Log 2014030101

My slightly used truing stand came in today in like new condition from Yonkers, New York, USA Today via eBay and USPS. It arrived 2 days ahead of schedule.

Last night, I determined that due to the modern advancement of smartphone apps that I use, and that their updates are mandatory and consume an increasing amount of storage... couple that with the fact that I could not save some of those apps to external storage (which I have in abundance), I concluded that I can no longer trust my Samsung Galaxy S D-700 smartphone down trail this year.

So, today I purchased a new Samsung Galaxy Note 3 with a lot more internal storage and a larger 7+ inch screen. I got it for about $300 out the door with a new 2 year contract with Verizon. My Sprint service is still connected while Verizon migrates my cell phone number from Sprint.

As far as coverage areas go, according to the map, I believe I won't go so much as one hiking day without at least having roaming signal. Couple that with the planned CDMA car cellular signal repeater that on my construction plans, I don't think that my base camps will ever be out of signal in Ohio.

Log 2014030201

My Samsung D-700 which debuted on the retail market about 4 years ago just isn't going to work now considering what I need to do with it. The CPU and RAM memory is fine... it's the 512MB of internal storage that the stock and some aftermarket apps must install on that's bring it to 64MB shy of it's capacity.  And that 64 is easily taken up by cached files and temporary data.  It's a hardware limitation that I can do nothing about except get a new smartphone, which they have have superior memory capacities.

I'm looking at Verizon now.  They want $128.00 a month for unlimited talk, text and 6GB of data, which includes hotspotting, and I'm really excited about that.  With their coverage area and a CDMA repeater in the car, it will probably defeat every coverage gap in the state.

Log 2013111401

This is a Runner's World arm strap for a smartphone.  I was carrying a Samsung Epic 4G D-700 unit with a hard plastic case on it. The problem with most arm straps is that their not large enough to get around my bi-cepts.  So, I purchased a yurbuds unit yesterday from Dick's Sporting Goods. I'm not sure what its made from, but I hope it holds up.
My Delton X9 bluetooth head set cuts out in the wind.

Log 2013090401

As stated in previous logs, the 32 gigabyte microSD card in the smartphone was filling up fast.  That's because I have a massive music collection and their mostly high quality files that on board.  32GB is the maximum size attainable under the SDHC, or high capasity format of microSD card.  To get any larger, I would have to go to a SDXC, or "extended capacity" card.  My Samsung D-700 Galaxy S smartphone was manufactured prior to the XC's and doesn't necessarily support it, 32mb on the HC's is supposed to be the limit.  But I read online and noted other people using higher capacity XC cards on the HC readers and they said it would work, but it's possible it could have a problem and not function correctly on occasion.

Earlier today, I attempted to transfer 5 CD's that ripped to the laptop.  What I did was tried to cut and paste the computer's music directory to the card, which apparently was 18.5GB.  But before the computer asked me if I wanted to ignore all the redundant items, Windows 8 just came back and told me that there was insufficient space, when indeed there was 3.6GB left and that should have covered it.

While purchasing the replacement trailer bulbs at Wal-Mart in Perkins Township of Erie County, I picked up a 64GB unit for $55.  It was a bit of a risk and if I were to have purchased this online, it might have only been just a fraction of that cost.  But seeing as though it looks like I won't be returning home to Northeast Ohio soon, I decided to get it there.

The people online were writing that the unit will not work with the factory installed exFAT file format.  And that it would have to be formatted to the standard File Allocation Table, or FAT.  So, I placed the card in the SD adapter and attempted to do just that from the laptop, but my format options were only NTFS (microsoft), or exFAT.  I then safely removed the card from the laptop and tried inserting it into the smartphone.  When during the file scan, it aborted and retured an error stating that the disk was damaged.  So, I used the phone's format option and it worked.  It now picks up over 55GB of storage space.

I'm now in the process of migrating about 26GB of data from the old to the new card.  The unit is a SanDisk Ultra 64GB microSDXC.  The manufacturer claims that it is "water proof, temperature proof, shock proof, x-ray proof."  Which is great for the data, however, I don't own any devices this sturdy.

While I'm at it, my Sony digital camera is making some weird noises when the lens extends.  It is not a water proof unit and it probably got some moisture when it was stored on my day hiking pack in the former roof rack when it took on some moisture.

The roof rack bag was replaced.  The former unit was water resistant and the one I have now claims that it's water proof.  But it was a totally different strapping procedure.  I purchased some ratcheting roof straps from Advanced Auto Parts in Sandusky because that the buckle driven factory issued ones would make the bag inconvenient to live out of daily down trail.

The interior of the previous one flooded months ago.  The cover had two layers, a thin canvas on top with a thin plastic lining on the bottom. Well, the plastic had ruptures all over the bag.  They were like streaks, or tears across its length and many of them.  That's when I knew that this bag was done.  The old bag had an aerodynamic shape and the new one is "box" like.

The fuel gauge in my 2008 Chevy HHR has some play now.  I've notice on several occasions that the car seems to start up with less gasoline than when I was operating it last.  And that my drop in fuel did not measure up with the mileage that I last drove it.  Well, I noticed today that it was migrating up as I drove.

Other than that, I hitched the trailer last night in anticipation of leaving Sandusky for the campground at Mary Jane Thurston State Park.  I noticed that it seems to bounce quite a bit, but that could have been just the wind and US-250 with that light trailer.

Log 2013080601

I have an older Samsung Galaxy S D700 smartphone.  And I was using Amazon MP3 with the stock MP3 app on the unit.  Well, I switched to purchasing music from Google Play, where the installation of the "Play Music" app was required.  The music would download, but only play on Play Music.  I use this to hike and play on my bike, but the playlist options that were on the stock app aren't included in Play Music.  And whenever I downloaded new music on Google Play, the system scanner wouldn't pick-up Play's music and list the tracks in the stock app.

I'm a computer person and the fix was a Windows 95 technique. 

1. Tether your smartphone to your computer using your USB cable.

2. On the top bar of your device, slide it down and select "Turn on USB storage."  It will inform you that certain functions of the smartphone will be disabled when the unit is connected.  Unless your expecting a very important call, acknowledge the warning and Click "OK."

If you've never done this before, your computer will search for your phone's drivers and install them.

3. Open "Computer (formerly My Computer)" and double click on your smartphone.

4. Navigate to (your root directory, just after you double click in step 3)\Android\data\com.google.android.music\files

Between the slashes is a folder.  Double click them in succession indicated above.

5. In the "files" folder, left click once on the "music" folder.

6. With your mouse hovering over the highlighted "music" folder, right click once and select "Send To."

7. A sub menu will open up, left click once on "Desktop (Create Shortcut)"

8. Now minimize all your windows and remember the following.  The quickest way to get there is to press the WINDOWS KEY + M.  On the desktop, find the new folder "music - shortcut," left click once to highlight it and with your pointer still hovering, right click once and left click once on "cut." Once done, come back to this window.

9. Go back to the window that is reading your smartphone like a hard drive (from Computer, My Computer) and navigate back to it's root directory.

10. My music is stored in the "Audio" folder.  On the root directory, I'd select the "Audio" folder.  Once there, right click once, select paste and that's it. Your stock app should read the " music - shortcut" directory like its a folder containing music.

If your music is in a different place, you might need to go to Computer->Your Device and type "*.mp3" in the search field located in the top right corner of that window.  When you get the search results back, left click on an entry to highlight it, then right click once and select "Open File Location."  For novice computer users, you're looking for the computer to open up MP3's in two or more folders.  And that will tell you where they are installed.