The Blog of DBKGUY

Apple, yes Apple, will be streaming today's keynote live from San Francisco's Yerba Buena Center for the Arts at 10 am PDT or 12 pm CST.  That's Wednesday September 1rst, 2010.   

Apple will be using their open standard HTTP streaming protocol.  You will need a Mac with Snow Leopard and the Safari browser, or an iPhone ver. 3.0 and above to view.

Expected in the keynote is a new iPod lineup, possibly a new AppleTV, iTunes changes, and maybe an IOS 4 upgrade to iPad.

Just go to http://www.apple.com to view.  I link to it should be on the bottom left corner of the screen.

We rode two Catrike Villagers on Ragbrai this year and I was quite please with how they performed.  We really only had one problem with them an it had to do with how they were setup according to Catrike.   The problem we had was that both Catrikes, wore out the left tire extremely fast.  The tires were only a month old.  We first noticed this after having to pull over to fix a flat on one of the trikes.   I replaced the tube, checked the tire for anything sharp and filled it back up again with air.  Within five minutes, there about, suddenly the tire blew again.   This time it was easy to see why.  The tube blew a whole right through the tire.   Further inspection revealed the rubber on the tire was pretty much worn off, but only on the left tire.   So we decided to check the other trike and sure enough the other trike's left tire was also pretty well worn out.   After managing to get another tire from another trike rider who had a spare, we fixed the one bad one, and nursed the other one until we could pick up another tire at a road side repair shop.    The new tires held up fine for the rest of Ragbrai.

Just a word,  I'd like to thank all the people who stopped by to help and the guy who gave us his spare tire.   It sure was nice and because of it I ended up stopping to help others because of it.  I figured one good favor deserves another.   It was the first time in eight years that I have ever had to stop for a flat.  Even though I didn't really need the help, it still made the experience a whole lot nicer.   Thanks guys, we really appreciated it.

Ok, back to the trikes.  I did think of some minor changes one might make for doing Ragbrai.  I think putting skinnier tires on the bike might help give you a little more speed.

Our Catrikes used a verelco strap on the hand brake for a parking brake.  You squeeze the handbrake and wrap a strap over it to keep the trikes from moving when your not on them.  I'd like to see a better way to do it then this.  Your always having to take strap on and off, and you have to be very careful not to loose it or you have no parking brake.  You can wrap it around one of the frame tubes, but it gets to be a pain after awhile.  I just ended up putting it in the back pocket of my bike shirt, but sure enough, by the last day, I had lost it.

The seats aren't really adjustable, but are quite comfortable, still after hours of being in the seat you tend to need to stretch, or you get restless.  Me I would get a kink in my back from leaning more to one side I guess.  This would come and go, but I figure it was my own doing.

I carried bags on the back of my trike and I really didn't even notice they were there.  I really liked that.  Other bikes,  you will notice them a lot more especially on two wheel bikes.  Trikes are so stable, you just don't notice them.

The waterbottle holder is a bit far.  It would be nice if they could somehow make it easier to reach.  

When riding a trike make sure to use suntan lotion.  Because of the way your laid out on the trike your exposed more to the sun.   I got sunburned and I already had built up a tan.  

Bike shoes with spd clips, I think that's what they are.  Really are a big help on the trikes.  They make climbing those hills so much better.  You can climb faster and it helps to spread the work over to other muscles on your leg.  Your legs don't slip off the pedals and you don't have to worry about falling with them either since your on a trike.   

Another thing about these Catrikes is they attract a lot of attention.  We were always being asked how we liked them, how they rode, are the comfortable, and more...   We would park them and come back to see people looking them over and talking about them.  They even got us on KMIT3 Live for a little interview during the weather and a live interview on a radio station in another town.  People just can't resist checking these trikes out.

Transporting two trikes, takes a good trailer hitch.  We had one that would stack them kind of on top of each other.  The rack wasn't exactly cheap, but did a very good job.  The rack itself is very heavy and can be installed by one person, but it's much easier with two.  As far as the make of the hitch I'll try to update this with the exact rack after I get the info from my sister.

Well I hope that helps any of you considering a Catrike.  I like them a lot, but I think for long distance riding you might want to consider a model with a bigger back tire for more speed.

I now have most of my Ragbrai 2010 photos posted in the Photo's section.   I haven't added the video's yet.  Those will probably take some time.

