My New Sony Wireless Headphones…

Mary is no longer available for RV traveling, but we remain good friends.
Because we have 5,000+ postings, I’ve invited her to continue posting entries on this blog.

I’m currently in my 23rd year of full-time RVing and my lifestyle is changing, For more info click Here

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The motorhome is parked at Thousand Trails RV Resort in Palm Desert, California. I’ll depart from here December 19th.

 

 

 

I’ve been toying with the idea of buying wireless headphones for a while now. I’m not one to rush into buying something. I need to make sure it’s not just a fad! 🙂

 

Being an ex-Quality Control engineer, I’ve always like Sony products as to me, they are quality products.

 

Anyways a couple of days ago, I was poking around on the Internet looking at wireless headphones and I ran across these on both Amazon and Best Buy. Regularly priced at $199, they were in sale for only $99.99 at both places. I decided to buy them at Best Buy because i could pick them up the same day as opposed waiting for two-day shipping from Amazon. Also, in case I didn’t like them, it would be easier to return them to Best Buy than shipping back to Amazon.

 

I ordered them online and picked them up less than an hour later…

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see Sony claims 35 hours use time before recharging. Also has “noise canceling” feature which electronically filters nearby noise. The best analogy is (if you are old enough to remember indoor telephone booths like this one I took at the Luther Hotel in Palacios, Texas in 2013… 🙂 )…

 

 

 

 

From WWII-Only phone in town

 

 

 

Here’s what they look like out of the box…

 

 

 

 

 

They get really good reviews and I’m most pleased with the performance. Learning how to connect to everything was a little tricky but I finally figured it out. They now connect to my smart phone, computer and TV. The Sirius XM Radio app lets me enjoy my favorite music source. They also handle making and receiving phone calls really easy.

 

Yesterday morning for the first time I wore them during my morning “move along” mile daily walk. It made the walk much more enjoyable and pass very quickly as I moved along listening to Willie’s Roadhouse, channel 59 on XM Radio (classic country music).

 

I have a surround sound system in the motorhome which I really enjoy, but listening to the music with the headphones is really a lot more enjoyable as you get to hear everything without the distraction of outside and nearby noises mixed in with the music.

 

So, here I am with my new Sony Wireless Headphone…

 

 

 

 

 

Look carefully and you’ll see my camera is also a Sony which I really like!

 

No doubt about it, I will not be returning these to Best Buy. I really like them!

 

My usual evening entertainment is watching quality programming on Amazon Prime, however last evening I stretched out on my bed with my wireless headphones and listened to two-plus hours of varied music. Most enjoyable!

 

In case you are interested, here’s the links for Best Buy and Amazon…

 

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/sony-wh-ch700n-wireless-noise-canceling-over-the-ear-headphones-black/6196203.p?skuId=6196203

 

 

https://www.amazon.com/Sony-WH-CH700N-Canceling-Headphones-WHCH700N/dp/B079GPFLT1/ref=sr_1_7?s=aht&ie=UTF8&qid=1544520717&sr=1-7&keywords=sony+wireless+headphones

 

 

 

 

I hope you enjoyed the photos.

Forecast for today is mostly cloudy and 74 degrees.

Enjoying nice weather is another joy in the life of a full-time RVer!

The red dot on the below map shows my approximate location in the State of California. You may double left-click the map to make it larger…

 

Enjoying 65-75 degree temperatures with low humidity most of the year is a primary joy in the RVing lifestyle!

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving”…Albert Einstein

 

“Let me recommend the best medicine in the world: a long journey, a mild season, through a pleasant country, in easy stages.” –James Madison

My current travel rig is a 2006 Fleetwood 26′ Class A Motorhome and a towed 1986 Ford Bronco II, Eddie Bauer Model. This photo was taken in the desert at Slab City near Niland, California…

On October 27, 2012, I created a two-minute video titled America The Beautiful. The music America The Beautiful is by Christopher W. French. The photos, which I randomly selected, are from the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Tennessee, Washington and West Virginia (not shown in that order)…are mine. Yup, That’s me standing in front of the Post Office in Luckenbach, Texas…Y’all!

