Tag: riding my bike

How To Change A Dell DJ Battery

On By Michel McDonaldIn Music, Products I Like, TechLeave a comment

I just posted this video on YouTube.  It’s sort of a tutorial on how to change the battery in a Dell DJ-20.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svD_W3PCrSc

I got this for Christmas in 2004 but it didn’t actually arrive until the middle of January 2005 so technically the day I got it is when the warranty started.  Over the next year the battery would start to die so when I charge it it’s supposed to have 8 hours of battery life but that started going down more and more until it wouldn’t even turn on at all.

I called Dell about getting a new battery but since my warranty had lapsed (they never contacted me to renew it, I didn’t think to call them because I thought I had a 2 year warranty, that’s what I chose when we bought it through their website) so they refused to help me.  I told the person I was talking to that I basically had a $318 paper weight.  The guy said yeah I understand but without a warranty there is nothing we can do.  I asked about buying a new battery, they wanted like $75 for a new one.  I couldn’t afford that.

So it sat in a drawer until September 2008 when I wanted to start riding my bike for exercise.  I didn’t want to ride without my tunes so I went on eBay and found a battery for a Dell DJ-20.  Unfortunately it was .50mm too wide and it would’ve ended up costing me more than the battery was worth to send it back so I said screw it, I’ll make it work.

In this video I will demonstrate how to remove the old one and put in the new one.  Although mine I couldn’t put it in so I had to tape it to the back.  But it works and that’s all that matters.  I actually put the Dell DJ into a neoprene camera case to protect it.

I don’t know why but when I was video taping myself doing this my hands all of a sudden got so shaky.  I was kinda afraid of breaking it when pulling the old battery out even though I had to put it in for this video and then take it back out lol.  I knew what I was doing because I did it before but I got nervous all of a sudden I guess.

Anyway, for those people who have been searching for this, here you go.  I would’ve embedded the video in here but it just looks better at the YouTube website since it’s widescreen.

New Way of Thinking About Food

On By Michel McDonaldIn Diet, Exercise, HealthLeave a comment

Boy oh boy.  Here comes the post where I have to talk about changing my diet habits when I start riding my bike again.

I haven’t actually gotten the new front wheel yet and I haven’t gotten my Camelbak or Diablo skull cap so I can’t really start riding yet.  Even if I get my wheel tomorrow, if I don’t have the camelbak or the skull cap I’m not riding yet.  Yeah I know I’ve ridden without them just fine in the past but I really want to have them when I start riding again.  I think it will help me stay hydrated a lot longer than the old 32oz bottle because I can feel free to drink more since I now have 70oz of water to drink so I won’t be conserving it so much.

But what about my food habits?  Ok, well, no more McDonald’s that’s number one.  No more fried chicken from Albertson’s or cocoa pebbles cereal filled all the way to the top of the bowl.

From now on I am going to try my hardest to only eat good foods.  I don’t know what is a good example of good foods but I’m sure I will figure it out soon enough.  Instead of buying the crap cereals, I’m going to buy either Raisin Bran or the Weight Watchers cereal.  Costco used to have the Weight Watchers cereal and it was so good and I was measuring it instead of just pouring it into my bowl.  I have to start doing that again.

It’s all mentally and physically preparing myself for the torture I’m going to be putting myself through on a daily basis.  Can you imagine riding for 20 miles straight in a couple of hours burning something like 1000 calories?  Then coming home and taking a shower just to get ready to go to McDonald’s to eat lunch?  OMG That totally cancels out the whole ride.  Just 1 McChicken sandwich cancels all that out.  Not to mention the 2nd chicken sandwich that I would normally eat as well as the small fry and 2 apple pies.  I don’t count the diet coke, it has no calories.

No, I’m going to have to spend a little more money on my food at the store rather than eating a $5 lunch at McDonald’s.  And when we go out to restaurants I’m going to have to get the side salad or sandwich every time so I don’t cancel myself out again.

Oh and forget about ever being able to have ice cream again lol.  Ok, Ice Cream is fine in moderation.  I can safely eat ice cream as long as it’s 1 scoop of ice cream, not an entire container of ice cream.  You know, those little $5 cups of Häagen-Dazs.