Ragbrai is of course over and overall I had a pretty good time.   My plan was to take lots of photos and videos and to post my updates to this blog, flicker, twitter, etc.  All was working pretty well including  ATT reception for the most part.  Att internet use was another matter altogether.   Anyway, all was going fine until my iPhone 4 stopped charging.   Maybe it got a tad wed or some sweat might of got on it or who knows, but it wouldn't charge, so I ended up going into conserve mode for most of the trip.  It did finally start charging on the last day.  That was a big relief, but still it was very disappointing because I had relied solely on my iPhone for pictures and videos, so I missed a lot.

Ragbrai 2010, didn't go without incident for me this year.  I ended up with heat exhaustion or something like that.  Then there was the day it rained all morning.  I was riding in the rain and I ended up with hypothermia and having to sit in a fire department station for 2 and half hours while I warmed up.  I did ride out and finish the ride that day.  My heat exhaustion came back and I noticed I had a little trouble focusing on things.  I would stumble around a bit too.  My head seemed foggy, but I felt ok, just hot.   I also believe I got a little food poisoning on the second last day.   My system was rather upset, but overall I tried to hide as much as I could from my fellow bikers that I was with.  It didn't work,  they determined that I shouldn't ride in the last day and they made arrangements for us to be picked up in the morning, without riding in to Dubuque.  I missed the ride in, and I missed my chance at Potter's Hill.  I really wanted to get a crack at that and see how I would do.

To make a long story short, it took a whole week for my body to fully recover.   I've never had a problem like this on Ragbrai before and I hope it never happens again.  As far as fluids go, I drink a lot of fluids to start so I doubt that was the problem. 

I have more to say, so I will post that in another post at a later date.   All I will say is I will probably never ever use a Register baggage truck again.   

Left Milwaukee and have arrived in Mario, IA. We left the floods from Friday to get more flooding in Iowa today. We had quarter size hail after it got dark and flooding reports on the local news station for some of the city's we will be riding through on Ragbrai.

For pics and video's see my flicker picks on the right. I will be posting them there all week.

Tomorrow we head out to Sioux City.

Only 5 more days to Ragbrai XXXVIII 2010.   I will be on the ride for the entire week.  If your going on the ride please look me up and say hi.  I will probably have a sign on my bike so you can find me in the crowd.  

My ride this year is a Catrike Villager trike.  I will be riding with my sister Shari, and my friend Lynn from Iowa.   Shari, will be using the Shuttleguy service this year, which I highly recommend, and my friend Lynn will be using the Ragbrai services that are provide.  Being on a budget this year, will be bagging it.  I've done it before, so I'm very aware what it takes to haul your all your stuff across Iowa. 

I have an iPhone 4 so I will be using that to post updates, pictures, and maybe movie clips.  It all really depends on how much time I have, how good the AT&T cell service is, and internet access.  I've found that on Ragbrai, it's hard to depend on any of the above, with 10,000 to 20,000 riders all trying to use their phones when they come into the overnight towns.  Often the cell services just can't handle all the traffic.

You can also keep and eye on dbkguy/twitter.com for any of my twitter updates.  

Here's a video I found of the bike I will ride.  Not the best video, but it will give you a good idea what I'm riding.

I just want to say have a great Memorial Day weekend.   The weather is going to be great, the price of gas is down a bit, and you'll have 3 days to play.

I plan on training for Ragbrai, by biking whenever I can and as much as I can.  Then hopefully a family get together of some kind for a backyard grill out.    Maybe some sitting out on the deck in the later evening hours to enjoy the weather.   I might even bring my laptop out and play some World of Warcraft as it get dark.

So enjoy the weekend and if you care to share, let us know what you did this weekend.

I went into our local Apple store in Milwaukee, WI today and checked on the availablily of iPads.   I was told there was none in stock and that it would probably be a week to a week and a half before one came in.   If you wanted one you could be put on a waiting list and they would call you when your particular model came in and you would have 24 hours to pick it up.  The other option, was you could order it online and it would be shipped to your door.

Even though there were no iPads in stock their were still plenty of people in the store checking out and playing with the new iPads.

I called ATT today, about my complaint.  I got a customer service rep and he wanted me to explain everything all over again.  I basically told him to look it up, because I wasn't going to go over it all again.  I noted that I was suppose to receive a call the first time after 48 hours, I again was suppose to receive a call after the second time I called in.  Now I'm calling a third time.   I pointed out that this is not a very good way to treat a new customer. After complaining a bit they said they would put me in contact with a manager and to please hold.  I waited maybe 5 minutes and the rep suddently broke in and said they put in my credit for $200 and $84 for the 2 receivers for two months and then suddenly I was talking to the manager.  

