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.

Houston, we have ignition

It's official -- I'm registered for the Aramco Houston Half Marathon!

The way this first Houston Marathon lottery announced results was a bit backwards in my opinion. The first email was a credit card receipt from Marathonguide.com, which made the "congratulations" email from the marathon committee the next morning more whimper and less bang. But the important part is that I can light the fuse on a training regimen that will culminate in that familiar cannon blast to start my next goal race in 23 weeks.

Meanwhile I'm still dealing with August here and the scheduled workout for this date was "sucky run."

Yeah, I'm being facetious. It started with the alarm clock sounding at an early hour, but by the time I was able to dump my butt out of bed, there was no way I was making it in to run with the Katy Fit crew. So I took myself out to my familiar trail on edge of the reservoir, where it was dam hot with the morning sun shining directly on the shadeless trail. I tried to compensate for the heat by going shirtless for most of the four miles. Fortunately, it's a lightly traveled path up there and I don't worry much about scaring innocent orphans and pets with my bared flesh. Even so, conditions were really tough and I ended up walking a lot of the distance.

In better news, I think my core conditioning is going in the right direction. I'm able to hold a plank position for 30 seconds now. Since I couldn't even make it to ten when I started, I'm celebrating this as progress.

Yes, I felt bad for not making it out to my training group, but found a way to make the situation work. I took the opportunity to perform an overdue spark plug change because I didn't drive anywhere this morning and my car's engine block was "cold." (Note to future self: If you're still driving the Blue Wagon of Happiness a couple of years after this blog post, it probably has between 210,000 and 220,000 miles now. Go change them again, buster!)

Here's hoping for smoother running all around in the near future!

Fall opens with a bloom of bullet points

• There's no doubt now; autumn is firmly in gear. The air is cooling. The calendar has flipped to October. Pumpkins and (artificial) Christmas trees are prominently on display at the local plant nursery.
  
• I've updated my running calendar blog with a lot of events coming up in October and November, many of which seem to be new -- at least to me. H-Town runners, have fun scheduling your weekends.
• I've already signed up for the Celiac Run and the Energy Capital Run; it's always nice to be able to support races that are in easy reach of home. I'm still far, far off my peak speed from the spring. Anything below a 40-minute 5K will be acceptable right now.
• Spearmint has earned my respect. A plant which I thought had been neglected to death during the brutal summer heat on my patio has sprouted fresh leaves as fall has started. I'm rewarding it with a larger container that won't be so prone to drying out.
• My crop of Swiss chard was totally overrun by some sort of leaf miner bugs that ripped holes in the foliage, then stripped them clean. It only took a week. The devastation was so complete that the barren stems that remained reminded me of those pictures of the timberlands surrounding Mount Saint Helens after the mountain blew up. After raising the white flag, I've planted nasturtium and cilantro seeds in those containers instead. Maybe they'll be less appetizing to pests.
• Speaking of seeding, fall is supposed to be the proper time to sow wildflowers for next spring's bloom. Within the view from my patio, there is a patch of earth just outside the apartment complex that is just growing some very ordinary weeds at the moment. I am having thoughts of doing something to help it become more interesting in the future....
• I'm glad to see a new season of The Amazing Race. I'm still hoping that the producers will shed the manufactured drama that infects just about all "reality TV" and revert back to a focus on team logistics and problem solving that brought me in as a viewer in the first place. It's a faint hope, to be sure.
• The CR-V clocked its 175,000th mile this week. I'm looking forward to posting a long-long-term test drive report in a few months once she hits her 10th birthday. It's been a pretty good ride so far.

Just some Wednesday musings

• If you live and work in the Houston area, odds are now heavily in your favor that you have power again. If you don't -- and assuming that your property hasn't simply been wrecked -- then I'd say that fortune owes you one for your inconvenience.
• Commuting is still a big mess with numerous traffic lights still inoperable all over the place.
  
• Texans can breathe easier knowing that our hurricane season is practically over.
  
• I've discovered that a prepaid Subway card is a helpful tool for avoiding greasier lunch spots.
• I saw the season premiere of Heroes on one of the local cinema screens, which was a fun way to experience television. It's a smart business move on the part of the theater as well. How else do you pack the house on a Monday night?
• Annoyingly stupid car commercial #1: Cadillac brags that they now offer a hybrid-power Escalade because they "they should." There's two lines of reasoning for buying a hybrid -- saving gas money or saving the environment. It's going to be a challenge to save much gas money if you're still only eking out 12 miles per gallon even with hybrid technology. And as for environmentalism . . . well, you're only eking out 12 miles per gallon. Exactly how stupid does GM think we are??
  
• Annoyingly stupid car commercial #2: Lincoln is touting that most of their offerings only need regular octane gasoline to operate. People who are in the market for a luxury car are highly unlikely to be bothered by a five percent difference in their fuel bill.
  

157,444 miles later....

The tally so far this summer for the CR-V:

Steering rack #2 to replace the leaking original.
Battery #3, a Duralast Gold
Four new Bosch 7562 spark plugs
Four fresh quarts of Mobil 1 5W-30
Unifilter foam air filter cleaned and oiled

Other than the rack and last summer's replacement of the radiator, I'd say the "Blue Betty" is still holding together pretty well for an eight-year-old car.

Fuelish Behavior, part 2

Yesterday I blogged about long lines of drivers all atwitter about $3.75/gal gasoline. Well, I drove by the same station tonight. I guess the cars of the twittered all had their tanks filled yesterday, because the long lines were gone. I quickly found an available pump and topped off at a rate a penny lower.

I really shouldn't, but I feel a little smarter tonight.

Fuelish Behavior

A line of cars in the double-digits waiting for their chance at the pump. Is this picture from the gas crisis of the 1970s? No. Is this picture from the Hurricane Rita hysteria of 2005? No. Is this some crazy radio station morning show promotion? No.


No, these people are swarming this Chevron station for the privilege of paying $3.75 per gallon. I heard a lot of impatient honking as I pondered this scene. Granted, this is a rate about 15 to 20 cents cheaper than other stations in the area, but I can't help but wonder if these folks were able to compensate for the lost value of their time and, ironically, gas burned while idling in line.

What would we have thought if someone told us two years ago that $3.75 would soon be considered an exciting bargain for a gallon of 87 octane?