iPhone6s minus

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Hello again driverchrismc back once again.

First i would like to start off by explaining to you the title of this blog post.  No theres not actually an   device called iPhone6s minus.

This years newest iPhone models are, as we all expected, the iPhone6s and 6s+

The reason i gave this post the name “iPhone6s minus” is because for me this could be considered a step backwards.  Reason being I used to i have the iPhone6+, of course i also had the 6 but after about a month with it I gave it to my girlfriend so that i could get the 6+.

If you know me at all you’ll understand because you already know that I’m indecisive, compulsive, and obsessive. Especially when it comes to new apple products. I blame all of it on my ADD.  Thats my story and I’m sticking Oh shit squirrel LOL

Now the reason i decided to go back to the smaller 4.7″ screen instead of sticking with the plus size 5.5″ screen is safety or more to the point convenience. I can’t effectively comfortably do everything with one hand.

This is something that never would’ve happened, if Steve Jobs were still alive.  One of his famous unwavering commitments to apples line of iPhones was that he was determined that “his” iPhone should remain easy for us to use one handed.

However he also would’ve never made the iPad any smaller(iPad mini).  So sadly a lot has really changed at apple since his passing

Of course if i was seriously worried about safety i wouldn’t use it while driving so not being able to one hand it wouldn’t be a problem. But i think everyone already knows that I and i suspect most if not all of you drivers that are reading this, whether you care to admit or not We ALL use our phones while driving and not everything can be done handsfree

Now I’m not advocating doing anything illegal or unsafe. Using your phone while driving is both.  Im simply being honest.

So there you have it folks thats it in a nutshell The reason that i got the 6s instead of the 6s+.  Bigger isn’t always better.  My girlfriend thought that was funny for some reason.LMFAO For the record I went with a 64gb iPhone6s to replace my 128gb iPhone6+Not only have I realized the bigger screen made it more difficult to use I now know that i didn’t need that extra 64gb of space.  64 is just fine it seems to be the sweet spot for most iPhone users

So now that you’re all bored to tears.  Like any of you really cared about the size of my new iPhone(i know you could all careless)Now the disclaimer :

Perhaps i should’ve put this disclaimer in right up front.  But i am by NO means a professional writer, So my blogs maybe hard to follow.  Sorry ill blame that on my ADD again

Neither am I a professional reviewer or an expert on the subject of apple products.

Although i am obsessed with and have owned or currently own all of apples iOS devices since the iPhone 4 came to verizon wireless back in February 2011

(iPhones 4,4s,5,5s,5c,6,6+,6s iPad,iPad2,air mini mini with retina and air2)

Additionally I’ve got a mac book pro I’m using to write this.

 Ive purchased a 21″iMac Ive got apple tv’s a mac mini as well as many accessories like the smart keyboard and trackpad and numerous smart covers smart cases etc. And The apple watch.

Does that qualify me as an expert? I don’t know maybe it should

But at least i feel it makes me qualified to write this review.

I won’t even claim to be in the same league with the people i consider to be the real experts

Like Leander Kahney from Cult of Mac, Leo LaPorte from twit.tv, Renee Ritchie&Serinity from imore

just to name a few.

I respect all of them for what they do and i follow them and listen to all their podcasts as well as read most of their blogs

All of the above was aligned the way it is on purpose So if it looks funny Sorry its my blog and i did it that way because I CAN

I can start my review now.  I say start,thats because I’ve only had it two days and wouldn’t be comfortable completing a review at this time, so i may hold off awhile on posting this blog or i may post it and update it later,that remains to be seen

1. The force touch or more correctly 3D touch,I’m used to saying force touch because of my apple watch.  I love it. nothing else needs to be said about that
2. Much improved super scary fast, almost too fast, touch ID sensor.  This is I think a much needed and appreciated improvement. Only problem is it is so fast that you’ll never see your lock screen when you press the home button.  So if you’re like me and want to see your notifications on the lock screen, DONT touch the home button! Click the power button on the side instead.
3. Live photos; this is a feature that has me intrigued as well as perplexed.  Ive not quite figured out how to use them effectively, so ill have to wait till later to review that feature.
4. Peek&Pop on texts webpages or emails
5. “Hey Siri” Although this actually isn’t exclusive You could do this before in iOS8 and forward but your iPhone had to be plugged in and locked. Now it is always on and makes Siri much more useful in my opinion.
6. You can search in settings.  Which is very handy I think Saves me a lot of time and confusion
7. Better cameras!!!!! That may not excite most of you but it does me Im a photographer So the new and improved 12mp rear and 5mp front facing camera as well as the various other software improvements apple has made to the cameras are well worth it…did i forget to mention it shoots 4K video(i forgot to mention it because its useless as far as I’m concerned because unless someone else has a 6s or 6s+ or an extremely expensive 4k TV they can’t see it in 4K)

So there you have it folks my review of the iPhone6s As i said i don’t claim to be a pro but if you’re reading this you either followed a link in one of my tweets or saw my Facebook post So i thank you for taking the interest and spending your time to read my ramblings

Till next time drivers Be safe out there

Is ADN>twitter: 256>140 (that’s obvious)& comment on abouttruckdriving.com @toddmccann podcast

DISCLAIMER:>>>
I SOMETIMES USE FOUL LANGUAGE IN MY BLOG SO IF THAT OFFENDS YOU IM REAL FUCKING SORRY. LMFAO OH…WAIT THERE GOES ANOTHER SQUIRREL. HaHa! THERE GOES MY ADD AGAIN

BUT SERIOUSLY IF THE OCCASIONAL 4 LETTER WORD DOESN’T OFFEND YOU AND YOU CAN FOLLOW ALONG WITH MY MINDLESS RAMBLINGS. PLEASE CONTINUE READING AND BE SURE TO LEAVE ME A COMMENT, SUGGESTION, CORRECTION OR INSULT DOWN BELOW IN THE COMMENTS SECTION. THANKS @driverchrismc

