The iPod Project

I've been wanting an iPod installation in my RX ever since the day I bought my car. My last car (CLK) had an auxiliary input which I had connected to my iPod at all times. I was extremely disappointed to find that the RX did not come with one built in, but always planned to get one installed when I had the time.

Finally, almost two years later, I had the time and opportunity. It was mostly prompted by my impulse decision to give into my constantly-changing wish list and buy a new iPod. I'd been wanting a new 120GB or 160GB iPod to house ALL of my music but wasn't willing to break my free iPod streak. Then one weekend I realized I had a gift certificate lying around that I could use towards the iPod Classic so I bought one online right away.

I already have dedicated uses for each of my current iPods, so this one was definitely going to be for my car. I gave the Lexus dealership a call to get an estimate... after being ping-ponged between service reps, I finally got a number: $595. Really??? I mean add that to the actual retail price of the iPod plus maybe a case and that's $1,000 just to listen to music in the car? No way.

I was pretty annoyed at the ridiculous estimate. I decided to focus my negative energy on finding a slim, sturdy case for the iPod at Best Buy. I browsed the iPod accessories and found nothing -- they had a couple of armbands and a bunch of colorful Liz Claiborne and Steve Madden "fashion" cases. What the? You would think that Best Buy would be even more complete than the Apple store, and carry every third-party accessory possible. Wait -- in this case would those companies be referred to as "third-party" or "aftermarket"? :P

Anyways I didn't find a case so I started wandering around the store. I ended up in the mobile area (cars, not cell phones) and asked a Geek about what options they had for iPod installations. He recommended that I go down to Al & Ed's and buy the USA Spec unit and bring it back there to install for $70. Not a bad idea. Off to Al & Ed's.

So I went to the Al & Ed's on Sepulveda and asked for an estimate to get an auxiliary jack installed. They said they only recommend doing the OEM iPod install and it would cost me $489 for the full NAV-screen interface version or $370 for the USA Spec, manually controlled iPod version. I opted for plan C -- how much to get just the part and install at Best Buy? 30 seconds of awesome negotiating skills later, he agreed to install the unit immediately (30-minute wait) for $250. Not bad, saves me an additional trip and the hassle of making an appointment at Best Buy. Instant gratification is everything. I agreed and they got started.

So 30 minutes later, the guy was done as promised. He asked me for my iPod to test it. Well, it literally came in the mail the day before and I hadn't had a chance to set it up or sync any music so they did a quick demo with my iPod nano, which worked perfect.

That afternoon, I synced up all of my music and brought my iPod (with newly added playlists) to the car to test. As soon as I plugged it in, I knew something was wrong. It docked my iPod so that I wasn't able to control my iPod at all and played my music in order. After about 5 minutes of Aaliyah I gave up. The whole reason I chose the 120GB Classic iPod over the 160GB was to take advantage of the 2.0 firmware which had the Genius playlists.

I stormed back into my apartment and started to do a little research. I found out the exact version installed in my car had the ability to toggle between settings. I just needed some way to get into the dash and flip a switch. I went back outside (it was about midnight at this point) and tried to access the unit. Wow, dashes are built in such a way that if you don't know what you're doing, you definitely cannot get past the plastic. I gave up 5 minutes later and went to sleep defeated.

Yesterday I drove back to Al & Ed's, planning to ask them to make the quick switch to the "direct mode" so that I can happily play my playlists and browse through my music while driving. (Which, of course, is safer than talking on your cell phone while driving) They are closed on Sundays. :( Super-frustrating.

Today I finally got the chance to go back and get it fixed. It took about 15 minutes of tinkering, but I can finally control everything through my iPod and still even use the track buttons on my car to move forward and backward. I lost the ability to display the song title and artist on my screen but oh well, one can't have everything right?

Now finally, a working iPod installation:

Something Smells

Sometimes I wish I wasn't blessed with such a sensitive sense of smell. It's great for cooking and eating but annoying in a lot of other respects.

My biggest annoyance right now is that my apartment smells and I haven't had time to mop. Something about the pergo/laminate type of floor in my new apartment is so annoying to mop down. I had no problem doing this 2-3 times a week at my old place but now it takes a lot of effort to swiffer, vacuum corners and mop. (That's the order I do it in) It probably also has to do with the "donut" shape of my apartment. I like to mop and sweep in straight lines and it was easy to do it at my old place since it was just one long room. But the way my current apartment is set up, there are a lot of obstacles to maneuver around it just gives me a headache to think about it.

I don't know what it is but I've noticed that lately my apartment starts to smell much quicker after cleaning. What am I talking about, of course I know what it is! We have 3 animals and poor circulation. Anyways, I can't wait until Saturday to take the time to give everything a good rubdown.

Another annoyance that comes up with my sensitive olfactory system is that my nose is just as sensitive when I'm asleep. So that means if one of the dogs have an accident (albeit diarrhea or vomit) or the cat takes a dump, my sleep is disturb and I cannot leave it be. This has been extra annoying lately as Tofu's stomach is super-sensitive and she has been having a bad month.

Also, at random times, a seeping burning smell will come into the apartment. At first I thought it was through the fireplace, but who in their right mind would light a fire in a fireplace during the dead heat of summer? I think it's coming from the alleyway... there is someone in my neighborhood that likes to burn things late at night.

Lazy Weekend

What a long and lazy weekend.

