Tech Tools Toys and Tidbits

We came arrayed with a variety of tech toys and tools on this trip. Normally, our trips are short enough that it’s not worth the bother. However, on a 4000 mile drive, the boredom might be fatal to one or both of us. We need some entertainment. And besides email, we need a reliable and inexpensive way to phone friends and family and keep on top of bills, Fred’s Boojummobile work and our investments. And of course, we want to have the means to publish this blog easily,

For the long ride, we installed a new stereo with XM (satellite) radio and an iPod cable. We’re amazed that XM stayed with us nearly through the entire length of Mexico. Before leaving, I loaded the iPod with several audio books and music from our CD library, a few new downloads from allofmp3.com and itunes, and some help from Rick and Julie. We’ve got a great playlist â€“ rock, classic rock, popular, Broadway and some classical and world music. In this part of the world, you can’t be without Bob Marley and Jimmy Buffet. Don’t leave home without Eric Clapton, Queen, Willy Nelson, and a few other standbys.

Both of us must have our laptops, and are in fact, lounging on our veranda pecking away as I write. Iâ€™m on my Powerbook while Fred’s on his Dell laptop. (OK, we can’t be totally compatible!)

As far as cameras, we’ve gotten lazy. We really like our Canon digital Elph for its simplicity and compact size. 4 megapixels and 3x (real) zoom. It has its limits, but for snapshots, it’s great. We don’t get great wildlife photos, but that’s not entirely the fault of the camera! I forgot my USB cable, but it’s almost as easy to upload the pix to our computers using the CF card and PCMCIA adapter. Photoshop Elements and iPhoto are responsible for any fine tuning.

But most miraculous: Skype. Fred subscribed us to the Skype voice-over-IP (VOIP) service and constructed a Skype setup on his laptop. With Skype, you can call anywhere in the world for 2 cents a minute and get unlimited free incoming calls, computer to computer calls and voicemails. Stats say that 20% of the phone calls from Costa Rica use Skype. (Even before we got here!) It’s mind boggling put on the BlueTooth cordless headset, connect the laptop to the internet, punch in your pal’s phone number, and amazingly, hear the ringing phone and the person (or just as often, voicemail) answering the call. Gadzooks! On top of that, both our home phone and Fred’s mobile phone are forwarded to the Skype service. For now, you’ll hear a generic answering message, but in general, it’s totally transparent to callers.

At the Internet cafes or shops weâ€™ve found, internet connections cost just over a dollar an hour and wireless is beginning to be available.

Thought about DVDâ€™s but didnâ€™t get around to buying new ones.

I had also hoped to find a more portable keyboard than my Korg M1 to bring along for vocal practice. But I will have to find something here, beg, borrow, steal or even buy a small personal â€˜board.

We also installed a voltage inverter in the Landcruiser dash to charge our toys as we drive. The camera battery charger can only fit upside down in the dash. After a bump, the batter jogs out and we just reinsert it. Even with our rolling charger, we set up a comical snakes-nest of gadget chargers in hotels.

All in all, this collection of gear is serving us pretty well. Stay tuned for some vignettes and ‘random intelligence’ on our journey.

P.S.
It’s hardly a technical factor, but we are having mail forwarded from a Miami branch of Mail Boxes Etc. to Costa Rica. If you happen to need to mail something to us, it is fastest to mail to us at this address:
ATTN: Carolyn Mcclain – Occasional Plan – Rohrmoser
SJO 473
4440 N.W. 73rd Avenue
Miami, FL 33166

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