A beautiful all-inclusive, couples only resort that just received a 30 million dollar renovation, yet retained it's old world charm and art deco styling. We are counting down the days till we leave....
Posted By Barren At 1:40 PM •

Monday, September 21, 2009

Hill, Hamburgers, and curved roads, oh my!

Managed to get a small group of seven cars together for a short drive through the Northern Unit of the Kettle Moraine State Park on Saturday. The drive was about an hour and a half, plus a bit more for a stop at the Hamburger Haus in Dundee. It was the second time that I hit up the Kettles in my new GTi, but really the first time for an extended period... I ran through the small park section on my way to Road America for the VW Jetta TDI Cup/ALMS races back in August. This time we hit up a few other roads that I had noted a few years back would be a good time for a cruise. We only had one slight detour, the sign said the bridge was out, but it wasn't... regardless, the road was closed. It was a hoot! No issues with people driving stupid.. it was spirited but controlled!

I also got to drive Josh's new 2003 BMW M5 for a short jaunt on some nice hills and curves just SW of Oshkosh... that car is a monster! I'm sure he's happy with his purchase after spending an hour or two on the backroads with it!

In other news, I broke down and bought a small gps unit for the new car... I was really missing having maps at my fingertips like I had in the Corrado. I searched around and compared Tomtom to Garmin, I would have liked to have bought a Garmin Nuvi, but to get the 4.3" widescreen in the Garmin was just a bit more than I wanted to spend. I read lots of reviews and I'm sure I'll be happy with what I got for the money with my Tomtom xl 330. It was a bargain on overstock.com $129 shipped. I'll probably post up a review of it shortly.

Posted By Barren At 9:40 AM •

Monday, August 10, 2009

Dubs in the Valley

Pics are up from Dubs in the Valley.. mine are here: DIV09 Gallery Trish and I had a good time at the event but it was extremely toasty! She won 2nd place Scirocco and Ladies choice!
Posted By Barren At 10:59 AM •

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

My little GTi!

So... the Corrado needs the engine overhauled... an expensive and daunting task, one I'm not afraid to begin, unfortunately, I need to have a reliable daily driver to use in the meantime. I'm driving a bit more these days with my job in Neenah and I don't think the Corrado needs all those miles, so that means she has to go to storage for awhile and I need a daily driver... enter my new GTi:

My poor Jeep Comanche got the lethal oil change after I traded it in using the CARS (cash for clunkers) program, where I got $3500 for it. I feel bad for my jeep, but really, it was the best solution because it's not worth anywhere near that much money.

So I picked up my new GTi on Saturday and I have over 300 miles on it already... it's so fun to drive! The 2.0 Turbo is awesome and so is the 6 speed manual trans and I'm a big fan of the mileage that I'm getting too! I have this crazy idea in my head that the white gti looks like a stormtrooper mask... so I'll have a plush stormtrooper as my mascot, very soon!

Posted By Barren At 10:25 AM •

Monday, July 20, 2009

It's official, the Corrado needs an overhaul...

So at minimum, the engine in the corrado needs a ring job, but while doing that, I might as well bore the pistons and replace a bunch of other things... or I could just buy a short or long block replacement that is fully rebuilt already and drop that in there. It could use a clutch, driver's side drive shaft, etc. etc.. basically, it's time for the corrado to turn into a restoration job instead of a daily driver and I'm okay with that. I have been wanting to put it on light duty for awhile, I just hadn't been able to buy what I was really looking for. Which was a German sport wagon, in the form of an Audi a4 avant or bmw 3 series touring. They are difficult to find with a manual transmission, especially when I can't afford to buy new.... so I've reconsidered my needs/wants and have decided to look at a new VW GTi as my new daily driver car. I surely didn't need to talk myself into that, but with incentives and loan rates so low right now on new cars, I can't resist the urge to take advantage of them.

I also am planning to turn in the Jeep Comanche on the Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS), a program designed to get low mpg cars off the road in exchange for newer, more fuel efficient vehicles. It's one of Obama's plans to help the environment and stimulate the economy at the same time... a pretty good idea! I can get my truck off the road which gets terrible mileage and I get more than it's actually value in trade for it. I think the CARS system, also being called "cash for clunkers", is supposed to be finalized on Friday. I hope that everything goes as planned because I'm itching for my new car!

Posted By Barren At 10:30 AM •

Monday, July 13, 2009

Corrado is sad. :(

The corrado started acting funny last week... I raised it and checked out the engine a bit thinking maybe it was just a bad motor mount, then this weekend things changed. She started smoking out the exhaust pretty badly, which had me thinking "cracked headgasket"... after the first conversation with the mechanic, now I'm just HOPING it's only a cracked headgasket and not a cracked head or something wrong with the rings! We'll see what he says tomorrow after taking the top half off the engine.

