Reviews – Page 5 – The Jeep Guru

April 15, 2011April 15, 2011

Goodbye Hughesnet; hello Verizon MiFI

While there are a lot of great things about living in the country like letting the dog run free and having 4×4 trails in the back yard, having access to high speed internet is not among them.

I am about a mile from the end of the Charter cable run and several miles from the nearest DSL capable phone line. For years the only option I had was Directway. Directway eventually evolved into Hughesnet.

The satellite internet seemed really cool at first. Connection speeds were much faster than dial up. And it was also more reliable. It was always on and I never had to worry about busy signals when trying to connect the modem. The savings of dropping AOL and the extra phone line pretty much paid for the Satellite service at first.

However over the years the price went up and the service went down. First they added download limits. And they did not tell anyone, they just secretly started limited speeds if you went over a certain amount. It took some folks in a broadband forum to figure it out and write a program so you could monitor your download sand not go over the limit and be penalized for going over.

In the past few months, the system has become virtually unusable as the connection speeds during peak use times are unbearably slow. The system works fine during the day and late at night; but from 4pm to 10 pm it is useless.

I reluctantly tested the Verizon 3g connection at our house. Cell phone coverage is pretty good there but not perfect. I suspected the data transfer would be spotty at best. However, I was surprised at the speed of two different devices I tested. They worked great and got better signal than my phone.

So, I finally cancelled the Hughesnet service and got the Verizon MiFi 3g. 4g had just come out but it was much more expensive for the device so I decided to just get the 3g.

The box arrived by FedEx and was very easy to set up. All I had to do was connect using the wireless card in my laptop computer. I have not run any actual speed tests but the feel is much faster. I can actually play Car Town on Facebook. That was next to impossible on the satellite.

The trouble came about when I tried to connect it to the desktop computer. The USB connection simply refused to install. I saw in some forums that others were having similar issues using XP like I was. I decided to just stop fighting it and use a wireless connection for the desk top as well.

The trouble was, I needed a wireless device for the desktop. See the next post for how I modified my Linksys router to connect to the MiFi.

January 5, 2011November 17, 2011

Wicked – book review

Wicked by Gregory Maguire

Wicked is Gregory Maguire’s back story of the life of the wicked witch of the west from OZ. Watching the movie in TV growing up, I was always scared of the green skinned wicked witch. She represented pure evil to me. I never stopped to think that she had a mother and a father. I never even gave much thought to the fact that her sister is killed at the beginning of the movie and that a valuable family heirloom was lost when Dorothy stole the ruby slippers. She had reason to be upset.

Gregory Maguire must have considered all those elements of the story that most of us just pass over. So he created an entire history for the wicked witch. He even gave her a name. I never realized that we never know the witch’s name in the movie. I have never read the book by Frank Baum but apparently he did not give her a name either. She just went by her title.

Maguire creates parents for her. She is a preacher’s child. I thought that was funny, having known a few preachers children in the past. They did always seem to be the evil ones. Of course they decide that her green skin is a curse upon the family.

The West Witch is the first born and the East Witch is her younger sister who also has a birth defect. The story of how they both overcome their physical limitations is a great character study in the beginning of the book. The briefest mention of her parent’s polyamary lifestyle was also interesting to me. Her actual biological father hood is held secret until near end of the story.

I found the story of her being college roommates with Glinda the good witch to be quite an interesting twist. The fact that they might have been good and close friends until she gave away the slippers had never occurred to me. I had just assumed them to be life long enemies.

The Wicked Witch’s life story seems to be one of failures and near misses. She seems to get very close to achieving her goals and then is thwarted in some way. Even her famous death scene in the movie is more of an accident than an assignation.

I loved how Maguire worked important elements of the original story into his story as well. For example you get to read how her sister was the one who enchanted the axe that turned the tree cuter into the tin woodsman. Possibly it was one of her dear college friends that built the scarecrow. And the lion was one she had helped rescue as a cub.

The wicked Witch is portrayed as an animal lover and a strong supporter of animal rights. The flying monkeys were her biological creation based on her study of life sciences in school. I almost cried when the Tin Woodsman killed her dog that she had sent to welcome Dorothy to the castle.