I talked with the manager about my complaints and that I felt I was lied to and or misled, and certain information was relayed to me.  That I purposely called in to get my questions answered and there was no need for someone to lie or mislead me.  For example, I was told the 3 receivers would be free each month and after that there would be a $7 a month charge for any more receivers.   I pointed out that I asked if this was under a contract and I was told no, but later I found out I am under a 1 year contract.  The last complaint was that I was told I was only getting a $100 credit, but I noted the rep before him, correct that.

The manager naturally apologized and said he would check into it and get back to me possibly after 5 days, assuming the other manager wasn't on vacation.   I told him I didn't want to pay my bill until this was settled and he said that was up to me, but he wasn't responsible for anything that may happen because of it.   He didn't offer me anything different other than he would check into it.  There was more to the conversation, but I felt it wasn't nessessary to repeat it again here.

So basically, I will get my $84 credit for the two receivers for 6 months, I will get my $200 credit, and I will still be under a 1 year contract.   Did anything change other than me getting my complaint through. NO!

To get my credit I was told to go to http://rewardcenter.att.com and put in my U-verse account code.  I did so multiple times and it didn't seem to recognize my account and wanted me to call a number.  I called the number only to get voice mail hell.  I called customer support only to get told to call that number again.  I recalled the number, and tried over and over again until I finally got a voice.  They checked into it and said my credit was just put in and it wouldn't show up for 7 to 10 days on the web site.  I was to check my status after that.

So this is my experience with ATT U-verse.  Will I keep it? Probably.  If it was just me, no, but I have others in the house who would be quite mad at me if I pulled it.  So I guess I'm going to pay my bill and be stuck in a one year contract that I didn't want.   At least I get $420 credit over one year for doing so.  

Do I like the service, Yes.   I guess it all comes down to that.  

So if I may ask, what do you think of your U-verse and how did your install go?

This is part 3 of my switching to U-verse from Directv (which I hate) and Time Warner Cable for internet service.

I've switched all our television viewing over and our internet service over.  I already had the wireless service, because I own and use an iPhone.

I can now get on the internet and check my new U-verse bill.   I pull it up on my browser and then I call up ATT to have them explain a couple of things I had questions on.  I was put on hold for a very short time and then I was able to talk to a live customer service rep.

The rep was very nice on the phone and very understanding.  She answered all my questions and even filed a formal complaint for me and tried to have it escalated.

I found out that the sales rep I worked with wasn't totally honest with me or he neglected to mention a few things when I ordered the service.  At least that is what I recall from over a month ago.

One, I was told that the receivers were going to be free.   That is the dvr was free and two additional receivers were also free per month.   He said that I could get up to three receivers before they would start charging $7 per receiver per month.   The truth is that only the dvr is free.  The other two I can get some sort of credit for up to 6 months and then there would be a charge.  It still showed up on my bill and I'm told that I will have to apply for some credit online to get it.    Lie number one.

Second, I'm told I'm now under a contract.   I specifically asked if this was going to be under a contract and I was told no.   It seems that when he gave me credit for having ATT wireless service this put me under a contract for one year.  There was no mention of this at all during my call.   What he gave me was a $35 credit on my internet service for one year for having ATT wireless service.  That amounts to $420 for one year, after that there is nothing.   I appreciate that, but then why should you bundle it your wireless service with U-verse?  So much for trying to bundle my wireless service.   Lie number two.

Third, I was suppose to get a $400 to $300 rebate card or something like that.  Now they say I am only getting $100.  Supposedly I gave up $100 for the wireless credit.   I still come out ahead on that, but I was not told I was losing the $100 because of it.   I'm still trying to figure out where the other $100 went.  I figure from the original $400 there is the $100 I lost for calling in to get a live person instead of signing up online. Duh!  I forgot about that, I should of signed up online.  Then there is the $100 I lose for the wireless credit.  So why is there only $100 left it should be $200?  Lie or did he leave this out on purpose?

Ok, so the customer service rep filed a complaint for me and had it escalated as she put it.   I reminded the rep I was the type of person who would have the whole system pulled if I wasn't satisfied.  I also mentioned I haven't paid my bill yet and I won't until I'm was satisfied.   You see once you pay that first bill your basically agreeing to everything.  So I'm not paying the bill until I get this settled.

I was told they needed 48 hours to respond and I was supposed to hear from somebody shortly after that.  So I waited.  NOTHING!.  That's exactly what I got was nothing.  No reply, no nothing.  Just another reminder that my bill was coming due soon.

