Singing the Kenwood Bluetooth blues

I think I can squeeze a  few more quality years out of my old designed-before-the-21st-century car. But I also felt that I couldn't spend them with a 20th century car stereo. So I decided to operate the audio system under the new management of a Kenwood KDC-BT752HD.

It's mostly been a blast. The HD Radio hype is finally a reality for me. For capable stations where the Kenwood can get  a strong enough signal for a digital signal lock, the sound quality improvement is very noticeable.  The USB port and Bluetooth connectivity means that I no longer need to tether my phone with an AUX cable to hear digital music.

If everything was perfect, then I might not have even been motivated to type up this blog. But it hasn't and I'm really posting this to possibly assist others that run into Bluetooth issues with this stereo. You see, a few times while paired with my phone, the audio has started stuttering. Last night, the pairing completely failed, to the point where the display gave an "HF ERROR 68" which the manual instructed me to remedy by performing a factory reset. But I had remembered reading a couple of reviews (versus many, many positive ones) on the Crutchfield website that alluded to some Bluetooth issues on this headunit model.

Well, I hope I've fixed the problem in a more permanent fashion, because it turns out that Kenwood has released a firmware update that is supposed to address Bluetooth pairing and Pandora stability issues. Oddly enough for the year 2012, the firmware can only be updated via a file burned to CD-R, and not a USB flash drive. Luckily, I still had a few of those around, and I followed the instructions to the letter, including the part about idling the engine while parked during the upgrade. The instructions say that it may take up to 15 minutes, and I got my "COMPLETE" message after about 12. Checking the firmware version on the display again confirmed that the device updated from firmware version 3.00 to version 3.01.

If I never post about this again, then it's safe to assume everything's peachy. If you've come here via some sort of search engine link, then I hope I've pointed you in the right direction in addressing your Bluetooth issues.

Catching Up: Girls On The Run, Flash Mobs, Lottery, etc.

For the first time in eight years, I did not take part in any of the area races on Independence Day. I was up a little on the late side as I watched my first MLS game on Tuesday night at the Houston Dynamo's new downtown stadium. For all the wonderful crowd buzz that abounded in boisterous shades of orange, it felt like nothing really happened as we all went home after a nil-nil conclusion in the match against the Chicago Fire.

But to resume my running story here on the upper reaches of Buffalo Bayou, there's been a little more than nothing as I've been trying to keep the fitness fires lit with some fun runs close to home. It's just that I hadn't felt motivated to blog much about them. In late May, the Greater Houston Girls On The Run organization held their annual fundraiser 5K and I rolled up the neighborhood concrete course in about 32 minutes. Then last month, I tried something new as Sun and Ski Sports put together a weekly Flash Mob Race Series. I made a couple of the races. Each course was roughly 3 miles or even less, but on the cross-country terrain of Terry Hershey Park and George Bush Park. Combining the late p.m. heat and the off-road footing meant slow times but fun times. At least I came away with a copy of Jason Robillard's The Barefoot Running Book as a door prize. From what I read online, there may be more Flash Mob madness yet to come.

And finally, it's already time to start aiming the training towards winter goal races. I successfully made it through the lottery and registration process for the 2013 Aramco Houston Half Marathon. Unlike the Independence Day runs, my Houston Marathon weekend participation streak is a meaningful one I'd like to keep rolling.