Allow me to start off here with my comment, in its entirety, that I wrote last night on @toddmccann ‘s latest Trucker Dump podcast on abouttruckdriving.com. I originally thought I would have to just leave a link to it in his comment section. Because I thought it would be too long winded and would cause his website to go into self destruct mode. He’d be more than a little upset with me if that happened. He worked way too long & hard on it. So please folks if you haven’t checked it out yet. I would recommend you do so Trucker Dump on abouttruckdring.com

First off let me say, before I forget as far as your reply to the 19 year old(from your feedback section). I’m not sure where you are getting that you have to be 23 to drive interstate OTR. The company that you know I drive for, as well as instruct for hires 21 year olds on a weekly basis. I’ve instructed some of them. I’d hate 2 think my company and I were illegally training drivers.

I could’ve written a whole blog instead of commenting here and I’ve even had thoughts of turning my blog into a podcast just like you did.

But here’s the reason I won’t do that( ill just leave the comment here. Perhaps you’ll read it in a future feedback session and ill have achieved the same end result). I don’t mind people hearing what I write, actually I think it would be cool! Just not in my voice. Yours or anyone else’s would be fine. You’ve met me, Todd, you know what I sound like.

Well I hate the way I speak. As a kid I took a lot of kidding(psychological abuse) because of it. I’ve just never gotten over being self conscious about the way I talk

Now enough said about that. If I can remember what I wanted to say now. Oh yes your “drivers seat phenomenon” blog/ podcast

Ill have to admit to being one of those drivers sitting in the seat you were talking about. I can tell you most of the time, when I’m in the seat, I’ve either got my iPhone in my hand(usually on twitter) or sometimes, like right now I have my iPad mini resting on the steering wheel writing this comment. After I finish this I will likely do something I don’t often do. Ill get the MBP out and work on my blog post.

And yes I’ll set it up on the steering wheel. It makes a handy little laptop stand IMO.
And yes the bright white glowing apple will be visible to anyone that passes by my truck and looks. I’m proud to let others know I got an apple MBP. Can’t say that I’ve ever had the fear of someone breaking into my truck. I’m usually in it when it’s parked unless I go in for a quick shower or to grab something to eat. I rarely eat in the restraunt anymore.

Or sometimes maybe I do look like I’m staring into space or watching people walk by or watching the guy next to me park and hope that I can trust him to do so without touching my truck or trailer. I’ve Been a “people watcher” ever since I was a kid. When I’d go to the mall on Saturday nights with my grandparents. Grandad and I would sit on a bench and watch people while my Grammy was in one of the stores.

Or maybe I’m doing my paperwork so I can get paid for the loads I deliver.

Or maybe, and I’ve never thought about it this way, till I listened to your podcast. I just maybe a tad bit clostraphobic. Being in my sleeper area with the curtain closed while I’m awake just feels wrong to me. It’s like I’m shut off from the rest of the world. Unless I’m sleeping or eating, normally the curtains open while I’m eating.

I guess basically what I’m saying is I see no good reason to be in the sleeper with the curtains closed unless I’m actually in bed sleeping.

That should about cover it. I think I’ve confirmed some of your thoughts on this subject and hopefully enlightened you on a few others

And in addition one more reason for sitting in the drivers seat that I didn’t even think of until after I had already left my comment on his website.
I’m sure this wouldn’t have occurred to him since he doesn’t share the habit. Perhaps the driver is, like me, a smoker who doesn’t normally smoke in bed. I only do this twice a day. The first one in the morning when I wake up and the last one at night before I go to sleep. All my other daily cigarettes are smoked while I’m sitting in the drivers seat. Whether I’m driving or parked at a customer or a truckstop.

Ok now that I’ve shared all that with you, just in case your not a subscriber to his blog, I wanted to make sure all of you had the chance to read my words of wisdom LMFAO

On with the blog;

Is ADN>Twitter?(if the shoe fits lace that bitch up and wear it)

Before I get started with this blog post. I feel I should give it a little introduction or more specifically let you know how it came about…

One day last week, I believe it was Thursday , as I was driving towards my 90, that’s how Prime refers to my receiver, I was driving west on I74 in Illinois fixing to have to get on I57 to get to I72. I had been thinking about writing this blog and the things I wanted to say in it, and how I would say them and why…

That was my first mistake. As I’m sure some of you other drivers know, whether or not you want to admit it. Thinking and driving, or daydreaming as its sometimes referred to. Is more distracting IMO than either texting, tweeting, posting or being on the phone.

They should probably write me a ticket for that. Instead of the HUGE fines for texting and driving. I do use Siri most of the time so I’m not actually having to type but I still have my phone in my hand. So I think I should probably invest in a good Bluetooth b4 I get in trouble.
See there I go off track again. Where was I ?

So anyway I exited onto I57 but missed the exit for I72 and had to go down to the next exit and flip around to get to where I was going.

What I had been thinking about as I was driving that day was ADN or App.net. Some of you may have heard of it already or may already be on it. Or you might be asking your self what is ADN and why I should I give two shits about it…

Well ill have to do some more research on it before I publish this blog but for now let me introduce it to you. Let you know how i came to be @driverchrismc on App.net(you can follow me there as well just like you do on twitter) and give you my first impressions. As if you care. LOL. Of course you do if you didn’t you you wouldn’t be reading this….You are still reading aren’t you?

