Jeep Tunes, iPhone Style

Some times it's nice to go for a jeep ride, the radio off, just listening to the sounds of the road, nature, and all that surrounds you. Sometimes. Most of the time it's more nicer to listen to your favorite tunes. There's really only a few options available to listen to music and even fewer to listen to podcasts. AM/FM radio is ok, tapes/CDs are a little better, satellite radio is just a little better (redundant!), and the best situation is when you can listen to your MP3s. My jeep allows me to have 6 DVD disks crammed full of digital media. That's about 24 gigabytes for those keeping count. Yes, in dash is great when wheeling, but most of the time your iPhone rules! If you're bored of the iPod just switch on Pandora or Slacker Radio! But managing that digital media has been a chore, a real tedious bore. Pairing your iPhone to one computer just plane sucks for those that travel and are on the go, or for someone who just wants to get a new song at work. There's just never been a reasonable solution. Until now, go get a Mac. I have a MacBook.

Here's what i did. i knew that i didn't want to pair my iPhone with my work machine and that i didn't want to clog it up with all my photos and music. Plus what happens when you have to give the Mac back?

I put all my music and photos on an external hard drive. This is a great way to keep a mobile/offsite backup of your precious photos and music! i took the MacBook that work gave me and created my Windows 7 VM. You can use VirtualBox, VMWare Fusion, Parallels or whatever. I chose Parallels. Inside that VM i installed iTunes. i pointed the music library at the external hard disk. All the files i sync with the phone are on that disk, which keeps the work machine free of it. i keep the snapshots/backups of the VM on the external disk as well in case the machine is lost or dies. I can now move that VM, and along with it all my data, to any machine. Further, there's no need to copy all that data to the new machine and there is no 60+ GB transfer of the VM when moving to another host.

So, i sync my iPhone to iTunes running in a VM. It's totally portable! i'm no longer stuck!

If i am ever traveling and i break my phone or whatever, i can fire up the laptop, plug in the external drive and sync. Elegant ain't even close. Ya, you don't need a Mac, the solution works on Windows too, but a PC won't run Windows like a Mac will :)

Oh, not to mention, now i can use the work machine as a portable music powerhouse. When i am on vacation i use iTunes as a media server and put the Roku where the drunk partiers can play whatever they want without fondling my Mac.

Another day trip to Uwharrie

i totally forgot to blog about my last oil change. i know, the topic is so riveting right? It actually is! You see the oil that came out of my jeep looked pretty much like the oil coming from the Deepwater Horizon. Luckily though, my oil spill wasn't burning. Anyhow i need to get the mileage on the change. I'll get that from the trip B odometer and edit this post in a bit.

The real reason i am posting is because i took the kids to Uwharrie for a day trip yesterday. In short, we had a blast! The 9 year old boy took the wheel for the first time solo. We jacked the seat close enough and he got his instructions from the old man. Yep, i was riding shotgun while the youngster took control of the rig. "The rig", anyone have a suggestion for names? It's a tradition in my family to name your vehicle and i have been lame enough to not give it a name.

Well, the boy did good. He once did what we all have done, step on the brake to stop and NOT push in the clutch. Doh! It was interesting to watch, the boy standing on the brake while the jeep keeps powering through in 4 low 1st gear. LOL, we all learn. It finally stalled out and he got to start it up again. He drove for another 5 minutes and gave up the controls. He likes to sit on my lap and steer. Kinda nice as a father to know he's still not a man. I would miss my boy terribly if he was.

Here's the bitter sweet part...



Ya, the kids just want to play in mud so bad. Like, they want it more than Jennifer Anniston wants to prove she can be as motherly as Jolie! The sweet part is watching my spawn giggle with delight at getting muddy and seeing mud waves splash over the hood. The bitter part is knowing what it takes to clean that sh1t off! Ahhhhhhhh. I'm gonna have to work harder than an 11 year old in a Chinese gaming sweatshop to get this mud off. The weather app says it should "pour" like a banshee today and i'm hoping that saves me some time and munney at the do it yo-self car wash.

Anyhow, jeeps get rebuilt, they're just machines. Your kids don't, they get old and before you know it they don't want to go jeeping with you anymore. Do what they want to do, give them a childhood to remember. And there's my 2 cents.