With my birthday coming up it’s not going to be easy for me but I think I can manage.  And Darrin is diabetic so I know he’s not going to buy me a cake that he can’t eat.  So I think that we will figure it out.  They have these single serve cakes that we can buy and we can buy 1 of those small Häagen-Dazs ice cream cups and split it.  It’s hard to scoop from a tiny cup lol.  Oh wait they have these little tiny cups that measures to I think half a cup of ice cream which I believe is 1 serving so maybe I’ll buy 2 of those lol.  They ain’t cheap, they cost $1 each.

The point is, I’m going to start riding my bike again hopefully this weekend maybe tomorrow.  I’m not going to ride on Chips days off, just 5 days a week when he works so that he won’t think I’m blowing him off to go bike riding.  But before I start riding again I’ve gotta rethink my whole eating habits so that I don’t keep making the same mistakes I always make and think hey well I’m exercising so one ice cream won’t hurt or 2 McChicken won’t hurt.  They will.

Ugh!  It’s a lot of mental preparation and a lot of physical torture but I gotta do it.  I just wish my stuff would come in so I can do it sooner than later lol.

Go Phones

On By Michel McDonaldIn Cell PhoneLeave a comment

I’ve been doing a little research today trying to find a good cell phone plan for the both of us but can’t really find something that has a good price.  I mean, they are all expensive and I can’t justify spending $100 just to be able to call each other for free when he’s at work or when he goes on his breaks.

The only reason we need these cell phones are so when I’m riding my bike or I’m at the store or at the mall then he can call me and I’ll be able to answer the phone.  I think I might have found a solution to the problem.

AT&T has the Go Phone that is a Nokia 2610 for $30 and it’s a prepaid cell phone so you pay $25 for the phone card and they basically charge you $1 for every day that you use your phone plus .10 cents per minute.  So it wouldn’t be very good for using every day if you are strapped for cash.  But it does have free unlimited mobile to mobile calling which is what we are looking for.  Now, I don’t know if that means that we still have to pay $1 per day with the unlimited mobile to mobile, I’m sure it does.  But that’s ok, it’s only $25 a month each phone.

I bought the cell phone that I have now in 2002 when I first started visiting my aunt in Simi Valley because Darrin would call me and it was irritating her.  So I bought a pre-paid cell phone through T-Mobile and it has served it’s purpose but it’s time to let it go.  The phone got so old that it would just die all of a sudden.  I’d charge the battery fully but the phone would still die.  I ended up buying another one to replace it last year at the swap meet but this one is shutting off while Darrin uses it now too.  It’s the same model so maybe I should have upgraded lol.  So it’s time for new cell phone(s).

The Go Phone just seems like the better plan for us right now.  At least it has a color screen and you can download ringtones that aren’t midi.  I hate those old ringtones lol.

Video Calls

On By Michel McDonaldIn Cell PhoneLeave a comment

I’ve seen in tv shows where people are using an iPhone and they are talking to each other and they can also see each other. Like in Knight Rider for example. I’m curious if that really is possible. Maybe someone call respond to this question.

Since Darrin has a job now we’re both going to get a cell phone plan and new cell phones. He’s been taking our only cell phone to work but it’s a pre-paid cell phone which means for $25 he gets 2 1/2 hours to talk. He’s calling me all the time and he’s calling other places and I just have a bad feeling about it. He’s going to need a cell phone plan with an unlimited calling feature, GPS and internet. I figured that we could both have them so we can call each other for free.

I’m going to need one too because as soon as I get a new bike wheel I’m going to be riding my bike again and when he calls me I’d like to be on video phone chatting so he can see what the bike path looks like. I think that would be cool.

Anyway, please, if someone can respond to let me know which cell phone has that feature. I’d like to get blackberries but iphones will be cool too. I just need to know which phone is best for video calls. Thanks

Dell DJ Battery Fixed

On By Michel McDonaldIn Products I LikeLeave a comment

My friend Alyce bought me a Creative Versa-Tool Kit as a gift which I totally didn’t expect her to do.  It has many uses such as wood burning, soldering, cutting, stamping, embossing, shaping (wax) etc.