Click this link to start the video. Make sure you have your speakers turned on and go to full screen asap.
http://youtu.be/FfZUzEB4rM8

If you would like to see my YouTube videos, click this link… http://www.youtube.com/user/JimJ1579/videos

There are more than 600 photo albums in my Picasa Web Albums File. To gain access, you simply have to click this link… https://picasaweb.google.com/jimjrver

If you have not checked out my Ramblin Man’s Photos Blog, you can do so by clicking this link…http://ramblinmanphotos.wordpress.com/

For more information about my books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

All original works copyrighted – Jim Jaillet -2018

Mary Abhors Waste…

My sweet Mary is many things. One of the things she is…is a true environmentalist and she really hates to waste anything. Essentially not wanting to discard an item until it is totally used up.

I on the other hand…being an ex-engineer which means I’m logical…believe when something is nearing the end of its life…you replace it when it’s practical and convenient. For instance…I would much rather replace a coming-to-its-end-of-life item in the convenience of Mary’s yard instead of waiting for it to die when out on the open road with the RV.

So it was the case with the matter of replacing the TV in our motorhome. Even though our motorhome is a 2006…the TV was manufactured in 2004 which makes it seven years old. It’s showing signs of giving up the ghost with about a six-inch round spot of incorrect colors. My sweet Mary was resistant to the change indicating…”But it still works.”

Since our current plans have it structured that once I leave with the motorhome shortly after Thanksgiving…it…the motorhome is not expected to return to Mary’s yard once again until October, 2013. In other words…it will be out in the world for the next two years. Confident that if not changed now…the TV would quit within the next two years…out on the open road. Because changing TV’s will require some degree of modification to the TV’s holding cabinet…and since Mary’s youngest son just happens to be a carpenter…I indicated that it makes sense to change it now rather than out on the open road.

I finally won her over with the comment…”Do you drive on your cars tires until they blow-out before replacing them?” With that behind us…she finally agreed to the change while the motorhome is here. In addition…we’ve got a delightful six-channel surround-sound audio system and the current TV has that crummy picture. True we do not watch a lot of TV…but when we do…why not have a good picture and sound?

So…in my true ex-engineer way…I got on the Internet and spent several days researching new TV’s. I finally found the right one. An LG Led-Lcd 26″ flat panel set. We bought it at Best Buy in Stockton, California….about 60 miles from Mary’s home. Since her youngest son…the carpenter…lives only a couple of miles from Best Buy…he picked it up for us and delivered it to Mary’s home yesterday. Here’s a photo of the box…

Mary’s son…the carpenter…has obligations for the next few days and will return next Monday to help us with the install.

In other news…

I continue working on the motorhome. Up on the roof for the last time yesterday…I applied a covering of Protect-All to all the plastic items on the roof. It protects these items for the sun’s UV rays which in time causes them to disintegrate. Protect-all slows the process.

Also I received this strange-looking device in the mail…

“What’s that?”…you ask. Why it’s an RV Refrigerator Cooling Fan.

RV Refrigerators are not the normal refrigerators with which you might be familiar. They sometime struggle to maintain the recommended 33-40 degree temperature. Usually two things cause this struggle. First is when the outside temperature gets over 80 degrees and secondly when too full. Unfortunately…my Sweet Mary has a tendency to put ten pounds of stuff into a five-pound package. Remember thou shall not waste? Wouldn’t want to waste any of that storage space!  🙂

When an RV refrigerator is too full…the air cannot circulate and here comes the struggle. This silent fan rests directly upon the cooling fins in our refrigerator which is supposed to help circulate the air in the RV refrigerator and hence help maintain the recommended temperatures. At least that’s the theory. For a measly $15…it’s worth the effort to install it to see if it will work. Here’s a photo of it in the refrigerator…

Hooked to the hot wire of the refrigerator light…it draws very little power and runs even when the door is closed. Will it help? Only time will tell.

