I was lost, but now I’ve found my way.

Posted on October 31, 2008May 7, 2022 by GeorgeK

I have been spending the last couple of days playing around with the Magellan GPS software. A long time ago . . you know way back in time, like two years ago… I created a custom POI file for all the sites at the company for which I work. Now when I travel to them I can just select a “Custom POI” file and go! Also helps getting there from hotels, airports, etc.

Then last weekend we went for a drive to see the fall foliage, and had a hunger for a Starbucks coffee. Even with 9,000 or so of them in the US it isn’t always easy to find one. When we got back home I did an internet search and found a POI file for all the Starbucks in the US! Perfect, just what I wanted, a complete list to upload into the GPS!

BUT…., isn’t there always a “but” . . . there is a problem in getting them from the standard downloadable file format into the Magellan. Downloading a .CSV file works okay, and the Magellan POI program imports them okay. The first time I did this, I immediately imported it into the Magellan GPS and it worked like a charm. Then I saw the crazy descriptions for each location in the unit and decided I would clean them up. Since many of the descriptive names are longer (I think the Magellan limits it to about 16 spaces.) it would truncate the description in the unit and look strange and of no real help anyway. So I opened the .CSV file in Excel and changed all the names to “Starbucks”, nice and simple. Reimported into the Magellan POI software, saved everything and closed down for the night.

The next day getting ready to upload to the GPS unit, I opened my file again, and crap . . . it only had about four locations in it, when it should have had thousands! What the heck, well I must have saved it wrong, or maybe with the wrong name, or I opened the wrong file and so on. So I recreated the file again, carefully saving it as an ASCII .CSV file in a known location. Everything looks great now. So closed things down until I got the GPS unit to upload to later. Okay, now I am again ready to update the unit, so I open the Magellan POI software, open the carefully saved .MGLN file (special Magellan format they create within the software) and . . . . CRAP!! It is missing all the data except the same stinking four locations. Okay, go through the whole process again, check the locations before and after the ones that show up… they look fine. No strange characters, no extra commas (comma delimited .CSV file) everything is perfect, so save the file, reopen it and look at the beautiful work that I did . . . . CRAP! Gone again. Now being a fast learner and all I went through this process about 8 times with the exact same results everytime. (Insanity = doing the same thing you have always done and expecting different results. ) Finally gave up on it and went back to reading a book. Couldn’t get this out of my mind though…. so kept thinking about it… what is different this time than before…. first time I saved it, and then immediately uploaded into the Garmin… but why should that make a difference? Oh, the other thing I did was “clean up” all the long descriptive file names. . . . hmmm. . . . If every name is now just “Starbucks” and originally they were “Starbucks at the corner of 5th and 27th Street in Madison Wiscon….” what is the difference… okay now ALL the descriptions are exactly the same…. hmmm…. Back to Excel, import the .CSV file, delete all the descriptions, put in “Starbucks 000001” and then drag down the column changing each description to “Starbucks 00001”, “Starbucks 00002”, “Starbuck 00003” and so on….. now save it in Excel. Open it in Magellan POI editor, save it, exit and reopen the MGLN file again. Hot Dang… there they all are!

The interface for the Magellan POI software is pretty simplistic. When you load up a file it shows all the locations… and if you have reversed the latitude and longitude it shows up real quick! What a DQ in the middle of the South Atlantic! Must be one they opened on an cruise ship going to Antartica.

The other thing I realized as I went through all of this, when I tried the GPS with the original downloaded points it did not find some that I thought for sure should be there… like right down the street from the house. Again I assumed the file would be correct, and there must be some reason they were not included, like it is inside of a store, not a stand alone building or it is to new to be included, and so on. What I now realize is that all the descriptive names that ended up being truncated leaving the exact same description were skipped from the file. Maybe it is thinking that location is already in the file so is attempting to be helpful by not saving duplicates….. so a lot of locations ended up with similar descriptions and therefore not included.

With this great success I looked up the next most important, or actually maybe even THE most important locations to find on a trip…. ALL the Dairy Queen’s in the USA! I now have a file loaded into the GPS so we can immediately locate a DQ for a quick sugar fix whenever we need it on the road! WOOT! Instant ice cream locations, all 5,332 of them!