I’ve wanted one to solder my Dell DJ battery wires because they snapped off.  I was finally able to fix it so now I can start riding my bike again on the bike path. I can start losing weight again yay.  That is if I am able to buy a new wheel soon.  Now is the perfect time to start riding again because the weather is nice.

Dell DJ Battery

On By Michel McDonaldIn Gadgets, MusicLeave a comment

Since my Dell DJ battery is too big but it still works I have to just keep it on the outside lol.  I have a neoprene camera case that it fits perfectly into and I had it out because I was adding a CD to the   and all of a sudden it shut off and I looked and one of the wires snapped off where it had been soldered.  Needless to say I’m not happy because when I start riding my bike again I will have no music to listen to unless I can find someone with a soldering iron.

Back Home

On By Michel McDonaldIn Daily BlogLeave a comment

We got back home today around 5pm.  I was so glad that my cat was ok hehe.  She apparently escaped her prison cell (the kitchen) by pushing on the door hehe.  She’s never tried that before so she always stayed in the kitchen when we go out or when we lock her up all night long.  I bring her in from the patio at night so she doesn’t freeze to death and I have to lock her in the kitchen because the dog eats her poop from the litter box so she’s used to being locked up in the kitchen by now.

We had some left over Rum from the fruitcake so when we went to the store tonight we got some Egg Nog and so I had an egg nog with rum which is rare for me because I normally love egg nog by itself.  Wow I put so much rum in it and it was only like 10% of the glass lol.  I ended up having to water it down with tons of egg nog lol.

Well, I’m glad to be home now.  I’m looking forward to buying a new bike wheel so I can start riding my bike again.

Day Off

On By Michel McDonaldIn Daily BlogLeave a comment

I wanted to ride my bike today but Darrin reminded me that I said that I was going to take the day off so I did.  Even though I really wanted to ride lol.  Oh well.  I probably should take the day off anyway because if I do this too much I might get too tired of it and stop.  I do like the routine of doing it everyday though.

When I was going to the gym 6 days a week in 2005 I had a routine for about 5 months and I wasn’t seeing any results and I started eating junk food even though I was trying so hard to lose weight.  I pushed myself so hard at the gym then turned around and ate twinkies and cupcakes.  I don’t want to make that mistake again.  That’s the reason I quit going to the gym.  That and it took 2 1/2 hours just to get there on the bus then 2 1/2 hours to get back home on the bus.  I would’ve been better off riding my bike there, that way I’d get exercise on my way to getting exercise lol.

More Rain

On By Michel McDonaldIn Daily BlogLeave a comment

It rained this morning and I was going to go riding when Darrin left for church but it was still raining so I just decided to stay home until the rain stopped instead.  He just came home so we’ll eat then I’ll wait 20 min before going out.

BAH it’s still raining.  I’m gonna just have to wait for the rain to stop.

Bike Maintenance

On By Michel McDonaldIn CyclingLeave a comment

Yesterday when I came home from riding my bike I tightened the gears on the handlebars and fixed that but decided today was the day I was going to do maintenance on my bike.  I wanted to get some degreaser and cleaner for the gears on the back wheel and the chain and scrub it all to clean it then put some new grease on it but I need Darrin to take me to the bike store.  I don’t want to ride it there because it’s kinda far and I don’t want to have to have bottles of cleaner and grease in bags hanging on my handlebars.  Yeah I know I could use a backpack but that’s ok.  I’d rather be driven there.  I’d also like to walk through the store looking around and not worry that my bike is getting stolen.

What I did do today was I took the back wheel off because it has been wobbling and I know it’s not supposed to do that.  Before I figured out how to fix it I noticed that the ball bearings were getting close to falling out.  That’s not good.  I knew that I am lucky that I finally got around to fixing it because if it got any looser that I’d be in trouble.  I got it tightened but too tight so I had to loosen it hehe.

All fixed but not lubed up so hopefully soon I can get the cleaner and grease and get that done.