"#Moon + Venus" from #Vancouver 2012 Jan 26, 17:00 #iPhone4s

Taken at Starbucks

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Motorcycle vs. Car Drift Battle 2

Motorcycle vs. Car Drift Battle 2 is a video that shows how much fun skilled drivers/riders with capable machines can have on a twisty, closed-circuit road. After watching this my heart was racing and my foot and wrists were twitchy. I didn't know if I felt more like getting back into my Subaru Impreza WRX STI or Suzuki Burgman 400c scooter.

By the way, the road in the video is the Maryhill Loops Road in Washington. It's closed to public vehicles, but available to rent for special events. Too cool.

Drive safe!

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My #GMC #Denali from earlier today. #snow #iphone4s

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Clickfree Automatic Backup Transformer SE = Awesome!

I was at Fred Meyer on the weekend and bought the Clickfree Automatic Backup Transformer SE. It's a small USB device that allows you to convert any external hard drive (or any iPod/iPhone) into a Clickfree drive. I bought it not so much for the backup function, but mostly for the "Bonus Feature" listed on the back of the package that says "Automatically copy the music from any iPod to your computer." I thought that this would be very handy in case the music on my desktop was ever lost. I'm so happy with the way that this worked that I had to write a review.

When I first plugged the Clickfree into my computer, the program opened up and asked me to plug in the hard drive or iPod. However, when I did that, the software did not respond. I went to the Clickfree website for customer support and they had a page that showed very clearly how to update the Clickfree Transformer to the latest version. Once I updated to the latest version, I started over and everything went very smoothly....

When you connect your iPod to the Clickfree Transformer, the program starts automatically. There's a 30-second countdown timer that shows to allow you to choose options before it starts to back-up your data. One of the options on the screen is to copy music from your iPod. When you choose that option, you are given a choice of copying All Music or selecting only the playlists that you want. You can also select the directory on your computer where you want it to be copied to.

The most impressive thing is that it copies the songs and playlists and adds it to your iTunes Library automatically. There is no extra work that you need to do. I know they advertised it as being easy, but I didn't believe that it would be that easy!

The fact that I was able to buy the Clickfree Transformer SE for only $10 makes it extra sweet. I saw it for sale at that price earlier in the summer and I think that Fred Meyer is trying to get rid of old stock. There were only a couple of them left on the shelf on the weekend, but I'm surprised that they weren't all snapped up sooner.

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2007 GMC Yukon XL Denali - 39803 km - Silvania Silverstar Headlamp Bulb

From 2007 GMC Yukon XL Denali

The driver-side headlamp on our GMC Yukon XL Denali burnt out on the weekend. It's such a pet peeve of mine seeing cars with only one light that I went out and bought a pair of Silvania Silverstar bulbs and installed them as soon as I could. However, I also had to mutter under my breath at the GM designers who made the simple car maintenance task of changing a light bulb such a pain in the neck. Basically, on the Yukon you need to loosen the wheel liners, grille and front bumper in order to get access to the headlamps. But there was no way I was going to pay the dealership to change a light bulb for me.

I originally wanted to buy Silverstar Ultra bulbs which are supposed to be 50% brighter than stock bulbs but Canadian Tire didn't have the right size (H13/9008) in stock. I had to settle for the regular Silverstars which were $10 cheaper but only 30% brighter. My initial impression of the Silverstar bulbs is that they are definitely an improvement over stock. After being used to the European-spec HID headlamps in my 1999 VW Passat and the stock HID headlamps in my 2006 Subaru Impreza WRX STI, I never liked the quality of the lighting in the Denali at all. The Silverstar bulbs give a noticeably whiter light without any hint of blue common in cheap aftermarket bulbs. The biggest problem with high performance halogen bulbs is that they have a much shorter lifespan. Silvania states on the package itself that they are expected to last only 1/4 the life of a stock bulb. However, I will gladly pay for better performance even if it becomes an annual cost. I also disabled the DRL to see if that will help with how much used I get out of these Silverstar bulbs. They do come with a 1 year warranty. Besides, now that I've changed the headlight bulb on the Denali once, it will be much easier--and less time consuming--the next time....

And the next time will definitely be sooner than later because the marker light in the driver-side headlamp is also burnt out and I'll need to buy a new wedge bulb to replace it.

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