I called back a week later.  Customer rep was real nice on the phone again and again resumitted my concern/complaint and had it escalated and supposedly forwarded to supervisors.  So I waited, and waited.  Again no response.  Nothing, noda, zilch!  Just another reminder of my bill.

So my experience so far is this.  The install went pretty well.  It's taken a bit of adjusting to get used to the new dvr and how it's programed.  The bill arrives on time and you can pay it easily online.   Customer service is nice, but ATT is totally unresponsive to any complaints or concerns you may have.  The ATT rep may lie to you during your signup or leave important information out.

At this point I'm just about ready to have the system pulled.  

I also had another issue recently.  It seems someone in my house got a computer virus.  The ATT router picked up on it and shut something down because of it.  There was no internet service and the dvr wouldn't get some channels and wouldn't play any recorded shows.   I found that I had to go into the router to shut something off even after I got rid of the virus on their computer.   I understand blocking the internet access, but it also cripples the dvr.  That's just not nice.  I imagine for most people this would have been a lengthy call to tech support to get this figured out and fixed

So I'm going to call ATT once more and I intend to be a bit more pushy and aggravated.  Wish me luck!

Hopefully part 4 will be a good report, but I'm not anticipating a good result.

Here's how my U-verse install went on install day.

I got a call from the tech at the scheduled install time saying he would be there in about a half hour.   Seeing my install was between 9 am and 12 pm, I pretty much figured he would be there around 9 am, so the half hour later was fine with me.  

Sure enough a half hour later or less he shows up at my front door.  I have dogs so I asked if that was ok before he stepped in the door and he said it was.  I had previous put my daughters lab in another room and left my golden retriever where he was because I knew he was super gentle and would not bother the technician.

I explained to the tech I had already wired up the house with Cat6, even though it didn't need Cat6, and that everything was ready to go, so this should be a pretty easy install for him.  My only concern was if he had to run a new line to the house or not.   We then headed out to the backyard and I showed him the cable I installed for him to hook up to and the lines running to the house.   Mine is a little unusual because I have three telephone lines running to my house from when I used to run a BBS or too back in the old dial up days.  

He said they were probably ok and if he had any problems we could run a test on the line if needed.  He then proceed to connect the line I ran to the gray telephone box on the back of the house.   He noted that he already had connected the line about a block away where the fiber channel box was.  

Next we went inside and setup the U-verse Router.   Previously I had setup my three prong grounded outlet, surge strip, and patch panels so this would go rather smoothly.   The U-verse router connected right away, but the activation didn't go as smooth.  He was just about to grab his laptop when I decided to try another computer.  This computer had no problems and activated the service right away.  I believe my laptop had a problem with the activation because I had it set to use Open DNS servers.  The other computer did not and I like I said it worked right away.

Then the tech proceeded to install the DVR and the two additional receivers I had ordered.  At each location I had a connected cable to the network, ready and waiting.  He unpacked each receiver,  connected the cable, and programmed the remotes.  We were up an running in no time.  He then asked if we had any questions and showed us how to use the system.

Installation time took about two to two and one half hours.   I thought that was pretty good because I was told that installation usually took about four hours.  I figured by having all the cabling ready and him not having to run a new line from the pole, he was able to save a lot of time.

The technician was very nice and polite and appreciated that I had prepared everything I could for him in advance of the install.

I had order a 12 mbps internet package from U-verse so I decided to run a quick broadband speed test before he left and I got pretty much what I ordered.   It came out to about 12 mbps down and 1.5 mbps up, so I was pretty happy.  This was definitely faster than my old internet connection.

The picture on the Tv's looked pretty good too, then again we were used to standard definition before this.

Overall I would say this was a very good install with really nothing bad to report. 

I plan on doing a part 3 when I get my bill and gift cards.   I feel that is also an important part of the install and I hope that goes just as well.

PS.  We noticed it was only recording three channels at a time and not four.  Turns out that there is a limitation to the four channels that can be recorded at any one time.  It seems that you can only record two high definition channels at one time.  That includes any channels being watch at the same time in HD.  If anyone thinks I'm wrong on this please let me know.  To fix this problems we changed some recordings so they weren't in HD and then it started to record all 4 shows at once.

My billed showed up, I called and questioned it and found things weren't quite as I was told on the phone.  I will bring this up in part 3 after I see how things turns out.

In the meantime if you've had a U-verse install, I'm sure a few of us wouldn't mind hearing how your install went?