The troubled life of the Wicked Witch resonates with many people I am sure. Reading the story made me think of my own failings and near misses. There are a lot of religious question posed by the characters in the book as well. These resonate with me also.

I got the feeling that Maguire’s own religious beliefs changed as he was writing the book. Or maybe he was afraid to pose the questions early it in the work for fear of alienating the readers. There is a strong metaphysical tone that underlies all of the religious discussions. My favorite part was the creation theory that involved a Dragon dreaming OZ into existence. I assume Maguire was posing his own personal questions about the nature of life through the voices of the characters.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading the book. One drawback was the vocabulary. Maguire used a lot of words I am not familiar with and I had to infer the meaning from the context or be distracted from the story to look them up. Then there was his tendency to make up words. So sometimes I was faced with not knowing if it was a word I did not know if it was one he simply made up. I felt like I missed some of the intricate details of the story because I tended to just skip those parts after a while.

I think my favorite part of the story was the time when the Wicked Witch was involved in a rebel movement to help restore the rights to Animals. The thought of the Wicked Witch having a passionate love affair had never entered my mind before reading Wicked. But I was confused by the story of her child. I am not sure why Maguire chose to be so vague about the child. I felt more confused than mystified by the description.

Now, I have to read the original Baum version of OZ. I am sure that when I reread Wicked it will seem like a completely different book. I also thought it was funny that the next book I picked up to read began with a story of someone comparing his boss to the Wicked Witch of the West. I so wanted to yell at this fictional character to tell him that there may be much more to this person’s personality that you see.

December 16, 2010December 16, 2010

Tire Rack Review

I buy almost all my tires online. The latest exception being my Maxxis Buckshots that I bought through a local wholesaler. I have my own tire mounting machine and a balancer so I just order them and install them myself.

Tire Rack has given me by far the best service. They have always delivered the tires on time and in good condition. They usually arrive via UPS and my driver knows to stack them by the door of the shop. He still gets confused when I get five tires instead of four.

The latest set of tires delivered to me from Tire Rack was Jenny’s Dick Cepek Crushers. She is an internet bargain hunter but also shops by reputation. She was able to get the Dick Cepeks for just a few dollars more than bargain tires and they were delivered in time for a very important off roading trip.

I have also purchased tire and wheel combos from Tire Rack. I bought a set of OZ wheels and Yokohama tires for my Eagle Talon. They arrived nicely packaged to protect the wheels from scratches. The lugs and centering rings were included. Since I purchased the set, they mounted and balanced the tires for free.

I have bought several sets of Michelin tires from Tire Rack as well as the Yokohama Geolanders that I just put on my Suburban. They always have very competitive pricing and excellent shipping rates. In fact, when comparing prices, I noticed that some places quoted a lower price for the tires but the shipping and handling charges were outrageous.

I ma not sure how they do it but Tire Rack ships faster and cheaper than any other tire store I have tried. The only way to get tires faster would be to drive to the distributor and pick them up myself. And that is only if there is a local distributor.

I have become a big fan of Kumho tires ever since I got a set of their Rally Racing tires. I have run these on my Cherokees and my son has a set now on his Cherokee. Tire Rack has much lower prices on the Kumho tires than the local tire stores and they carry a larger selection of sizes.

If you are in the market for tires for your Off Road Jeep, your street SUV, your sports car or autocross car, I highly recommend Tire Rack. Please share your experience in dealing with Tire Rack in the comments.

September 21, 2010September 21, 2010

The Power of Passion by Alan Hobson and Jamie Clarke – Book review

I just finished reading The Power of Passion. This book is about the authors’ two attempts to climb Mount Everest.

I have never had much interest in mountain climbing myself. “Because it’s there” is as much a reason to avoid a place as it is to go there so Sir Hillary’s words don’t really inspire me much. For example, if there is a wasp nest or a copper head under a rock, “Because it’s there” is a very good reason to avoid the place.

A place that is freezing cold and does not have enough oxygen to support life is a place for me to avoid. However that does not at all diminish my admiration for those who have the passion for such adventure and have made the effort.