Ok great since I haven’t lost you yet. Here goes the blog:
A few weeks ago I started noticing one of my friends on twitter mention that he was on app.net. Then another of my twitter friends got on there. So I was to say the least curious at this point. So when that first friend I mentioned retweeted someone else’s tweet that gave a link to get on this app.net. I jumped on it. Yes I admit I’m a follower. No shame here.

This is not the same tweet that I was referring to but it will get you there if your interested in going there.

@filmfreak75 Sign up and pay for App dot net on their website, or get a free account via their app:

https://t.co/Nmxp9L2t8b

Yep that’s right the basic idea behind it is a paid social network, like twitter, but not-exactly

Let me say upfront here that you can get on it for free as of this time. That’s how my 2 twitter friends got on it and that’s how I got on. I think we all know my first friend is too much of a cheapskate to pay for something like that,even though I haven’t mentioned his name.

As I said two of my twitter friends were already using it, and by their own admission they plan on using it for a different more techy or photographic purpose something altogether different than the friendly twitter conversations we have on a daily basis. I think that’s a great idea. More power to them, I say.
But here’s what I’ve got in mind as my way of using ADN in addition to twitter
Now as you all know I live on twitter and wouldn’t even think of giving it up or replacing it with ADN

But here’s what I find to be most useful to me about ADN, instead of twitters arbitrarary, or at least I thought that they pulled that 140 character limit out of the blue. I now know after a google search that it indeed makes some sence. http:/limit/www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/twitter-basics-why-140-characters-and-how-to-write-more_b1124

ADN allows your “posts” to be up to 256 characters, almost doubling the length of your “tweet” which is limited to 140.
Also they allow you to cross post your post to your twitter account. In the Netbot app I use for it that option can be found under the retweet…excuse me…I meant repost button.

If your post is too long for twitter. It will be appropriately shortened and a link added to your complete original post. Now I know there are other alternatives to get around the 140 tweet limit. I’ve even used some of them myself. TMI.me is one option, twitlonger is another. I really never liked either one personally. Although they do serve the purpose. Another option if you’re interested is a twitter app I used to use occasionally called “Tweetcaster”. That app automatically splits a long tweet into two parts not exceeding the 140 character limit. But I was disappointed. It sometimes tweeted them backwards or retweeted your old tweets the next time you open the app.

So basically that’s all I want is to not be kept in a strangle hold by that 140 character limit. From now on when I have more to say than 140 characters. Ill simply post it on ADN and then repost or actually cross post it to my twitter account.

So y’all are more than welcome to follow me @driverchrismc on ADN, after all to borrow a phrase from @darkstaff I am an Attention whore. So just like on twitter the more followers I have the more content I will be. However since like I said most of my posts on ADN will be cross posted to @driverchrismc on twitter. It’s not absolutely necessary that you follow me on ADN as long as your follow me on twitter you’ll be seeing retweets of what I’ve posted there.

In addition I have since found out that my initial fascination with ADNs 256 character limit. It’s not all good, there do seem to be some limitations. First of all you have to either recieve an invitation from a paid subscriber or get the app.net app on your iphone. https://join.app.net/I havent a clue if its available on android. Maybe one of you robot phone users will read this and find out. If you do please let me know in the comments section. If you are on a free account like I am, you are limited to 40 people you can follow. So I’m guessing here that your number of followers will be limited as well. I can’t prove that yet because at this time I only have one follower.
Here’s a link if you’d like more information on a free app.net account    limitations link

Well that’s about all I can think of to say here. I’m sure you were all ready and waiting for me to conclude this thing. So until next time. Be safe out there drivers.

https://posts.app.net/5988006

My love for photography rekindled. I now realize where it all began

Ok so now I officially have a new obsession, I say it’s new but really as I’m about to explain to you. It all started 26 years ago when I was a freshman in high school.

Anyway I’m calling it an obsession because for the time being its overriding my desire to buy a new iPad mini. It’s ok everybody take a deep breath. Hard to believe. I know but just keep reading. Ill explain it all in great detail(it will also become clear to you why that pictures at the top)

I went back and forth with this idea, wasn’t sure I was going to make it a blog, thought maybe since Alan and Eric are the only two of my twitter friends that would give two shits about this subject, that I would just email them. So the rest of you wouldn’t be subjected to it. But. Sorry changed my mind I’m not emailing them separate I’m just posting it here for everyone’s amusement. 😉

The subject I’m referring to is of course photography.

You see this new obsession I mentioned is that I want a new DSLR camera or a ‘bridge’ as Eric told me it was called, that’s darkstaff for those of you that are not on a first name basis with him.

I actually gave this one a little thought, and had a whole lot of helpful advice from both Eric and Alan . That’s unusual for me normally I’m an impulse buyer. But that wasn’t the case here. However the decision has been made now, I’ve ordered a Panasonic lumix FZ200 from amazon.com. That’s also unusual for me I’m usually a ‘hands on’ purchaser. But anyway since I’ve let the cat out of the bag now(you ever wonder what a cat was doing in the bag in the first place?)

Here is the background story I wanted to share with all of you and as I said especially to Alan and Eric. I would like to publically here THANK both of them for their helpful advice.

26 years ago in 1986 when I was just a freshman in high school(Byrd high in Shreveport LA). Haley’s comet came by. If you don’t know. Haley’s comet only comes by earth close enough for us to see(with the naked eye) every 75 years. I believe that’s correct. So it is for most of us probably a once in a lifetime event to behold.

I had a science teacher, Hal Meekins, what a perfectly geeky name. I mean no offense to my former teacher after all its not like he’ll ever read my crappy little blog lol. But seriously Todd, Eric and i are proud of calling ourselves geeks.

He had arranged to take a group of students out to the LSU observatory south of town on the night when it could be best viewed.

So that explains the picture(although I found that image on the web it closely resembles the way I remember my picture. That’s right I said my picture. Let me explain.

