Updating my Garmin GPS and the hand-held version

I have a Garmin Street Pilot c550 GPS for my car.  I am so directionally challenged, it truly changed my life.  Before I got the GPS, when presented with a choice on whether to turn left or right I would ALWAYS turn the wrong way.

I was never very good with north, south, east, or west.  If someone gave me directions, and said to turn east, I'd ask, left or right?  So, the GPS was a Godsend to me. 

I bought the update program a while ago, so I can update my maps whenever there is a new one, for a certain period of time.  Right now, as I'm typing this post, I'm updating it.  Bring it from the car into the house, plug it into the laptop with the appropriate cord, go the the site, and "update maps."  Couldn't be easier.  But it takes quite a while for the whole process to update.

When it is done, I'm going to see if I can download free POI stuff.  I learned about POIs from the blogs I've read, so Thank You, everyone who has blogged about them.  I noticed they have POI files for phones, so I'm going to see if I can download POI information for my new DroidX, too.

Another thing I've learned from bloggers is geocaching.  While waiting for the maps to finish downloading, I was looking around the site, http://geocaching.com/, registered, and put in my address to see what was near me.  There are LOTS of things, one about 1/2 a block away.  My friend lives up on one of the hills here, and there are tons of things hidden by her.  I might give her a call and see if she wants to take a walk soon, and see what we can find.

I think tomorrow I'm going to take Katie and see if I can find something by my house.  There are a few nearby.  I don't have a regular hand-held GPS device yet.  I tend to buy things, and then not follow through with the activity.  So, I want to do a bit of searching and finding and see if I like it before I buy one.

Geocaching is something I plan to do when I'm full-timing, though.  I think it might be a way to "get me out of the house" and walking and/or hiking in the area I'm staying.  Good for Katie, too, to get in more exercise.

This looks like a highly rated hand-held GPS on the geocaching.com site. It's a Garmin GPS 60CSx Handheld GPS Navigator.  I'm sure some of you have one.  

I checked in at Costco.com to see if they had it on-line, but they don't, at least not right now.  Pretty expensive item, I'd definitely want to purchase it at Costco or on Amazon.com at less than the MSRP. By the time I'm out on the road living in my RV, they might have updated units, though, so I'm probably better waiting.  Expecially since I'm trying so hard to be frugal.  The old me would have bought it now.  The new me is going to wait.

Well, my Garmin maps just finished updating, so I'm going to play now - see if I can download the POI places to my Garmin.  AND, I just thought, in addition to downloading the POI to my DroidX, maybe I can download the geocaching info to my phone.  Use it as a hand-held GPS.  Wouldn't that be great?  I'll let you know, I noticed at least two other bloggers are getting or just got a DroidX.  You might be interested, too.

From me and Katie, Have a nice evening, everyone!  : )

I did it - earned the September badge!

I did it!  Blogged every day in September.  I earned the September badge.

 SEPTEMBER

Now I'm going to try for October.  I don't love the October badge as much as September, but it's cute, and I'm going for it. : )  This is the preliminary badge, and if I make it, I'll put the I Did It badge below in the right margin.

 OCTOBER

I'll work pretty hard for a cheap prize.  Works every time with me.  I think that's how I met my goal in Weight Watchers.  They have rewards that you get for every five pounds lost, you get a star sticker and other stickers for various things, etc.  I got a some key chain attachment rewards, but didn't need to lose enough to earn the actual key chain, so all my prizes are sitting in my desk, sans key chain.  But that's okay, I still earned them.  And lost the pounds.

It's Friday, and today is my day for donating blood at my local blood bank.  I try to go every 60 days, but was thrown off schedule when I went to my daughter's house.  Then they called and said they had a need for my blood type, so I'm going in today.

We had the greatest weather yesterday!  LOUD, rolling thunder, went on and on, fabulous!  Lots of lightening, lots of rain.  Dark skies.  It was great.  We kept the front door open all day at work so we could hear the storm.  I think it's supposed to keep up for a few days.