I was a bit disappointed by this book however due in part to its cover design. On the cover it describes the authors as “Everest Summiteers.” I was expecting a story about people who actually made it to the top of the mountain. A more accurate title would be “A History of a Campaign that Failed” although these writers in no other way compare to Mr. Twain.

The book describes two adventures to the mountain, the first where they lack experience and the second where they are under equipped. There is a note in the end of the book that tells us that the authors did eventually make it to the top, but this is not that story.

I had never even imagined what it is like to climb Mount Everest. I prefer to drive my Jeep to remote locations and maybe take a short hike to the look out. Just getting to the base of Mt Everest is an adventure as described it the book. Some of their “bad luck” might have been prevented by better planning but I can see how difficult it is to prepare for an adventure on the other side of the world in a remote setting like this.

I also found the title of the book to be misleading. I did not see much in the way of the power of passion being used to overcome any obstacles. I did see that the adventurers were determined to accomplish their goal, but I did not see any clear examples where passion was the obvious motivating factor. Stubbornness maybe, but not passion.

There is one scene in the story where a climber nearly dies and he is motivated to live through a satellite phone conversation with his young children. His passion for his family may be the underlying lesson but it is not really made clear in the story. The story seems to be more about people working together as a team to save a fellow climber even though they had decide before they left that they would not make such a sacrifice if faced with the choice.

I did learn one interesting fact about adventuring that made reading the book worthwhile. I learned how adventures such as these are financed. I had always imagined that the climbers were somehow independently wealthy playboys who had nothing else to do but go risk their lives on a mountain.

I had never grasped the concept of an adventure sponsor before. It turns out that the most difficult part of the journey for these guys was raising the money to go. The effort required to organize and finance the trip was so taxing on them that it sapped the energy they needed to actually make the climb. Having organized large events before, I can relate to the amount of effort that must be required to organize an expedition to Everest.

The dealing with sponsors must be incredibly nerve racking and mentally challenging. There is certainly some travel involved so it would be physically challenging as well. Also there would be the interruption on the physical training required for the trip.

I really enjoyed reading the stories of the challenges faced by the climbers and the stories of how they worked together to make sure every one got home alive even if they did not make their goal of reaching the summit. I can’t imagine the pain of coming that close to the goal and having to turn back. I am not sure I could have turned back. I might have been like so many other climbers and made my way to the top only to die on the descent.

I admire their courage and ability to make good decisions in the harshest conditions possible. They were exhausted, could not get enough oxygen and were freezing cold. The cold alone would do me in not even adding the other factors.

Overall, I enjoyed the book and I would like to read more about their campaign that actually succeeded. There is only a brief note at the end and a promise of another book that I have not yet found.

April 10, 2010January 3, 2011

Stay Stuck Dash pad review

Natalie from MobileFun.co.uk Iphone Acccessories sent me a StayStuck phone pad. This silicone pad is made of an amazing friction material that sticks to just about anything. I have been driving around with it in my street Jeep this week and my cell phone has stayed put just like the product name suggests. I have stuck it on the dash and on the center console and it stays either place just fine.

The sample she sent me also has a really cool feature in that it has a place to mount a suction cup device like a phone holder or a GPS navigation device. To test it further I put it in my off road Jeep to see how it holds up to bumps and dust.

I had to use a damp cloth to clean the very dirty dash in my Jeep before it would stick. However, once it was free of dust, the pad stuck fine.

I mounted my mom’s Tom Tom to it to see if it would stay in place. I have left it there in all kinds of weather conditions from cold to hot to wet to dry. It has not moved. I always get annoyed at suction cup devices because they tend to pop loose when the temperature changes. No such problems with this pad.

I have driven around on the trails on my farm and have even done some rough maneuvering to get the Jeep into position to do some winching and so far the pad is still in place.

I need to get one for my mom for mother’s day because she is really happy that she does not have to mount her GPS on the windshield any more. For more information on this cool product see: StayPut Pad

I think I am going to get one of the regular phone pads to prevent occurrences of the levitating cell phone.