Mr. Meekins had a camera I’m pretty sure it was a Nikon 35mm. I’m guessing it was top of the line all those years ago. He agreed to bring his camera on this field trip and allow any of us that wanted to bring some film and he would show us how to take a picture of Haley’s comet with his camera.

He had an attachment with a button you could press and hold to increase the length of the exposure rather than just snapping a picture. And as he had explained to us the best way to photograph the comet and its tail was to hold this button down for an extended period of time.

Well I won’t bore you with any of the details of that night that I don’t remember. Ill just get to the point. I had brought along a roll of film for his camera to take my picture. I don’t remember exactly the specifics on the film so I can’t tell you but that really doesn’t matter.

The point is when it came my turn. Mr Meekins loaded my film into his camera,that he had already set up on a tripod and aimed at the comet. I stepped up looked through the viewfinder and pressed and held and held and held that button. How long did I hold it. That like a lot of the other details I can’t even guess at after all it was 26 years ago and I’m only 41 years old so that makes it over half my lifetime ago.

So after the field trip that weekend, I believe this was a Saturday night if memory serves me correctly. I took the film to a drugstore and had it developed. So Monday when I went back to school I had my picture to share with Mr. Meekins and the rest of my class.

Well it was good to say the least. So good in fact that Mr. Meekins submitted it to our yearbook staff and it was indeed published in the yearbook!

As I said the picture you see here is not mine. I had a framed copy but where it’s gone over the years escapes me. That’s a real shame because I’d love to be able to share it with you here and on twitter.

But wait. I know somebody’s saying what about the yearbook? Sadly I have no clue what happened to that either. So unfortunately I am unable to share my spectacular published photo with you 😦

So there it is that’s what started my love of photography all those years ago. So the obsession isn’t really new it’s just been laying dormant for 26 years. Anyway ill let you go now and get back to your family and friends,who I hope you are with, cause that’s when this blog will be published(I’ve scheduled it for Christmas Eve)

Hopefully Tammy and I will also be home celebrating with our family. I say hopefully because right now we are sitting at a truckstop in Wisconsin waiting to deliver this load in the morning. I here they are expecting a blizzard to come through here tonight, but that’s another story. Hopefully we won’t get snowed in here and I won’t have to blog about it.

So MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR to all of you friends.

Ok folks here’s my dilemma what do you think?

Ok folks here’s my dilemma. What do you think?

Ok so that title maybe a tad bit self deceiving. I know what I want. I’ve been saying I wanted it for 3 generations of iPads now. I’ve always felt that it(this iPad that I’m blogging on )was just a little too big to be really useful as a portable device.

Now don’t get me wrong I love it. As I loved the original as well as the ipad2.

My point is the same now as its always been-it was too big. But now that the iPad mini is a reality. What do I do?

I would’ve loved to jump on it and get one when it was launched. But. Unfortunately the mini that apple released is inferior to the new iPad with retina that I currently own.

It’s basically an iPad 2 that shrunk.

Come on apple. Really now. I’m sure it was a good move business wise, but it has left me And I’m sure many other of your fans, disgruntled to say the least. I’m sure they’ll improve and eventually perfect it(retina,superior processor etc). That’s what apple does best

But in the mean while, while I wait patiently, I hope

Here’s the other part of the dilemma

Do I buy a Verizon 4g model or do I go with. Wifi only version for $130 less????

The new iPad that I currently on is a 4g LTE version. Previously I had only owned the wifi only versions.

It is nice to have the always present connection instead of having to rely on wifi, or the unreliable signal from my verizon hotspot

But the issue with that is that syncing between devices. Photo stream etc. won’t work between my iPad and iPhone as long as I’m using the ‘personal hotspot’ on my iPad as the 4g wifi hotspot.

I understand that verizon has a new 4g hotspot out called ‘jet pack’. So if any1 has any experience with that device please let me know.

Or here’s the kicker. Should I buy a wifi only ipad mini. Keep my new iPad and continue to use it as my wifi signal via its personal hotspot.

I’m starting to think that might be the winning combination. So if I can stand it. Ill wait till March of next year when hopefully the iPhone 5s comes out and see if they are bringing out an improved iPad mini. 😉

Free Wi-Fi: Should it be free or are we getting spoiled

Free wi-Fi. Should it be free or are we getting spoiled. We’ve all seen one or more of these signs advertising free Wi-Fi at restaurants, coffee shops, libraries etc. In addition if your a trucker. (If you drive a truck). I say truckers but some drivers don’t call themselves that so I clarified. If your a trucker you’ve most likely seen one or more of these signs at Iowa rest areas( I’m sure there are other states that do it too) but that was the one that came to my mind. McDonalds w/ truck parking, certain truck stops. Mostly smaller independent ones except for Sapp brothers. They offer free wi-Fi if you happen to be lucky enough to stop at one of their locations in Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, Illinois or Pennsylvania. But other than that we are expected to pay,with money or points, for the wi-Fi service.

Is that really fair to ask us truckers to pay for wi-fi simply because we are truck drivers and have to park in certain places, mostly truck stops. Is it. In my humble opinion it’s not fair.

I look at it in much the same way as I look at paying for apps. As a friend once tweeted me “they have us trained wrong on apps. Music was never free. ” He was of course referring to the fact that I had no hesitation whatsoever in paying to download music from iTunes (the music was never free he was referring to was from back in the day when we would go to the record store to purchase music whether that be on vinyl, cassette or more recently CD’s )but I was reluctant to download an app,unless it was free. They used to all be free for the most part,or at least that’s my understanding of it. Again if I’m wrong feel free to leave a comment at the bottom of this post.

Or maybe I’m just becoming a cheapskate, like some of my twitter buddies. Call me what you will. Agree with me or have your own opinion. That’s what the comment section down below is for. I would love to hear your thoughts on the subject.