Next project: Programming all the Parks, lodges and major attraction at Disney World in Orlando… the only “ready made” file I found only has the theme park locations in it. I want the Disney resorts, lodges and other things like International Village and the “Shops”, along with nearby attractions of interest… and the hotel we like there.

Until the final satellite burns up on reentry,

George

Dart Frog Dash 5K at the Toledo Zoo

Posted on May 21, 2008May 3, 2022 by GeorgeK

~~Tomorrow is~~The other day was the next race, down in Toledo Ohio. The “The Dart Frog Dash” so named (I think) in honor of the new exhibit at the Toledo Zoo – which is the site of the 5K race.” at the Toledo Zoo.

Hopefully I will be able to “jump” right on this and get the results posted.

The race went well, and I finished within my goal time. But did I set a new PR? That remains to be seen!

Some stats for the race:

a) a quick “jump” at the start got me going
b) things got really “hopping” at the 2 mile point
c) a 5K (3.1 miles)
d) finished 206 out of 344 male entrants (60% finished ahead of me)
e) finished 11 out of 20 in my age group (55% finished ahead of me)
f) finished 326 out of 737 total finishers. (finished in the top 44% overall)
g) had a 9:08 pace (28:18 total time)
h) had a great time, and chalked up another new PR for a 5K! Hey, four races, four new personal records, what’s so hard about this?

Until the the last person feels “froggy”,

California ’08

Posted on March 10, 2008May 3, 2022 by GeorgeK

I just returned from a week in California. Not sure what to think of the whole experience.
1. It was 20 degrees F when I left Michigan
2. It was 75 degrees F when I arrived in California
3. It was 75 degrees F when I left California
4. It was 15 degrees F when I arrived back in Michigan with a summer jacket and a car in the far end of the parking area at 6 am.
Verdict: The weather in California is fantastic compared to Michigan.

1. In Michigan I nearly chipped a tooth on the drive to the airport when slamming into a pot hole the size of a Volkswagen.
2. I do not remember a single pot hole the entire time in California.
Verdict: The roads in California far surpass Michigan.

1. I ran 85 MPH all the way down I-94 to the airport in Michigan
2. I only had dreams about going over 40 MPH in California
Verdict: The traffic really sucks in California. Even on 10 lane roads it was really bad within 30 miles of LA.

1. The sun was shinning and bright reflecting off the snow in Michigan
2. The sun was shinning and bright reflecting off the water and sand at the beaches in California
Verdict: No comparison to bright sun on sand and bikinis compared to snow and snowsuits!

1. I can barely pay for gas in Michigan
2. I can even more barely pay for gas in California
Verdict: The cost of living is way to high in California.

Overall: California is the place to be… if you can afford it and have lots of time to get around.

Okay, enough.
It was a great week, accomplished the goals at work, and got to enjoy the town in my down time.

Visited some running stores (Road Runner Sports and A Snails Pace). Road Runner has “Shoe Dog” system where they have a pressure pad to see the sole of your foot (arches, etc.) and then a video camera pointed at a tread mill where they analyze your foot falls while running. Interesting to be able to see your foot “at speed” but in very slow motion. The system then pretty much shows if you are a “pronator” or not, and the flexing in the archilles tendon, etc. Ended up with a new pair of shoes and some “Superfeet” green insoles. Have put about 20 miles on them already and they do seem comfortable. I think the old Adidas with 600+ miles on them are now offically retired to the “wear for household chores” pile.

Also saw a number of educational attractions as well as tourist spots such as Graumans Chinese theater and the Kodak Theatre in downtown Hollywood. A whole story here too! (Basically to me it was all “Hollywood theatrics” since the area is very small and not really much there other than pan-handlers)

Visited “the Getty” and got a years worth of culture, Degas, Monets, Picasso’s and other famous paintings and art work. Actually I was just as impressed by the building. It is pretty amazing and the view of the city equally so.