From SignOn San Diego: "Three days after coastal temperatures broadly soared above 100 degrees for the first time since the early 1960s, a second, unrelated system moved into San Diego County early today, producing at least 1,100 cloud-to-ground lightning strikes."

Here's a cool photo I got from that website of a lightening strike :

September 30, 2010 | Michelle Murrett

"The Blue Angels rehearse off Governor Drive for the start of the annual Miramar Air Show, which begins Friday."  Our old office (that we moved from in September) was near Miramar, and during the practice days preceding the Miramar Air Show, the jets were so loud, we couldn't hear on the phone.  Our new office is far enough away that we only heard a few that went right overhead today. 

I've always complained about the weather in San Diego (I'm probably the only person in San Diego County complaining about the weather), but this year I've changed my tune.  It hasn't been the usual "warm and sunny, clear skies, light breezes" predictable weather EVERY DAY; the San Diego weather people have actually had to work this year.

From me and my Katie, have a happy Friday, everyone! : )

What's in YOUR tool box?

As far as tool boxes go, I have an embarrassment of riches.  Remember my Just In Case blog?  Well...

My Tool Box

I believe I have pretty much any non-electrical  tool and/or repair item I'd need for pretty much anything that might come up.  Just In Case.  It's not like I have a lot of repairs to do, but you just never know.

Top Tier

The top tier has mostly fasteners and TV stuff.  Little things that need to be in their own section to keep them together.

Second Tier

This has larger, longer tools that are flat enough to fit.  

Bottom Tier

This tier has the rest.  I do have an electric drill, which can be plugged in for a while, and then used with just the charge, but it's the only tool that plugs in.

Here are the tools in the side pockets:

Middle and Two Side Pocket Areas - 13 Pockets in All

My tool box weighs 33.5 pounds, but sure feels heavier!  Jealous, guys?  ; )    Well, don't be.  When I start loading my motor home, which will probably be a small class C, you can imagine how much weight I'll be able to load in it.  This tool box may come along, but probably not most of the contents.  I can hardly lift it, and I probably won't need most of the things in it.  I might need to have an RV owner-person go through it with me to see what to bring and what to leave out.

I have to say, though, when someone is over and offers to help fix something, I love the look of incredulity when he sees my tool box.  And I can always find my tools.  My dad would be proud. : )

That does it for today.  From Me and My Dog, have a nice Thursday, everyone!  : )

Blogger stats, and gadgets

I have a couple of little gadgets on my blog that tell me some stats on what's happening with traffic to the blog. They are fun to check to see how I'm doing as far as traffic being up or down on a day-to-say basis.

I was playing around with Blogger last week and came upon this statistical information right in Blogger itself.  I think they added it a couple of months ago:

 

The part I found most interesting was how many visitors I've had from different countries.  There is a place to set whether or not you want translations, and I now have mine turned to "yes," I don't know if my foreign visitors read English, but if not, hopefully they will still be able to follow along.  

It looks like one or two visitors aren't going to show on the map, but at least they are detailed in the numbers below it. If you have Blogger and haven't noticed this "Stats" tab, click on it and see what your blog has been up to.

I love gadgets, and always click on the ones I find in other people's blogs. That's how I got all the little things on my Blog.  I don't want it to be messy or too commercial, but I have to admit those things make this more fun for me.  I like checking on how many people have clicked on ads, and on different pages.

And just for your information (in case you didn't know), when readers click on the ads, I make money.  It isn't much, and it takes a lot of clicks, but I figure over time I'll eventually get a check for something.  If you go into your Blogger "Monetize" tab, it explains it all and you can do the same thing. 