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2011
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

The Change-Over To My New Computer Is Now Complete…

One week ago today I bought my New Sony Vaio computer. Now…seven days later…I can declare the change-over from my old Toshiba Satellite to my new Sony Vaio computer has been completed and I must confess that I am very pleased because…I must admit…that I was not looking forward to the change-over process.

The below two photos of my new Sony Vaio computer are from the Best Buy website…

My largest apprehension was making the change-over from Windows XP to Windows 7 Home Premium operating system. I really loved my XP system…but because I knew that my 6.5 year old computer would not last forever…I knew the day would eventually have to occur. The biggest fear I had was…I had heard that Windows 7 is nothing more than a fancy version of Windows Vista. I had grown to really dislike Windows Vista after I had become somewhat acquainted with it while helping my life-partner Mary figure out how to work with it on her computer.

After only seven days I’m happy to say that I have really grown to like Windows 7. No…it is not a fancy Windows Vista…it’s a vastly improved version of Windows Vista. Yes…it even looks a lot like Windows Vista…but it is MUCH MORE intuitive and user-friendly. With Windows Vista every time you ran into a problem…it was a real pain in the you-know-where to figure out how to once again go in a forward direction. Not so with Windows 7. When you run into what would have been a problem…it now says…hang on a moment while I fix the problem…and very quickly the problem has been addressed and you are once again on your way. For instance…when I plugged in my printer…which I wasn’t sure was even going to work…it went from…device recognition…downloading device drivers…searching for driver updates…downloading driver updates…installing drivers…ready to use…all automatically…in about one minute. I can live with that! A most delightful change in attitude!

The second thing I did not particularly like about Mary’s Toshiba Satellite with Windows Vista was the smaller keyboard with the large number pad on the right of the letter keys. I used to think that the number pad on the right would be just fine if I was an accountant…which I am not. The Sony Vaio solves that problem with a very efficient full-sized keyboard. I have even began to overcome my dislike for the number pad and find myself using it rather than having to reach over the letter keys. I am very pleased with both the design and functionally of the Sony Vaio computer!

So…with the two major hurdles overcome…next came the files transfer operation. I started out trying to use my 16GB flash drive…but that proved to be an exercise in futility. I finally ended that problem by buying a Belkin Windows 7 Easy Transfer Cable at Wal-Mart for $25 as opposed to Best Buy for $39. Once I had that cable the transfer of about 50GB worth of files was accomplished smoothly in about 1.5 hours. That took care of that problem.

The rest of the time has been spent becoming familiar with new ways of doing every-day computer functions. Once again…this is an area where Windows 7 really shines. The learning process has been relatively painless and I find myself feeling kind of weird complementing the Windows 7 engineers. As I said earlier…I really hate Windows Vista!

My next chore was to clean-up the old computer… both externally and internally. Since my new computer is only slightly smaller than my old one…I managed to get the old one into the new computer shipping box. Last Saturday I took it to Fedex and shipped it off to my grand-kids hoping they will have some fun and enjoyment from it. It gets to live a second life…at least for a while.

Being an ex-quality control engineer…I am not usually an easy person to please when it comes to electronics. Some might be inclined to call me a bit of a nit-picker! But…after only seven days…all my fears and anxieties  have been nicely addressed and I am once again a happy camper!

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2011
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://lulu.com/panamaorbust

I Buy A New Computer…

My Toshiba Satellite computer is 6.5 years old…a dependable workhorse…that was showing signs of getting tired. Since I recently installed the 4G modem and router in the motorhome…the cpu would occasionally load up to 100% capacity…locking up the computer and requiring a re-boot to be functional once again. In addition the brightness on the screen was showing signs of diminishing with age and trying to brighten it up via the control panel had little effect. So…I began considering a new computer. Here’s old dependable…

But I really loved my Windows XP operating system and hated the idea of parting with it…but facts are facts…nothing lasts forever and change appears to be the only constant in life. I hate the Windows Vista operating system (which Mary has on her computer and loves) and now that Windows 7 is here…it appeared it was time to go ahead and take the leap.