Got hot dogs at “Pinks” just off La Brea and Jody Maroni’s at Venice Beach. Saw a few muscle heads at Muscle Beach, but mostly I think they were crack heads, and street performers/pan-handlers.

Was a week early for the return of the sparrows to San Juan Capistrano, but enjoyed the mission/museum and just walking in the sun and warm weather.

Got to see Saturns rings through the 12 inch telescope at “Griffith Observatory, a beloved icon of Los Angeles and world leader in public astronomy. Since 1935, the Observatory has given tens of millions of visitors the opportunity to become observers.” The observatory was completely remodeled starting in 2002, costing $93 million, and on November 3, 2006 Building reopened to the public. Very nice indeed.

The final highlight, I visited “Le Brea Tar Pits“. Funny how things stick in your mind. I remembered wayyyy back (1959-1963) to The Dobie Gillis Show, where Maynard G. Krebbs and Dobie were at the tar pits for some reason… meeting Zelda there I assume and something happened to Maynard (later to become Gilligan). At the time I thought they were making the tar pits very small just for the TV stage…. well as it turns out some of the pits are actually very small, as in just a few yards across.

So went the week, caught the “red eye” back to Michigan, leaving at 9 PM, arriving at 6 AM bleary eyed and with a very sore behind! (yeah, the flight is only 4 hours, add three hours for time zone hopping.) Still, it is equivalent to leaving at 1:30 AM Michigan time. Next week heading the other way, into Ontario.

Should be lots of pictures out there before long. And as promissed they are, so you can check them out now.

Until the surf freezes,

George

BBSSS Beachs Buffets Sun Sand Shells

Posted on January 6, 2008December 4, 2022 by GeorgeK

Holidays and vacations seem to go together. After we celebrated Christmas with the families we headed out for a little drive.
First stop was Lookout Mountain Georgia where we visited “Rock City”. I have seen the barns painted with “See Rock City” along the roads for years so finally decided it was time to see what it was all about. We made it in the evening for the “Fantasy of Lights” which they do every Christmas time. You can see the pictures in the album.
It was about as expected. Some very nice natural scenery and a lot of tourist stuff.

My curiosity satisfied we were on the road to the next destination, Florida’s “Emerald Coast”. Nancy had heard about the emerald green gulf waters and white sand and wanted to see for herself. We hit the coast beaches from Fort Walton across the pan handle until we turned towards Orlando.

We did not want to use a full day of a Disney ticket when we only had a partial day, so we spent time visiting some of the theme resorts. As they do for about everything, the Disney crew puts together some pretty nice resorts! They were decorated for Christmas so it seemed extra special. We also had tickets to see Cirque Du Soleil La Nouba. This was really cool. We have been to several “Cirque” shows and each one seems better than the one before.

Over the next two days we spent time in Animal Kingdom and Disney Hollywood Studios (new name for MGM studios.) Lots of photos, and a good time… even if it did rain a little the final day.

The other place we wanted to see was Sanibel Island. Nancy loves natural things, and shells is high on the list. We have been told about how great Sanibel is for finding shells so we wanted to see for ourselves and hopefully score some “hand picked” shells. We made it down to the island and out onto a number of the beachs. Unfortunately the weather had turned a bit nippy, and the wind was kicking up pretty good. We still managed to spend a couple of hours wandering up and down the shore line looking for “finds”. Since we came home with some pretty full bags of shells I guess it was a success.

We had some dinner at the local tourist spot “The Bubble Room” and then headed back off the island. After a nights rest we headed back towards Michigan, and got home about 2 am…. We had been concerned since we had heard there had been about a foot of snow since we left, and were not sure how we were going to get into the garage. It turned out that a mysterious neighbor had cleared the drive way already so we were able to pull right into the garage and hit the beds!

This is a pretty condensed version of the trip, but probably few people if any really want all the details.

Until Mickey and Minney fall out of love,

The Falls (of Niagara)

Posted on September 2, 2007May 3, 2022 by George Kasdorf

A quick add from the road.
Niagara falls at night - a Kazology 2007 road trip adventure.