I chose the option that puts up ads relating to what I'm writing about that day, so the ads change.  Sometimes they are about crafts, sometimes pet products, depending on the subject of the post.  I can't click on my own ads, so if I want something, say from Amazon, I go to someone else's blog and click on their ad and purchase through them.  Then they get a small payment for my purchase.  Like I said, it's not much, sometimes nothing in a day, sometimes only pennies.  But it is fun to follow and see how it grows over time. 

I also have an icon on the right for a website called Site Meter, which is free.  You can upgrade it and pay for the upgrade, but the free part has everything I want, including a world map that shows where your visitors are located. Now that I've found the stats here in Blogger, I don't know if I'll keep Site Meter.

Then I have a gadget at the bottom of the blog on the left side.  This one has the weather, although it doesn't have my exact location, it's around a 15 minute drive from my house. (Here in San Diego, I don't say 15 miles, it's 15 minutes, depending on traffic of course.)  The reason I picked this one is because it was pretty, and if you click on it you can see the vegetation moving in the breeze, if there is one, and also it changes from day to night, and you can see the sun and moon moving along.  

NOTE: I figured out that I could get my city (San Marcos) for this gadget, and have corrected it.

And there are others, as you can see by moving around in the blog.  I hope they don't become too distracting, but as I find new ones, I'll add them and try them out.

Yesterday I found and added the one under my profile, which is fish swimming around.  If you click on their swimming area, fish food will appear and they will swim toward it and eat.  Same with the turtles at the end of the week's postings.  I have to admit I can't pass them by without feeding them. : )

I'm not a computer geek (wish I was!), but these simple gadgets are easy to set up and enjoy, or visit from time to time to see what Me and My Dog is doing. 

I have actually learned a lot about how the web works since I've started my Blog.

From Me and Katie, have a nice Wednesday, everyone!  : )

Record heat wave, and my swamp cooler

WELCOME to B.W. and Carol!  Thanks for signing on to follow Me and My Dog.  I appreciate it, and hope you enjoy reading my posts as much as I am enjoying reading yours. : )

Yesterday was soooo HOT in San Diego.  Here in San Marcos (north county) my computer showed this at 4:30:

 107 DEGREES - WOW

SDG&E actually did turn off my air conditioning in the afternoon.  I realized it was getting warmer and muggier, even though the A/C was cranking away, and then I realized it wasn't putting out any more cold air.  

On the 5:00 news they had a story about the heat, and said we set an "all-time power usage record" in San Diego and Monday was the hottest day of the year in San Diego County (actually it was an all time record breaker for the whole area including Los Angeles).  I'm lucky I was off, I was able to stay inside with my A/C until it was shut off (only for a few hours).

I have a back-up system, which I'm going to bring with me when I'm full-timing, if I can fit it somewhere in the rig, and it doesn't use too much power.  I'll have to check on that before I decide for sure.  (I still have to learn about the energy stuff, solar, propane, batteries, deep charge batteries, deep cycle batteries - HELP! - but not yet. )

It's a portable swamp cooler.  I just roll it wherever I want it, add lots of ice and water, plug it in and turn it on.  The one I have now has lots of different settings, and a remote control, so I don't even have to get up to use it.  It has a timer in case I want to use it for specific period of time then have it turn itself off.

This isn't the exact one I have, but very similar.  Boy, do they make a difference! 

When I was in Pollock Pines, we had a very hot summer and I didn't have air conditioning in my house.  I was working at Chile Bar Slate Mine at the time. I worked in the office for the General Manager, but I was still considered a miner, had to wear jeans and steel toed boots, and had a full face respirator that I used occasionally when the slate dust wasn't under control.

I'll tell you, I'd get home from work, turn on the swamp cooler, throw all my clothes in the washer, jump in the shower, and when I'd finally sit down in the living room (which was upstairs in that house) it was already cooling down.  I'd sit right in front of this little baby, and it was heaven.  

I don't use it much here in San  Diego, but I've brought it out a few times this summer.  Sure was glad I had it yesterday.

From me and Katie, have a nice comfortable day, everyone!  : )