After my older Whistler radar retector got stolen, I put in my slightly newer Whistler radar detector. But after having sending it back and forth to Whistler for massive false alarms after getting my car tuned up, I think they de-sensitized it. So I really don’t trust it. I have been thinking about getting a newer detector for a while, and after reading many reviews, I decided that the Beltronics give the best performance for the price. I would love to have the high end Beltronics RX65, but I don’t want to spend the money. I looked at the lower priced Express 925 and Express 935. From what I found in my research, the main difference between the 925 and the 935 is the display. But I think the 925 display is fine, and since the 925 is about $50 less than the 935, I went with the Beltronics Express 925.
My tires have very little tread left. I have to get it inspected sometime in December, and there is no way it would pass. Besides that is the safety factor. I have been reading about tires. According to the sticker inside the door jam of my 2000 Honda Civic VP, the recommended tire specs are P185/65R14 85S. Currently on the car are Firestone Affinity’s with specs of P185/65R14 85H (The H is the speed rating which H is rated up to 130 mph. S is rated up to 112 mph). Read more more about tire codes.
I went to BJ’s Wholesale and looked at tires, and they carry Michelin, BF Goodrich and Uniroyal. They have Michelin X Radials and the Uniroyal Tiger Paws in the size I need, but would have to order the BF Goodrich Traction T/A’s. I have been reading reviews, both professional, and by users. The review that seems the most trustworthy would be the one from Consumer Reports that gave the Michelin X Radial (the X Radial is only sold in club stores such as BJ’s, Sams and Costco) a good review saying it handled well in all weather conditions. After reading many user reviews, I came to discount them. Pretty much pick a tire, and you will find people who love it, hate, and pretty much anything in between. So right now I am leaning to the Michelin X Radial which comes with an 80,000 mile warranty. The price is $83.49 each with mounting, balancing and valve stems and all that stuff included. Also road hazard protection. So I might go get them tonight, or maybe this weekend. Depends on how long of a wait there is.
I took my car into the Honda dealer today as I was told on the last Engine For Life inspection that I had a small transmission leak. It turn out to be only a gasket on the dipstick had gone bad. They are ordering one, and I can get it this weekend. They also told me my brakes needed work, so I am going to get those done while they have my car today. It’s could have been much worse. I was dreading a phone call telling me my tranny would cost hundreds and hundreds of dollars to get fixed. Some poor woman who was also there had run over a deer on the way to the shop and it had punctured a hole in her gas tank.
They also told me I need new tires. I knew that. I have to get my car inspected in December, and knew my tired wont pass. So I am planning on getting a new set. I have Bridgestones on there now. I may look at getting the same. I have gotten tires from BJ’s in the past, but have hear from a friend that they sell a cheaper grade of tire. So while to may be getting the same brand of tire, they might have less plys than what you get from a regular tire store. I don’t know that for sure, but that is what I was told. He said there are some sore of codes on the tire that tell you how many plys they have. I am also looking into filling the tires with Nitrogen. I have read good things about it, and have also read it is a scam, and doesn’t really make a difference on passenger cars. So I am starting to research car tires.
Centrios DVD Recorder - Model EDW8020
SUMMARY: Got it cheap at the time. Knowing what I know now, I probably would have bought the Ilo DVD Recorder at Walmart.
I have had this DVD recorder for almost a year now. I got a good deal on it during the day after Thanksgiving sale at Circuit City. I have used it to record various TV shows, and convert old 8mm camcorder tapes to DVD. It works well for this. For the first several months I was happy enough to record onto DVD +R media, but decided it would be nice to ba able to record onto the DVD +RW that I could watch the shows, erase them, and record new shows. According to the specs, it is supposed to record onto DVD +RW, but had lots of problems. I bought some DVD +RW media (name brand), but whnever I put a disc in the recorder, it would try to load it for about 30 seconds, and then eject it. I called Centrios support, and they suggested getting a different brand of media. So I went and bought a different brand of DVD +RW discs. I encountered the same problem. I again called Centrios support and they told me the second brand I bought is actually made in the same place as the first brand. They suggested TDK DVD +RW. So I set out to find some TDK +RW at the stores, but had a hard time locating any. I finally found some at Circuit City, but only after searching the shelves, tlaking to a sales guy, and him searching the shelves. We almost gave up, when we spotted a small pack of TDK Brand DVD +RW. I toook these home, and manages to get a few of these to load. They are still very hit or miss. The other night I tried to load a DVD +RW that I have use before, but could not get it to load. So I grabbed a differenet disc and it loaded. I fomatted it, and programmed the recorder. I found later that it did not record my shows. After doing reserch, I read that if the play has a hard time loading the disc when it goes to record, it wont record. So I guess I won’t be using the DVD +RWs in the future. The clock on the unit is not extremely accurate, so it needs to be adjusted from time to time if you plan on programming the recorder to record shows later. It would have been nice if they had the stuff to get the time from cable like even the most basic of VCRs do these days. I have had a few problems with the recorded discs. A few weeks a go I recorded several episodes of a TV shows, and finalized the disc. I found I could not play two out of three of the episodes that had played fine before I had finalized the disc. The menus are awkward as well. I also dislike how this unit defaults to displaying the playing time on the screen when playing a DVD. You have to shut it off every time.
The Centrios DVD recorder is a cheap DVD recorder. From the reviews I have read, I would have rather have had the Ilo DVD Recorder from Walmart. It was a little more than I paid for the Centrios at the time, but I think it would have been worth it. Both this recorder (used) and the Ilo (new) are under a $100 now. I keep thinking about going and picking up one of the Ilo’s. There is an Ilo that has a hard drive built in. But that model is almost $280, and hasn’t dropped in price at all.
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What Do You Care What Other People Think?: Further Adventures of a Curious Character by Richard P. Feynman with Ralph Leighton
SUMMARY: Another one of my favorite books! Read Surely You’re Joking Mr. Feynman first, then read this one.
I read Surely You’re Joking Mr. Feynman-Adventures Of A Curious Character, by Richard Feyman, and loved it. I later found that there was a sequel (this book). I found a copy, and read it. I enjoyed this book almost as much as the first. Part of the technical stuff about the space shuttle (Challenger) disaster gets a little dry. I re-read this book following the Columbia disaster. It was definately interesting to read in light of the second shuttle disaster.
This book is a collection of Feynman storys. Feynman was always telling funny stories of things he had done or that happened to him. And he was alway doing crazy things. His friend Ralph Leighton decided that these stories needed to be recorded, so he got Feynman to put the stories on tape. This is basically a transcription of some of the recorded stories. The original Surely You’re Joking Mr. Feynman-Adventures Of A Curious Character is a classic and contains more Feynman stories.
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Preface
Part 1 A CURIOUS CHARACTER
The Making of a Scientist
“What Do You Care What Other People Think?”
It’s as Simple as One, Two, Three…
Getting Ahead
Hotel City
Who the Hell Is Herman?
Feynman Sexist Pig!
I Just Shook His Hand, Can You Believe It?
Letters
Photos and Drawings
Part 2 MR. FEYNMAN GOES TO WASHINGTON: INVESTIGATING THE SPACE SHUTTLE CHALLENGER DISASTER
Preliminaries
Committing Suicide
The Cold Facts
Check Six!
Gumshoes
Fantastic Figures
An Inflamed Appendix
The Tenth Recommendation
Meet the Press
Afterthoughts
Appendix F: Personal Observations on the Reliability of the Shuttle
EPILOGUE
Preface
The Value of Science
Index
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