This is certainly not a new thing. Pilot, Flying J, TA, Petro and Loves, they have all been charging us to use their wifi service for as long as, we’ll at least as long as I’ve been driving.

However I know that you can use your driver reward points to pay for it now instead of cash money(credit/debit cards). So that’s just as good as free. Right? Sort of. Well I guess that all depends on how you look at it and how you usually use your reward points.

Personally if I did that I would still consider myself paying for it, but at least the cash money wouldn’t be coming out of my bank account. So I guess that’s some sort of consolation. Or is it? Like I said you can and should leave me your comments down below.

The reason that I’m writing this blog is because it came to my attention earlier today. Me and the wife had driven to the Flying J in Aurora CO, after a delivery. To park and wait for our next load assignment.

I took this iPad and my iPhone, of course, into Denny’s with me. I was expecting to use their free wi-Fi to work on my blog and also I had an update available for an app on my iPhone which required wi-Fi to download,since it was over 50mb.

I really don’t like that Verizon policy(having to use wifi to download an app over 50mb) either but I see it as the lesser of two evils I certainly wouldn’t want to have to deal with the other big player who’s only claim to fame seems to be “you can talk and surf the web at the same time using your iphone on our network.”

Ooh wow excuse me if I’m not impressed. LMFAO

I could have turned on this iPads personal hotspot to use as wifi on my iPhone. But I figured if I could get it free inside why use up part of my data allowance that I pay verizon for.
Which brings another subject to mind but I’m going to save that for another post.

Like I was saying before I got off on that tangent to my dismay the only wi-fi signal available to me inside Denny’s was the flying j wifi. Which like I said we are expected to pay for. The reason I expected to get the free signal from Denny’s is that they usually offer it in their restaurant unless they are in a flying j. I suspect the reasoning for that is that Pilot, who now owns all the J’s, won’t allow it because they want to force us to pay for their wifi. I’m sure I’m correct on that point. However I have on occasion still found the Denny’s free wifi still available in some of the flying j locations. I’d share with you but at the moment memory escapes me.

Anyway I just though I’d share with you my thoughts on the subject and ask for your comments. I had another subject, a dilemma if you will that I wanted to share with you. But since I’ve recently learned it makes for a better blog if you stay on point, in other words from now on instead of writing my multi subject blogs. Ill try to stay on point and just write a separate blog post if I have something else to discuss with you or enlighten you with. LMFAO

Stay safe out there truckers. driverchrismc
Chris McFadden

iMc112612 Special Christmas Video Blog

Well its Monday after Thanksgiving and we’re back out on the road, sort of, that is to say that we left home this morning to go pickup an empty trailer.  Now we are sitting at a truckstop in Memphis, West Memphis actually, but if your a driver you already know where I’m talkin about.

We are going to pickup a load here over here in the morning.  So since we’re already here I had nothing better to do than write this blog for your enjoyment. 😉

@ToddMcCann posted a new guest blog last night.  Thanks to input from @KevinofMI  Check it out.  Its pretty good maybe Kevin should consider writing his own blog.  Anyway Todd’s still doing these guest posts while we await the premiere of his website.  There maybe some surprises for some of you, i may or may not have some inside information. I can neither confirm nor deny what links and or features it may or may not include.  Hope thats vague enough for you.

For this weeks blog post I wanted to share with you a video that was taken on my or rather my wifes iPhone 4s, it used to be mine before i got the iphone5 .

But your not gonna get off quite that easy.  I would like to think you read my blog rather than just scrolling to the bottom to see the video.

so ill wait and post the video at the end.  Believe me it’ll be worth the wait.  If you like Christmas lights and music You don’t want to miss this. It is a drive thru display of many many thousands of Christmas lights brilliantly synchronized to Christmas music.

We actually stumbled upon it by accident. Myself and Tammy had taken two of our daughters and grandson over to Nashville for pictures with Santa, Starbucks for me, where I got to use passbook for the first time on my iPhone.  If you haven’t tried it out yet you must, its awesome. Oh and also a trip to the apple store.  Not just for me people!  My youngest daughter needed to have her iPhone fixed.  Although It was my first opportunity to see the iPad mini.  First reaction:  perfect in size that is otherwise its an ipad2 which is so two years ago.  Thats why I’m just going to have to wait until they come out with a new one with at least an A6 chip and retina display.

So after we left the mall in Nashville we headed over towards Opryland, my daughters wanted to go to the mall over there but the place was jam packed.  So we decided to grab something to eat at Shoneys.  Well when we were leaving there I decided to take a right instead of going left, traffic was mega terrible, something about the Rockettes being at Opryland that night. I just so happened to see a sign for a Christmas light drive thru display at an RV park located off of the frontage road.  So I decided to go check it out.  I wasn’t disappointed.  It was an absolutely beautiful display of lights synchronized to music.  This is something I would’ve never seen in a truck or in a drivers lounge, you know where that comes from if you read Kevins guest post on Todds blog.

so ok I’ve tortured you long enough.   Let me see if the videos are uploaded yet. Yeah thats right theres two of them.  The video ended up being almost 28 minutes long on tammys iPhone, so I had to cut it in two to get it uploaded to you tube.  Hope you enjoy as much as me and my family did and if i don’t write you another blog before then MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

iMc

Ok this was originally going to be a special Thursday edition of the #trucker Tuesday twitter recap, because I started thinking of these ideas while I was driving last Wednesday night. But after I finished driving at 2330. My laziness kicked in and well the special Thursday edition just didn’t happen.

So then I was gonna post this on Friday, but once again when I was done driving Thursday night, it was actually 0200 friday. So I said oh well guess ill just post this on Tuesday as usual.