Posted By Barren At 4:53 PM •

Tuesday, July 07, 2009

Wow... time flies

Time flies when you are having fun... I can't believe how fast the days have been going by. It seems like I have no time to sit back and enjoy the summer. You'd think that would be different now that I'm not slaving away at my old job... but I guess the time to enjoy the new freedom will be noticed in the coming weeks. The cool temps have really slowed down my sailing this year.. I just got my boat on the ramp last week and have only taken it out once.

Good news though on the boat front... last year it took on a bit of water each trip but I re-sealed all the fittings that can leak and this trip out it barely took on any water, so I'm jazzed about that.

Next time I'll wear sunscreen, I swear!!!

Posted By Barren At 11:08 AM •

Thursday, June 18, 2009

peta is dumb

Seriously? Peta is getting on Obama's case for smashing a fly? Get a life... What a freaking waste of resources.
Posted By Barren At 1:52 PM •

Friday, May 29, 2009

Really? Time Warner dropped HDNET? Really???

Not cool at all! I watched HDNet all the time, especially the Sunday concerts. My inside sources tell me that it was because the owner wanted it pulled from the premium HD package and added to the basic one so that he could get a portion of the $ from all HD subscribers instead of just the few who paid extra for the extra programming. Now no TW customers get it because TW didn't like his tactic to force his way into the other package. No more sunday concerts... no more HDNet movies... I'm sad.. it was the 2nd channel in my favorites list. There was a lot of cool programming on those channels! Boo to you TW and Mr. Cuban from HDNet.. greedy bastards!

Also, I stumbled across an article where TW is thinking about charging for consumption... now if this was for cable programming, I'd be more inclined to think it's a good idea, unfortunately, they are referring to internet usage. Eff that.. I'm paying a flat rate for 7mb and thats that.. It's on all the time and my pc does updates and whatever else.. if they switch to this, they are going to have people unplugging their cable modems all the time to save money. I wish I could pay for the tv that I watch vs. having to pay for the wide array of channels when all I really want is about ten specific ones.

Posted By Barren At 3:18 PM •

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Door County weekend

Heading to Door County this weekend to celebrate Trish's birthday and also my own. I have a couple things booked/planned and the rest of the weekend will be open for spur of the moment activities. I have a couple of "must eat at" restaurants on my list plus a couple of wineries to tour. Hopefully the forecast will be accurate cause we're going kayaking on Sunday!

I can't wait to get up there... it's so nice out right now!

Posted By Barren At 3:39 PM •

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Why does working on cars make you instantly sweat?

So... I was doing some work on Trish's Scirocco last night and I noticed that within a couple minutes of working on it, I was dripping with sweat. I wasn't sprinting around the block or anything... I was pushing the car around on casters and then jacking it up to swap wheels and get if off the casters, etc.. So I was doing some manual labor but nothing high intensive, yet I was dripping as if I had just finished an hour of spinning class. I think there must be some connection with manual labor and sweat glands that just go into overtime the second you start doing certain tasks, like working on cars. It doesn't matter how warm or cold it is either.. maybe I'll google around and see if I can find a connection.

Posted By Barren At 12:59 PM •

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

ugh... presstopia ate my post yet again

I hate that presstopia logs me out and I lose my post... ugh. I may have to look at the settings.. it ate yet another post because I took a long time writing it and didn't think to copy to the clipboard before clicking post.

Anyways.. my post content was about that I may not get my new german wagon yet.. we'll see. Maybe I'll wait till the end of summer to search again.

Also, at lunch today a semi hauling a construction vehicle littered the highway with rocks, dried mud, and nails... I got a nail in the sidewall, ruining one of my older front tires.. I was planning to replace them because they were nearing the end of their life.. but I was hoping to nurse it for awhile. Oh well, I just hope that I didn't get more rock chips on the hood and I'm glad that neither I, nor the car was damaged in the incident. Stupid construction vehicles!

Posted By Barren At 1:30 PM •

Monday, May 11, 2009

Finally found it.. but can I have it?

I've been searching for my new daily driver for awhile now.. probably been thinking about it for more than a year or two. My corrado is my first baby, for sure but if I want it to stay as nice as it is, it has to take a step back and can't be driven everyday. I know that I already don't drive it in winter, but even the spring and fall can be rough on it, so what do I want?

