Saturn Vue vs. FM Transmitter

I have been a little jealous of a feature that the wife’s minivan has. No it’s not the power sliding doors or the heated seats. It’s the little 3.5mm jack and usb port that her radio has.  I have tried a bunch of FM Transmitters to get the same effect, but the reception is horrible.  Probably due to the fact that we are right between St Cloud and the Twin Cities.

So what I did this morning was to rip apart one of these FM transmitters and see if I could find a schedmatic or something online and try to mod it. From the way it looks the antenna is routed through the headset jack. So (in theory) a longer or better placed cable could do the trick. 

With the help of the Panavise InDash website I found directions on how to pull out the radio. I have done it before while working at Verizon, installing a speakerphone kit for a customer, but I always like to have the directions handy, just in case.  So the next step is getting the car up to temperature so I can start pulling at panels.

I think that if I can route the cable into the dash, behind the radio, and have it pop out right where my phone mount is it will not only look nicer, but it just might solve my reception issues.  Stay tuned for an update on how badly I mess something up. lol.

Mall of America / Nickelodeon Universe

We got word this morning that due to the filming of a commercial all of the rides at Nickelodeon Universe in Mall of America were free, so we packed up and made the trip into the cities for a day at the mall.

It was a great time.  The girl rode a bunch of rides and decided to ride at the very front of the log ride (Log Chute) and ended up getting soaked. I was sitting behind her so I only got a little wet, but with near zero temperatures outside it made it a little cold… The boy had a hard time (partly to being overly tired) with us walking by the Pillow Pet booth and then the Build a Bear store. Simply because when he sees either his Pillow Pet, or his “Camo” bear at Build a Bear he has this fear that it is his and someone stole it from him.
Was a fun day, and I have been wanting to go for a long time. I guess I am glad that we got to go on all the rides today for free.   It made it an extra special day.  Plus the kids got to meet with Dora…

Sliders

I sit here on the couch getting ready to watch the last episode of the last season of the 90s tv show Sliders.  You remember, the one with Quinn, Rembrant, Wade, and The Professor?  They “Slide” between different dimensions. “The same year, the same Earth, only different dimensions”.




It was a great series and I will miss it, although it did help wean me off it with the cast member changes they did.  There was only one character that carried over from the first episode – Rembrandt (Cleavant Derricks).  They even went as far as creating a Quinn 2 character when Jerry O’Connell left the show at the end of season 4 – played by a different person.  

I may sound negative about it, but it was a good show, and it falls into that category of the sci-fi show about a bunch of people stuck somewhere and trying to get back home (like Dungeons and Dragons cartoon, Quantum Leap). 

Now let’s see what else is out there on Netflix that I want to watch….

Geocaching

Dropped off the girl at preschool and we went out to find the geocache in Monticello. It was put on by the Chamber of Commerce, and wouldn’t you imagine it, the location was the street corner right outside their office.

We looked all over but found nothing, just lots of snow (unlike the picture – thanks google street view).  Maybe the middle of a record breaking snowfall winter was a bad time for a geocache.  The other thought is that some kids found it first and stole it or moved it. Either way it was a waste of time and made me not want to do it again.