But then as I was writing this Friday, while waiting for our APU to be serviced, if your not a trucker in the know that’s an auxiliary power unit. That allows us to have AC or heat while we sleep without having to idle the truck.
I thought that perhaps I had given my blog the wrong name.

The reasons I’m thinking that are:
1-although I do post on Tuesdays. I don’t post every tuesday(which was the original idea)

2-although I do recap or repost things from twitter. My paper.li already does that for me.

3-and my usual subject matter revolves around anything that starts with an ‘i’ made by apple.

So I’ve decided Henceforth this will be known as the iMc blog(pronounced I Mac).

I decided I I couldn’t actually use the name iMac. I wouldn’t want to get a cease and desist from apple. But since my last name is McFadden. iMc would sound the same as iMac. And it more accurately reflects my usual subject matter.

Now having said all that I wanted to start off talking about some things that have absolutely nothing to do with apple. I know your all shocked. But let me get this stuff outta the way then ill return to my usual apple ‘fan’atic subject matter.

There are two subjects I usually never discuss. Politics and religion. I’m sure all you truck drivers know the fastest way to start an argument at a truckstop or over the CB is to have a conversation involving either politics or religion. No matter what your opinion is I

Guarantee

somebody will disagree with you. But lets face it folks this is America and you have the inalienable right to be wrong.

Now speaking of America and rights how you like that Segway lol

The presidential election was last Tuesday. I’ve always heard. “If you don’t vote. You don’t have a right to bitch”

That may be true and I am not going to bitch. I just want to explain to you why I believe my/your vote doesn’t count especially in the case of the presidential election. In case you are unaware or didn’t learn it in your high school civics class. Let me enlighten you folks. We the people do not elect the president. He is elected by the electoral college. It’s a fact you can google it.

Furthermore it is possible, and it has happened, the candidate that wins the popular vote. Can lose the election because of the electoral college votes.

It has happened four times before and it can and will, I believe, happen again. here’s the proof

Nuff said about that. Moving forward. In other election news. They legalized marijuana for recreational use in CO and WA. But I’m pretty sure it’s still a big no no for us truck drivers. And I’m pretty sure transporting it from Colorado to Washington or vice versa. Would be a federal crime

Now to totally switch gears here. Lets talk about the Rock and Roll hall of fame or hall of shame as Axel rose stated. KISS isn’t in it. But Madonna Michael Jackson and the beastie boys are in it. Now I’m not saying that I don’t like these pop and rap artists. But they are not purely Rock and Roll. KISS is rock and roll. Now of course that’s just my opinion and you’re welcome to disagree with me in the comments section below. Like I said this is America and you have the right to be wrong. LMFAO

In other geek news. Disney has acquired Lucasfilm, from George Lucas, and they have announced plans to make the long anticipated and rumored sequels. Episodes VII, VIII and IX.

And there is no truth to the rumor that Darth Vaders helmet will be replaced with Mickey Mouse ears.

He’s dead folks. You should already know that

And for you Star Wars and angry bird fans you can now download the angry birds Star Wars edition from the App Store.

In other apple related news. I recently started listening to the ‘cult cast’ put out on Thursdays by the fine folks over at @cultofmac

 Check em out on twitter @erfon Buster Heine @lkahney and John Brownlee Its the best 30 minute apple conversation you’ll here all week

Also speaking of podcasts you may like iMore recommended to me by my good friend @ericdblacker, fellow apple fan and soon to be back with us On the road. (Actually as you read this Eric is in orientation at his old company)

Now getting back to my i focus.
Apple On October 23rd announced to us via live stream keynote. Something that I’ve hoped for since the introduction of iPad. But also probably something that never would have happened while the late great Steve Jobs was alive.

They announced the iPad mini! I’ve always said the iPad was a little too big, of course that hasn’t stopped me from purchasing all three previous generations. But more than likely I won’t be buying the 4th.

Before I go on to my rave review of the mini , if I can call it that since I don’t own one yet. I want to express my anger and disappointment with apple.

Ok now that you’ve regained your composure. I am going to say something negative about my beloved apple. Hard to believe. I know but I feel like I need to say it.

First of all my new 3rd generation iPad, with retina display, isn’t new anymore. Apple is now selling the 4th generation iPad alongside the mini. The ipad3 was only announced and available six months ago. Thanks apple you have betrayed us on this one I think.

But never mind my disappointment over that. I still want an iPad mini. If for no other reason than the form factor(size). I love it. IMHO it’s the perfect tablet size.

But like I said I can’t do a hands on review since I don’t own one yet. I’ll just reiterate what’s already been said and provide you the links to those reviews.

Here’s what they had to say about it on the cultcast

So there you have it. The iPad mini doesn’t yet have a retina display, like the ipad3 I’m working on, and It doesn’t have as fast a processor as either this ipad3 or the new ipad4.

So what did we get. We got an iPad mini which is perfect in size

BUT

has a terrible screen and it uses the same processor/chip that was in the ipad2.

So I’m just going to have to wait this one out. But luckily for me, based on apples current schedule, i wont have to wait too long we would expect a new iPad mini around March of next year. Incidentally my birthdays March 24th if anyone would like to buy me one. Email me ill send you my address. Or I will accept donations on driverchrismc.com LMFAO

That’s a joke folks.

Well on that note ill wrap this thing up. Until next time. Ill see you on twitter, and all my fellow truckers. Be safe out there.

This weeks blog does not mention Todd McCann

Ok so I started thinking last Monday night that I should start working on tomorrow’s blog. I started thinking up ideas based on something I had just tweeted and a reply I got. Then all of a sudden I realized. Crap it’s already Tuesday. Guess this will have to wait till next week.

