Tuesday, June 27, 2006
The Technology of Being Away from Home
When we first started planning this RV trip, I didn't think through all the details that we'd have to plan for. One issue is how we stay connected and stay entertained while we're away.
My job is one where I can't be totally out of touch for a month. I can certainly slow down, and I plan to during this trip. But, I need to monitor my email at least every couple of days, and I need to be reachable by cell phone in the unlikely event of an emergency. The cell phone part is easy. They work pretty well, and just about everywhere. Just need to remember to pack the charger.
As for email, I have two solutions. Of course, I am bringing my laptop with me. In fact, for reasons described below, we are bringing two laptops. In many of our stops, I expect to be able to get Wifi access to the Internet. That will work fine to download my email and deal with it later. Web-based email (Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc.) won't work as well here because, unless you can stay connected while you read it, you can't catch up on your email while your spouse is driving.
To solve this problem, I'll probably download my Yahoo mail into Outlook Express, delete the ones I don't want, and queue up my replies for later. Since I like to file the emails I want to keep, I'll have to file them away the next time I connect to a network.
For the more urban parts of the country, I decided to get Verizon Wireless BroadbandAccess. This will give me a decent speed Internet connection while on the road. When Denise is driving, I can read my email live, including my Web-based Yahoo mail.
In addition to work and personal email, I read quite a few blogs for work, news, and entertainment. Right now, I download these into Outlook via NewsGator. NewsGator also has a nice Web reader that synchronizes with their Outlook reader, so you can keep up with your RSS feeds either way.
I also have a Blackberry to read my work email and for on-the-go web access (got to stay on top of those Yankee games!). Due to the limited interface and slower speed, that's kind of a back-up plan.
OK, that's work. How about fun!
Our RV has a TV and DVD player, so we'll definitely bring a selection of movies to watch, including a bunch of new ones that each of us will pick out. Our son, Anonymous, will bring his PS2 so that he and our daughter, PieLover, can play some games. But, that's just the start.
We all got new iPods for this trip. I've been a digital music laggard, mostly due to my laziness in getting my hundreds of CDs onto an iPod. But, my new iPod video is great. I've got about 1500 songs on it so far, and a few video podcasts that I am interested in. Everyone else in the family got iPod Nanos as they don't have the extensive music collection I had. Denise really wants to catch up on some NPR podcasts.
But, our aging PCs at home were running out of disk space. You need lots of disk space if you are going to load up a 60 GB iPod and several 4 GB iPod Nanos. So, Denise and I each got a second internal hard drive for our computers. The kids hard drive recently died, so I replaced it with an 80 GB drive, which is plenty for them, for now. We were running out of disk space on some of the computers anyway, so this was overdue.
With all this additional storage space, music we download from iTunes, music I rip from my CDs, and the need to get all this stuff mobile with my laptop, I decided to buy an external 250GB Iomega 33215 Hard Drive. This can backup everything of importance on our home PCs and bring our music collection with us.
In order to juggle multiple iPod libraries on one PC, I recommend Libra. It lets you have one copy of iTunes with multiple separate user libraries of music and also to import music libraries from an external hard disk. This will let us use one of our laptops with the external drive to synch up any of our iPods, each with our own music collection.
To listen to our iPods through the radio in the RV, I bought a Monster Cable iCarPlay Plus. This lets you play your iPod through a nearby FM radio and charge it at the same time. To be honest, I haven't tried this yet, but the reviews on Amazon were quite good.
In addition to DVDs, the PS2, and iPods, I plan to use the Verizon Wireless BroadbandAccess to stream video from one of our two Slingboxes. These let you watch and control your TV at home. Ours are hooked up to two of our Tivos, so we can watch shows we record at home while traveling. You need a decent speed broadband connection, at least 200 Kbps. But, we'll have that with Verizon BroadbandAccess and when connected to Wifi. We can't fall too far behind on The Daily Show or The Colbert Report! And, of course, the occasional Yankee game when Denise lets me.
At the beginning of this post, I mentioned two laptops. The main reason is for no fighting! I expect that I may be dealing with email quite a bit in batch mode when Denise is driving. And, if the kids want to play a computer game, watch video via the Slingbox, practice their foreign languages on the Rosetta Stone software we bought, or write up a post for this blog, they'll need a laptop, too. So, two seems to be a minium.