I'm trying to find the happy medium of practicality, excitement, and long term stability.... what have I found? Well... I scratched off things like the Audi TT and a new VW GTi from the list because they just aren't very practical. They would be fun to drive, but I already have a small hatchback. Since I still want something fun to drive, it needs to have a manual transmission and a decent engine and with long term usage, I want something well made. So what is it? We're getting there, hold on to your horses! Practicality says I should get a sedan or a wagon so that I can haul people and stuff. So what are my options for practical, fun to drive, and long lasting? I was thinking german sport wagon, either Audi A4 avant or BMW 3 Series touring. I set my mind on those 2 cars awhile back and have been periodically looking for a good shaped one, with low mileage and manual transmission. I found two this winter but both sold before I could make an offer... but I found one last week. 2004 BMW 325xit... it's a wagon, it's all wheel drive, it's got a 5 speed and it's low mileage. Some bonuses there being awd, that will help in the winter, I won't have to drive the jeep all winter long, maybe just when the big storms come in. It's red too and insurance is fairly cheap, I'm assuming because it's a wagon. ;) Suckers! They don't know how awesome the straight 6 is going to be! Now lets just see if I can hash out some numbers with the bank and seller.

Posted By Barren At 4:16 PM •

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

2 hot girls and their hot new red cars!

Congratulations to Lisa and Trish on purchasing two sexy red cars! First up is Trish and her new 07 Audi A4 Quattro... 2.0T with 6 speed manual and it's red, woot!

Then comes Lisa and her 01 Volvo S60, also sexy red and stick shift.. I don't actually know the engine specs on this.. but it sure does have a turbocharger!

I'm jealous, both girls have pretty new turbocharged toys! Hope my German sport wagon shows up soon, I want a new toy too!

Posted By Barren At 8:40 AM •

Thursday, April 09, 2009

What the heck is going on???

What is going on here in WI???? In the last week there have been some very disturbing things going on that have me baffled. Are times really that bad that we need to resort to this type of stuff?? Prostitution ring exposed in Oshkosh using Craigslist, then a murder in town this morning and a bunch of idiot kids killing animals in Beaver Dam. That follows the idiots killing ducks and super idiots running over deer with their snowmobiles. What the heck is going on? Why have people become so stupid?

I'd like to think that we are better than that... or at least I'd like to think that most of us are better than that.

Heard about an accident on 441 this morning... co-worker saw a truck rear end a school bus. I hope the kids are all okay.

Posted By Barren At 9:55 AM •

Wednesday, April 08, 2009

more parts...

Apparently all DIY projects require more time and money than you plan for.. it's one of Murphy's laws, I bet. The corrado needed a couple hondo more in parts for the rear brakes, but I got a decent deal and am upgrading the calipers in the process. Plus I noticed that I need a couple new tires too... super duper. All the goodies are ordered, can't wait to get the car back in good working order, with any luck the weather will warm up too!

Posted By Barren At 8:53 AM •

Friday, March 27, 2009

Corrado goodness

So... my list of corrado things is fairly long.. things to do to the car, things to buy for the car, and things I've done to the car... Many of said things were all about looks, style, and speed.. a few have been handling, mainly suspension and strut bars to stiffen the car and reduce body roll, etc.. but nothing has been done to/for my stopping abilities until now! My box of new Brembo rotors, hawk pads, braided steel lines and a couple other pieces arrived yesterday. The install should happen in a week.. I'm jazzed. The brakes have long been on the list of things to do but are always passed up for some other more flashy mod/repair.

Here is a picture of the parts:

So along with the brake job, I will also be re-wiring the entire carputer.. that thing is wacked right now. I had it working yesterday, long enough to load the new version of centrafuse, listened to a few songs on my drive home.. then it wack into wacko hibernate/resume mode where I do nothing but watch it boot and hibernate constantly. In doing that crazy stuff, the touchscreen gets out of sync too, so I can't even click on things to try to help it. So yeah.. time to rewire that thing. Speaking of which, the new version of centrafuse is pretty cool looking. I snapped a pic but it sucked, so I won't even both to post it.

Getting back to my corrado list... the list is getting relatively short. I am finally happy with a set of wheels, no need to divert from that. I've done enough wheel swapping over the years with it. I really should buy a solid state hard drive for the carputer, that would eliminate some of my problems. I need to troubleshoot some soundcard or subwoofer issues still, but all in all.. just need need to tweak to get the system stable. Might either replace the euro lip or put the NA one back on.. not sure yet.. the euro one gets trashed with how low my car is and it's very pricey for a piece of plastic.

Posted By Barren At 12:36 PM •