Well anyway as I was saying. I tweeted “Am I sick. I just told @tammymcfadden 2 stop 4 the night at a loves. Well yes actually I am. Your rude comments may commence now LMFAO”
Well as matter of fact I was feeling somewhat under the weather. I believe my wife had given me a touch of a stomach virus she had had over the weekend. That’s true love ain’t it folks.

That elicited a reply from someone who I’m not going to mention in this blog. Simply because I think I’ve probably mentioned him and his blog in just about every one of my blog posts. People might start to think that he was paying me and oh by the way

Your check is late. Again

Anyway like I was saying his reply was

“You got a major vendetta with Love’s or what?
Sheez. Remind me to never get on your bad side.”

So that gave me the idea. Not that I felt I owed him or any of you an explanation. Not that I thought any of you would give a rats ass as to why I hate loves. But I figured it would give me something to blog about.

So where should I begin. Well how about at the beginning

A long time ago in a galaxy far far away

Ok scratch that. That’s the beginning of Star Wars not the beginning of my explanation. But I’m sure you all knew that. If you didn’t know that you shouldn’t be following me. LMFAO

To be perfectly clear up front I don’t hate all loves locations. As a matter of fact I stop occasionally at the ones that have Hardee’s in them. I love their frisco burgers and curly fries with a large ice cold cherry coke.

And as a company driver now I usually have to stop for fuel wherever I’m told to. Occasionally that happens to be a loves. But not often thankfully.

You see it all started with their shower procedures. In case you other drivers haven’t noticed. They don’t trust us. They hold your rewards card until you bring back their key and towels. like we really want to steal a key on a stick

But then it got a little more intense.

When my preferred truck stop chain, Pilot, bought out the Flying J. (Their coffee is the best option we got)
Loves went crying to-like a little two year old goes to mommy when daddy says no-

The government; more specifically the FTC.
It was reported on the web that:

Pilot Flying J is selling 26 locations to Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores as required by the Federal Trade Commission as a condition for the merger. For a list of the affected locations and for additional information about the merger, visit http://www.pilotflyingj.com.

Now I’m sorry but to me I just see that as bad business. Personally I don’t condone any person or business “suing” someone else to get ahead. But that’s just my opinion and you’re welcome to disagree with it in the comments section down below.

Loves took over those locations and pretty much destroyed all that we had become accustomed to. Especially with the Flying J locations they bought. They closed the restaurants. Now I know all of you are screaming at me that pilot closed the Flying J restaurants but Denny’s isn’t half bad IMHO.

At least it’s still a place we can go in sit down and eat a meal. After driving 11 hours sometimes we need that.

So that’s it in a nutshell. Nothing real earth shattering. Just a difference of opinion I guess you could say.

Now back to the #truckertuesday twitter recap:

8 cool things you can do with your new apple earbuds: tweeted by @mactrast

http://www.mactrast.com/2012/09/8-cool-things-you-can-do-with-your-apple-headphones/

This from one of my new followers @Jim_Gresham, writer for iDownloadBlog and mactrast

http://www.imore.com/the-magazine

http://www.idownloadblog.com/2012/10/11/ipod-touch-5th-generation-review/idownloadblog will keep you up to date on all the latest apple,iOS and iPhone news. If you care to follow

Also make sure to check out this weeks edition of my Paper.li I would like to thank keithbanta1956 bulkloadsnow amishtrucker and the rest of you for the retweets of my panorama pictures I’ve posted on twitter.

That’s definitely become my favorite ios6/iphone5 feature. It just works. Simply and beautifully. No stitching and or cropping is required. You basically point shoot move your iPhone then shoot again when your done.
The default is left to right, but you can change the direction by clicking on the arrow. You can even turn your iPhone sideways and shoot a vertical panorama. I’m hoping to find a use for that soon. Here are a few of the panoramas I’ve made so far:

;

Now an unplanned update to the blog before it posts on Tuesday morning. The wife and I are currently staying in a hotel room in Columbus OH. We have been here since Saturday afternoon when our truck broke down and had to be “rigged” up so i could get it to Freightliner. They had to have another driver come get our load on the shoulder of I70 so that it could be delivered. The air tank under the drivers side of the truck fell off again. I already knew from our experience last month, in OKC, that they wouldn’t stock the part we needed to have it fixed. So being that it was a weekend when we broke down. The part couldn’t be ordered until today(I’m writing this on monday) They should get it in tomorrow and have us back on the road. I hope, but i won’t cross my fingers or hold my breath. Im sure some of you know how ‘efficient’ a truck dealer can be.

;

Ok thats all for now Till next time be safe #truckers

I’m back. Can’t believe I been gone since April 3

Wow after reading Todd McCanns latest post. Which was merely a guest post with some snark thrown in for good measure.
I realized I had been absent for at least as long maybe longer. He claims to have been workin on some super secret website. That we may never get to see. I on the other hand have no excuse. Other than my ADD and extreme laziness.

So welcome back. I’m sure your all thrilled to be here. Right? Right!

Well ok I hope in my absence you’ve all been reading my paper.li which auto posts on twitter every Tuesday.

But I decided as a treat for you this week I would actually write something. But what?!

A lot has happened in four months. I could tell you all about it. But if you follow me you probably know already more than you wanted to. So I’ll spare you.

Suffice to say its been interesting.

As of last week when we went home I got my new iPhone 5. Todd had already beaten me to it. But I had to catch up.

So last Monday when we got home. After many phone calls. I immediately headed out to a verizon store 45 minutes away from where we live. I usually go to the one in Jackson but they didn’t have any left. That’s still 45 minutes in the opposite direction from where I live.
But like I was sayin. I drove to the Verizon store in Dickson Not bad 45 minutes. Hell I would’ve driven an hour and a half but the Apple store in Nashville was out of them as well

So anyway I ended up with the last remaining white 64gb iPhone 5
Yep white. Partly because of what I had heard about the black ones scratching very easily and partly because that’s all they had. I hate to wait and I don’t like to order. I’m just a hands on type.