I slept in on Saturday morning, after a night of too much sake with dinner. I woke up at about noon and went to satisfy a ramen craving with E and his roommate L. The entire morning was cloudy and gloomy so it was the perfect day for Daikokuya... until we arrived and I realized everyone in Los Angeles had the same idea. There were 23 parties before us! But Daikokuya is just one of those things... once you get there and smell the aroma you just can't go with any other alternative. So you wait.

As we did for about an hour. But, as always, it was worth it. It was a long lunch... I think I left at about noon and did not get back until 4:30. (Again-- where does all my time go)?

When I got home, Yona was getting ready to go out to her gallery show. I decided to put off all of my school/busywork til Sunday and took over the couch. I watched a few TV shows back to back until I was so tempted to take a nap. At around 8:30 I started getting ready to go to a birthday party with K. I toyed with the idea of flaking out and being productive and going for a run instead but I knew that if I stayed at home I would end up going straight to bed. So off I went.

First we swung by K's house, which was the gathering point for some of us leaving from West LA. I had a home-brewed Kumquat Vodka Screwdriver. It was... interesting. Then we headed off to the venue -- Isis Gallery in Inglewood. Yes, I went to a random birthday party in a warehouse in Inglewood. Couldn't even say what I expected.

The birthday party wasn't that bad. I thought it would be cheesy because it was themed -- black and white. The fun part was to see what everyone's interpretation of "classy black and/or white" attire was... definitely varied opinions. One girl was in a white tank, white super short-shorts and a gold belt. Another girl was in an off-white gown with a sheer shawl. Almost all the guys were in black dress shirts and black pants but there was the occasional white tie.

Anyways the party was open bar and I had countless "pink" drinks that I am convinced were NOT greyhounds. They were too sweet. I danced a lot that night, dare I say too much. I was sweating and it's never good to sweat in public. Yecch. It was a lot of fun though, there was a lot of good music. Towards the end of the night my stomach was wishing I kept closer tabs on how many drinks were passed on to me. We did stop by a taco truck on the way back which was awesome -- nothing beats a greasy carne asada quesadilla at 3 in the morning.

Funny thing is that I actually got home, took a shower, went to bed, and Yona STILL wasn't home. Last night was the first night that I came home to an empty house -- Yona is usually already in bed when I come home. (Her bedtime is 10pm)

So today I woke up at around noon. I lazied around the house and watch a lot of TV. I think. After a few hours of TV, I made a long to-do list of things I *had* to take care of today... like homework, blogging, housework, mopping the floor, giving Lulu a bath, etc etc. As I do whenever I have a long list of to-do's, I procrastinated and watched more TV. Stupid Kimora show, I must have seen at least 4 back-to-back episodes. Then I started to get stir-crazy. I decided to take my iPhone in to the Apple Store to get it checked out -- I dropped it on Saturday night and it started to act wonky.

So at 5pm I went to Century City. I was pretty excited -- I was hoping to get a replacement phone. In other words, I wanted an excuse to upgrade to 3G. I got to the Apple store 45 minutes before my Genius Bar appointment time but the guy let me skip the line and he looked at my phone right away. He turned around for 30 seconds, worked his magic, and my phone was fixed. Literally, took 2 minutes in the store. I didn't know what to do. I didn't even have time to be disappointed. I just turned around and went home.

Then on my drive home I started to think... what if Yona wanted to use my old iPhone. I mean her current phone sucks and she can't even text. Maybe if she NEEDED a replacement phone then I could upgrade and unlock my old phone and give it to her. That would certainly be enough reason to shell out a couple hundred on a new iPhone, right? So I went home, convinced Yona, and in a few minutes we were off to the Apple store in Santa Monica. =)

When we got home I set up both phones to get them working. (Yona is on T-mobile so I had to unlock hers to get it to work) Once they were working, we took a break and watched last Monday's Heroes episode, then I went back to the computer to finish playing around with my phone. Cleaned out playlists. Cleaned out photo albums. Downloaded a couple new apps. Made some ringtones. Downloaded some new music.

All of a sudden it was close to midnight and I realized that I did absolutely nothing on my to-do list today.

Mud Run Challenge

Last week during our town haul meeting at work, our managing director announced that the "lead team" was going to split up in two teams and compete in the Camp Pendleton Mud Run. To add to the mix, they also prepaid for an additional team of 5 to come and compete, and started taking volunteers. Only one volunteer came forward, Kamron.

So ten minutes later, Kam is at my cube asking me to join the team. I quickly gather in my mind everything I know about the Mud Run from Linda who went last year: fun, grueling, messy, challenging. I decide what the heck, I've never really set a physical challenge for myself and this might be the best way to get motivated to start working out again. So I put my name down.

And that's when practicality settled in. I only have 2 weeks to train. 6.2 miles of rough terrain, inclines, river crossings and other obstacles. Crawling through the mud. Knee and hip pain whenever I try to run more than 2 miles. Before I freaked myself out, I went jogging that night just to see how far and fast I could go.

I walked/jogged about 4.5 miles in just under an hour. It's a very slow/easy pace but it wasn't that bad. My heart kept up very well, all of the cycling I did this summer definitely helped. My legs, however, weren't in the best shape but I think this is something I can train up for, if I can find the time. Unfortunately I was super sore for 2 days after that so I haven't had the chance to run again. Will definitely go again tomorrow night.

Watching Angel Groom

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