Last Friday while in town I needed to stop at Wal-Mart and while there stopped by to look at computers. They did not have many on display…perhaps 12…but one of them happened to be the Sony Vaio VPCEH11FX…a very nicely designed unit. Wal-Mart price $499.

Next I decided to stop at the nearby Best Buy store where I was likely to see more computers on display. I immediately zeroed in on the Toshiba Satellite’s…when all of a sudden….there it was again…the Same Sony I saw at Wal-Mart…only at Best Buy the price was $479.

I tend not to be an impulsive buyer…so I didn’t buy it…then. Instead I returned to the motorhome and fired up old dependable…to begin my research of the Sony computer. I’m an ex-engineer…I just cannot help myself…I need to feel comfortable about what I am buying. Several hours later over the next couple of days…the research was completed and I was ready to buy.

Part of what my research revealed is that all companies online are selling this computer for $549…all except Amazon…who usually has the lowest prices…was selling it for $599. I never thought Best Buy would have the best price…I thought they would be the highest. But in this case they were the Best Buy!

So, yesterday back I went to Best Buy and did the deed. Here’s the Best Buy page on this computer…

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Sony+-+VAIO+E+Series+Laptop+/+Intel%26%23174%3B+Pentium%26%23174%3B+Processor+/+15.5%22+Display+/+4GB+Memory+/+500GB+Hard+Drive/2925714.p?id=1218364889388&skuId=2925714&st=2925714&cp=1&lp=1

Here are two photos from the Best Buy website…

If you are interested… here is a short video review of the computer in white…I bought black…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-Ahb0OQDKE

One of my decision-making factors was that Geeks On Tour…RVing computer experts (husband and wife) who travel the country teaching RVers about computers…both own Sony Vaio computers and speak very highly of them. Here’s their website link… http://geeksontour.com/

Another deciding factor is that I’m a quasi-Sony fan having owned a number Sony items over the years. Last week I just bought a new Sony digital camera. Being an ex- quality control engineer I’ve alway associated the Sony name with quality.

When I went back to Best Buy yesterday,,,I went to look for the Sony computer,,,and couldn’t find it by looking for a $479 price tag. I asked a sales associate where was the Sony compter? We looked together and found it…at a new price of $449. The price dropped $30 over the weekend. So the moral of this story is…it pays to do your homework. In this case…knowledge that it was the right computer to buy…plus a $30 price reduction, Such a deal!

And so I now start the process of learning a new computer, operating system (Windows 7) and the transferring all of my files from the old to new computer. Here’s a photo showing my transfer station with the new computer on the left and old dependable on the right… making it easy to sit before both computers as necessary…

For your techies…the new computer has an Intel Pentium B940 Processor which just came out in June of 2011, 4GB Ram, 500 GB hard drive and a 15.5 inch screen. More than enough computer for my purposes.

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2011
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://lulu.com/panamaorbust

Mary’s Computer Is Toast!

Jim says:

Mary’s Compaq laptop computer has given up the ghost. In recent days it has started making a loud putt-putting sound and the area of the hard drive is so hot you cannot hold your hand in that area. Both signs of imminent hard drive failure. With concern about of that event about to happen which meant losing all of her data we headed off to Best Buy to see The Geek Squad.

The Geek Squad Mobile.

The charges to diagnose/repair the computer could not be justified so Mary decided to buy a new 500 GB device called Click Free. Upon plugging the unit into the computer, without a click, it immediately down loads everything on the hard drive into storage.

The new 500gb unit is the small black box on the lower left.

It took about one hour to download her 17,864 files which included four of her exercise videos. She is now greatly relieved that her data has not been lost.

Mary’s computer got so hot I held a fan on it during the data transfer.

Today we will transfer her data from the Click Free device to her new Toshiba Notebook Computer which she bought a few months ago as a travel computer. Then we can get back to doing what we do best…enjoying the great RVing lifestyle.

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2009
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.panamaorbust.com