So what do I think. I love it of course. It’s apple. Sometimes I think us apple fans would by ipoop. If apple convinced us we needed it. That’s just an exaggeration now. But you get the idea

So what’s new you ask. Well other than this being my first white device.
It’s thinner, lighter, has the new lightning connector.
The screen is bigger. I mean taller but skinnier. Not really its exactly the same width. But it’s an optical illusion that makes it appear skinnier

It’s faster with the new A6 chip, and of course as many had hoped for its 4g LTE capable(at least for us verizon folks) which is scary fast

Of course it comes with the new iOS 6. Which has so many improvements. But that’s available on older iPhones. So you probably already know about it.

The new ear pods are far superior to the ear buds that have come with our previous iPhones.

The only problem I had with it, which actually turned out to be a problem with my Mac book pro. Was that I couldn’t get a complete sync of all my iTunes music. So I ended up making that trip to the apple store in Nashville after all.

After sitting at their “genius bar” for about 3 hours. The problem was solved. They really had no definitive explanation for me. They said they had never seen that particular problem before. The best they could say was that my iTunes media folder ‘blew up’ and scattered my music files all over. But. They were able to fix it. Guess they don’t call em geniuses for nothin.
Todd said I should write a book about it called “How to go in the apple store without spending a dime”. He says it would be a best seller. But since I’m not as long winded as he is and suffer from the aforementioned ADD. I seriously doubt it would ever get finished

One more thing….
Before I get to the actual #truckertuesday twitter recap. This Friday. October 5th is a special day. It’s Tammy McFadden’s birthday. Now I can’t tell you how old she is. That’s just rude. But our little inside joke is that I could trade her in for 2 21 year olds. LMFAO

Also sadly it is the anniversary of the death of Steve Jobs.

On a more personal note it will also be 15 years since I lost my Grandad on 10-5-1997.

Anyway back to the blog. Most of the important news(for us apple fan-atics). Comes from idownload blog

Eric. Known to us on twitter as darkstaff has as usual been posting some pretty outstanding #iphoneography pictures.
Most of his pics now adays revolve around his beautiful baby girl, Hannah

For the rest of what’s happening on twitter be sure to read my paper

Until next week #truckers. Be safe out there

TTTR04.03.2012 with a special tumblr pictorial and my paper.li

Welcome back to this weeks #truckertuesday twitter recap.

Unless you won the mega millions this weekend and been off the grid for a few days. You undoubtedly already know that I am writing this weeks blog on my brand new iPad which runs on Verizon’s 4G LTE service. Which to say the least is amazing. I ran some speed tests on my new iPad as well as my other devices(so that you could see the difference). Those are posted on my tumblr blog

Glad you came back and I hope you were as impressed as I am with those 4G LTE speeds.

Folks this new iPad is blazing. Almost literally. That brings me to this point(I threw this part in to be fair). I am 98.6% satisfied with my new 3rd generation iPad. Way to throw us a curve on that one apple. It should’ve logically been called the ipad3. But it wasn’t. Guess that’s why my name isn’t Tim Cook.

Anyway my point being the 1.4% that I’m not totally satisfied with

First off the smart cover which I mentioned in an earlier blog as the best feature of the ipad2. It doesn’t turn the new iPad on and off as it was originally designed to do. Something about the polarity of the magnets.

Secondly we have, what is being called “heat gate”. Yes it is true it gets a little hotter than normal when charging or when you are using the mobile hotspot function. But that has been reasonably explained by apple. It is due to the larger sized battery in the device, which is necessary to run the awesome 4G LTE speed. If you are lucky enough to have the Verizon 4G LTE model.

The final thing that makes me not totally satisfied with it is ‘photo stream’. Which was a part of iCloud, a feature that apple gave to us in ios5. Ok here’s the deal with that. It is designed to keep your photos in sync between your devices(iPhone,iPad). It only works when both of the devices are using the same wifi signal.
Now since I replaced my Mifi device with the mobile hotspot feature of the new iPad. My iPhone is running on wifi courtesy of the new iPad. But the iPad itself is running on Verizon’s 4G LTE. As a result photo stream won’t work. Oh well no big hairy deal.

So should these minor drawbacks stop you from buying a new iPad. Certainly not IMHO

The retina display. It’s resolutionary , according to apple.com, the 5mp iSight camera, the ultra fast 4G LTE(again that’s just for us verizon customers)

There are more than enough reasons why I would recommend the new iPad.

Anyway enough of that. Apples not paying me to recommend their products. Although sometimes I think they should. Lmfao

As usual I would like to thank some folks for their RTs of my blog last week. @BTDTruckingjobs @HTDTruckingjobs my wife @tammymcfadden and @toddmccann

And a special word of thanks goes out to Heather@trkrsvoice who in addition to the blog RT has also posted a link to DriverChrismc.com on her Dark side of trucking website

Also on her website you may now find Todd’s rumblings as well as a link to his blog

Well I’ve said my piece for the week. As far as the actual TTTR part of this blog please read my paper.li

Ok now that you’ve read my paper and come back let me explain. I chose the paper format because it’s more professional looking.

Ok honestly folks I did it because it saves me time and well let’s face it I’m lazy.

That’s all for this week hope you enjoyed it and I hope you will be back for next weeks edition. Until then drivers Be Safe out there.

This blog was written in its entirety on my new iPad. All material used in it was either my own intellectual property or gathered on twitter by paper.li and the respective tweeters were credited.

Any comments suggestions or submissions may be sent to me by email driverchrismc@gmail.com