Having had vacation plans cancelled several times before this year, we tried again for the labor day weekend. This time we made it! Hitting the road early morning we made the falls by early afternoon. Several hours and lots of walking later we left with a lot of pictures, and weary. We all agreed the falls area has changed a lot in the years since we last visited, probably 25 or so for Nancy and I! The changes are not all for the better either…..

More pictures will be posted in the album area later so this shot of the falls at night will have to do until then.

I managed to get the album out there, so if you are interested in seeing some shots I took, up to the final ocean wave rolled over the pants leg – with the camera in it.

Until the final cubic liter of water cascades onto the rocks below,
George

FOR SALE: Canon SD 700IS only used a few months. Recently removed dust, pocket lint, finger grime, etc. using a natural salt water solution. Great little DIY project for handyman.

Mountains, Rivers, Ice and Buffalo

Posted on July 27, 2007May 3, 2022 by George Kasdorf

If you drive four hours to the West of Edmonton, Alberta Canada you would come upon Jasper National Park. It would be difficult, if not impossible to miss. Jasper runs several hundred kilometers to the north and south, so you really would have to intentionally detour to miss it…. I almost did. There was a very intriguing road sign “Scenic Road to Alaska” that I went by on the way. I am not sure how much more scenic of a road you could have, and ever arrive at your destination! Plus, and I looked this up to make sure, it is still over 3,000 kilometers to Alaska from Edmonton! Sure I’m a city boy, but that seems like a heck of a scenic drive to me!
I am saving that little weekend drive for the next visit, may have to make it a long weekend though.
Back to Jasper. A beautiful park, lots of mountains, rivers, and critters about.

I started with a tram ride up Whistler Mountain and a short hike, maybe only a kilometer – straight UP to the peak. I thought I was in a little better shape than my last hiking trip in California’s Yosemite Valley, but I guess not that much, ’cause it left me puffing pretty good.
Made it back down again, and started south into the park. I took the suggested “scenic route”, the old highway, which was nice and at the end is the second recommended stop, the falls.
Be sure to check the short movie at the end of the photo album.
Shaking the water off, I headed south again to an unplanned stop. I had seen several items about the ice fields which are at the far end of the park, just before you enter Banff National Park. I visited the center, waffled on whether to go or not, walked back to the car to leave, looked across the road at the glacier again, and went back in and signed up for the next bus. I had to wait a whole 5 minutes before boarding, then off to the glacier we went. Now maybe walking on a glacier is not that big a deal, but I thought it was pretty cool….. literally…. I did not take a jacket along! I have been many places in the world, and this may not be the top spot, but standing on a block of ice several miles long, and over 1,000 feet thick is somewhat inspiring. Then take a look at the satellite view (there is a link in the photo album looks for the “Maps” link below the pictures.) to see the extent of the ice field, and the 30 (or was it 50) glaciers that this ice field feeds. Pretty amazing!

Google Maps also has a good view of the ice field. The other views I saw that boggle the imagination, the “dome glaciers” that flow over the tops ot the mountains. I have a couple of photos and you can see the thickness of the ice on the mountain compared to the trees and the rock.
The next day I took off for the East of Edmonton, Elk Island Park. They say “The preserve for is home to herds of free roaming plains bison, wood bison, moose, deer, and elk.” Now I want to say – maybe – not that they are making this up or anything, but I saw a total of one Woods Bison, one rabbit and three birds the entire time. Granted I was there between 1 PM and 5 PM, probably not the best viewing times, but what a bust! I gave it a chance, more than a chance actually. I drove every road at about 3KM/Hr craning my neck for a view of a bison hump, an antler, let alone holding out for a bear! I then even parked and took a 10 KM hike back through the woods. I have it documented in the photo album just to make sure. After 138 black fly bites, 693 mosquito bites, three toe blisters, a dip in quicksand and 8 kilometers of sun I saw exactly 5 seconds of the only bison in the entire woods, and still a good 75 meters away from me, before he took flight, pounded dust and was gone. Severe disappointment. Guess that is why they have zoos… so you are sure of seeing the animals.

Okay, enough for now. I have to finish the album and get it out on the ethernet.

Until the last ice cube melts,
George