That was quite a bit more than I expected. We might even take a nap or read a book once in a while!
On a future sequel to this post, I'll talk about what I did to help make it easier to keep up with our snail mail and bills while we are on the road.
My job is one where I can't be totally out of touch for a month. I can certainly slow down, and I plan to during this trip. But, I need to monitor my email at least every couple of days, and I need to be reachable by cell phone in the unlikely event of an emergency. The cell phone part is easy. They work pretty well, and just about everywhere. Just need to remember to pack the charger.
As for email, I have two solutions. Of course, I am bringing my laptop with me. In fact, for reasons described below, we are bringing two laptops. In many of our stops, I expect to be able to get Wifi access to the Internet. That will work fine to download my email and deal with it later. Web-based email (Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc.) won't work as well here because, unless you can stay connected while you read it, you can't catch up on your email while your spouse is driving.
To solve this problem, I'll probably download my Yahoo mail into Outlook Express, delete the ones I don't want, and queue up my replies for later. Since I like to file the emails I want to keep, I'll have to file them away the next time I connect to a network.
For the more urban parts of the country, I decided to get Verizon Wireless BroadbandAccess. This will give me a decent speed Internet connection while on the road. When Denise is driving, I can read my email live, including my Web-based Yahoo mail.
In addition to work and personal email, I read quite a few blogs for work, news, and entertainment. Right now, I download these into Outlook via NewsGator. NewsGator also has a nice Web reader that synchronizes with their Outlook reader, so you can keep up with your RSS feeds either way.
I also have a Blackberry to read my work email and for on-the-go web access (got to stay on top of those Yankee games!). Due to the limited interface and slower speed, that's kind of a back-up plan.
OK, that's work. How about fun!
Our RV has a TV and DVD player, so we'll definitely bring a selection of movies to watch, including a bunch of new ones that each of us will pick out. Our son, Anonymous, will bring his PS2 so that he and our daughter, PieLover, can play some games. But, that's just the start.
We all got new iPods for this trip. I've been a digital music laggard, mostly due to my laziness in getting my hundreds of CDs onto an iPod. But, my new iPod video is great. I've got about 1500 songs on it so far, and a few video podcasts that I am interested in. Everyone else in the family got iPod Nanos as they don't have the extensive music collection I had. Denise really wants to catch up on some NPR podcasts.
But, our aging PCs at home were running out of disk space. You need lots of disk space if you are going to load up a 60 GB iPod and several 4 GB iPod Nanos. So, Denise and I each got a second internal hard drive for our computers. The kids hard drive recently died, so I replaced it with an 80 GB drive, which is plenty for them, for now. We were running out of disk space on some of the computers anyway, so this was overdue.
With all this additional storage space, music we download from iTunes, music I rip from my CDs, and the need to get all this stuff mobile with my laptop, I decided to buy an external 250GB Iomega 33215 Hard Drive. This can backup everything of importance on our home PCs and bring our music collection with us.
In order to juggle multiple iPod libraries on one PC, I recommend Libra. It lets you have one copy of iTunes with multiple separate user libraries of music and also to import music libraries from an external hard disk. This will let us use one of our laptops with the external drive to synch up any of our iPods, each with our own music collection.
To listen to our iPods through the radio in the RV, I bought a Monster Cable iCarPlay Plus. This lets you play your iPod through a nearby FM radio and charge it at the same time. To be honest, I haven't tried this yet, but the reviews on Amazon were quite good.
In addition to DVDs, the PS2, and iPods, I plan to use the Verizon Wireless BroadbandAccess to stream video from one of our two Slingboxes. These let you watch and control your TV at home. Ours are hooked up to two of our Tivos, so we can watch shows we record at home while traveling. You need a decent speed broadband connection, at least 200 Kbps. But, we'll have that with Verizon BroadbandAccess and when connected to Wifi. We can't fall too far behind on The Daily Show or The Colbert Report! And, of course, the occasional Yankee game when Denise lets me.
At the beginning of this post, I mentioned two laptops. The main reason is for no fighting! I expect that I may be dealing with email quite a bit in batch mode when Denise is driving. And, if the kids want to play a computer game, watch video via the Slingbox, practice their foreign languages on the Rosetta Stone software we bought, or write up a post for this blog, they'll need a laptop, too. So, two seems to be a minium.
