Log 2014112901

This post was in my drafts and was written prior to this date.

I installed No Signal Alert Pro and Voice Recorder by First75 on my Android smartphone this evening.  While the only place to test this is down trail at this point, I'm feeling confident that the "signal lost" and "signal regained" with me being the voice of the computer will work and give me auditory notifications of such events, especially when I'm looping to, or back on bicycle. Also, I'll be able to turn the smartphone on just before an anticipated area of coverage to make updates to Facebook and family. The new voice recorder app now lets me record in .amr format, which is needed for the computer to pick them up as notification sounds in the directory: mnt\sdcard\sounds and make them available in the No Signal Alert Pro's properties menu.

There's been problems trying to get this to work right.  So far, I tested those sounds and everything seems to work as it should.  Also, the signal lost sound with also be simultaneous with the "red alert" klaxon that I have as a part of my ST: Red Alert, or Star Trek wallpaper.  This and the app are necessary to facilitate my custom signal alerts.

I went shopping at Century Cycles in Peninsula of Summit County today.  That's where I dropped off the 30 year old refurbished road bike that I recently purchased to get a new rear rack and grip tape installed.  I managed to purchase a new 750 lumen head lamp with an internal and rechargeable Lithium ion battery.  At 750, I'm at a loss for words.  I'm not sure that I can properly comprehend how much light that is?  The best thing that I have is only about a 140 lumen hand flash light and I think that thing impressive. To use a religious metaphor, a 750 might open a gateway to God.

Log 2014111901

This is a picture of me in my "Virginia is for Lovers" tuff guy shirt.  I secured my smartphone to my goose neck windshield mount and told the folks on Facebook that I was taking a "selfie with no hands."  What you can see somewhat in the back is my 2008 Chevy HHR LS with the back seats removed.  Taking them out was very simple, it only involves removing four nuts.  Since the car hauls "The Cramper," or my improvised pop-out camper, regardless of whether it's assembled or collapsed in transport mode, I removed the back seats for extra luggage capacity.

For those of you who navigated here from a search engine, The Cramper employs a 20ft tarp that I place over the outer shell in the back.  With bungee cords and 45° like folds going downward folds towards the back seat doors, I'm able secure it to the holes in my rear rims and the bars in my after market roof rack.  The roof bars have unused holes that pertain to different width roofs that the product can mount to.  I looped some paracord through outermost available holes so I'd have something to hook a bungee cord to that wouldn't slide across the bar in high winds, which is unlike looping the bungee cord around the pole and hooking it to itself.

Each side uses three bungees and then another 3 in the back.  I use two short red bungee cords and secure them to my trailer hitch.  Then I use a long yellow one with a red plastic end to secure the tarp from side to side under The Cramper's expansion floor.  It's a bungee cord where one end passes through a circular opening in the red plastic on the other end, then fits into a narrow channel along it, grips the cord and secures it in it's hold.  Most tarps looping holes will buckle and tear under the stress.  They need to be repaired from time to time and you can find replacements at a home improvement store, maybe even a hardware store (I haven't tried to find this there yet).