That was quite a bit more than I expected. We might even take a nap or read a book once in a while!
On a future sequel to this post, I'll talk about what I did to help make it easier to keep up with our snail mail and bills while we are on the road.
Sunday, June 04, 2006
Travel plan
We did the first draft of our travel plan today. Here it is:
July 27th - We pick up the RV in NH
July 28th - Mike's last day of work -- travel to PA
July 29th -- We spend the day packing
July 30th -- We hit the road! Destination -- Byron, NY (just for a stop over)
July 31st -- We stop over in Streetsboro, OH, outside Cleveland. There are a few things we want to see in this area -- Cleveland Zoo, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Football Hall of Fame (in Canton)
We stay in the Cleveland area through the morning of August 2
August 2 -- We drive to Mokena, IL, outside Chicago
August 3 -- In Chicago, we take in a Cubs-Diamondbacks game in Wrigely Field
August 4 -- Back on the road to Sioux Falls, SD for a stopover
August 5 -- Continuing on to Hill City, SD, near Mount Rushmore
August 6 -- Spend the day at Mount Rushmore
August 7 -- Drive to Golden, CO, outside Denver
August 8 -- Red Rocks Park, in Morrison, CO
August 9 -- Another day in the Denver area
August 10 -- Drive to Virgin, UT, near Zion National Park
August 11 - 13 -- Explore Zion and Bryce Canyon
August 14 -- Drive to the Grand Canyon
August 15 -- Another day in the Grand Canyon
August 16 -- Drive to Santa Fe, NM
August 17 -- Santa Fe
August 18 -- Drive to Oklahoma City, OK
August 19 -- Drive to Villa Ridge, MO (outside St. Louis)
August 20 -- St. Louis
August 21 -- Drive to Santa Claus, IN (you'll have to ask Denise...)
August 22 -- Explore the area, and then drive to Rising Sun, IN (near Cincinnati)
August 23 -- Cincinnati
August 24 -- Drive to Gettysburg, PA
August 25 -- Gettysburg (can you believe Denise is willing to go there?!)
August 26 -- Drive home (and gee, it's our anniversary!)
August 27 -- Empty the RV
August 28 -- Return the RV to New Hampshire
Now, onto the detailed reservations. It's time to get organized. We've got to put some detailed trip plans in place and start to think about packing.
July 27th - We pick up the RV in NH
July 28th - Mike's last day of work -- travel to PA
July 29th -- We spend the day packing
July 30th -- We hit the road! Destination -- Byron, NY (just for a stop over)
July 31st -- We stop over in Streetsboro, OH, outside Cleveland. There are a few things we want to see in this area -- Cleveland Zoo, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Football Hall of Fame (in Canton)
We stay in the Cleveland area through the morning of August 2
August 2 -- We drive to Mokena, IL, outside Chicago
August 3 -- In Chicago, we take in a Cubs-Diamondbacks game in Wrigely Field
August 4 -- Back on the road to Sioux Falls, SD for a stopover
August 5 -- Continuing on to Hill City, SD, near Mount Rushmore
August 6 -- Spend the day at Mount Rushmore
August 7 -- Drive to Golden, CO, outside Denver
August 8 -- Red Rocks Park, in Morrison, CO
August 9 -- Another day in the Denver area
August 10 -- Drive to Virgin, UT, near Zion National Park
August 11 - 13 -- Explore Zion and Bryce Canyon
August 14 -- Drive to the Grand Canyon
August 15 -- Another day in the Grand Canyon
August 16 -- Drive to Santa Fe, NM
August 17 -- Santa Fe
August 18 -- Drive to Oklahoma City, OK
August 19 -- Drive to Villa Ridge, MO (outside St. Louis)
August 20 -- St. Louis
August 21 -- Drive to Santa Claus, IN (you'll have to ask Denise...)
August 22 -- Explore the area, and then drive to Rising Sun, IN (near Cincinnati)
August 23 -- Cincinnati
August 24 -- Drive to Gettysburg, PA
August 25 -- Gettysburg (can you believe Denise is willing to go there?!)
August 26 -- Drive home (and gee, it's our anniversary!)
August 27 -- Empty the RV
August 28 -- Return the RV to New Hampshire
Now, onto the detailed reservations. It's time to get organized. We've got to put some detailed trip plans in place and start to think about packing.
