Entries from March 2008 ↓

July 28, 1942 - March 13, 2008

Visitation
Monday, March 17, 2008
5pm-9pm (rosary @ 7:30pm)
Woods Scovern Mortuary
511 S Central Ave
Glendale, CA Map
818-242-0258

Funeral Mass
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
10am
Our Mother of Good Counsel Church
2060 N Vermont Ave
Los Angeles, CA Map
323-664-2111

Rick and I are planning a trip to Chicago for our birthdays this April. While finding the best airfare seemed a fairly straightforward task, the best hotel was another matter. We wanted something downtown so that we could walk or take public transportation to our sightseeing spots but even a 2 star hotel in that location was $200 a night! And after being able to cook the occasional meal during my Hawaii trip, I really wanted to find something with a kitchen.

Enter VacationRentals.com. I found a very cute condo in the location we wanted for only $125 a night. It’s been recently remodeled and looks much more comfortable than Motel 6. There’s even a 1-acre landscaped park on the roof, along with a deck for lounging and BBQ-ing!

If all goes well, I don’t see how I’d stay in a hotel ever again if I could help it.

Ever since moving to the Central Coast I have been jonesing for KPCC. I became hooked on this Southern California public radio station a little over a year ago. It had been my constant companion while driving around town or puttering around the house. In Los Osos, I was still able to get my fix at home by listening over the internet but had to settle for KCBX while running errands in the car. KCBX does play some of the programs I enjoyed on KPCC but also plays a lot of jazz and classical music. Not very satisfying when you’re craving some “FM with IQ.”

Then I got my Sprint Treo 755p with its awesome EVDO wireless network. (CNET says that EVDO averages 300Kbps to 600Kbps while EDGE, GPRS and GSM average 90Kbps, 35Kbps and 9.6Kbps.) While I’ve been enjoying the high-speed Gmail and Google Maps access, it didn’t occur to me to stream media until I signed up for Big Brother 9 updates. The Treo comes with a cool little media player that launches when you click on a streaming link. Even then, I only played occassional videos.

A couple days ago it occurred to me to try playing internet radio on my phone instead of vainly searching out public radio stations with my car radio on the long, long drive to Los Angeles. The clouds opened up, the sun shined, angels sang. I had my beloved KPCC at last. And it works wherever there’s cell service! My lonely drives to and from Los Angeles and Los Osos are lonely no longer.

If only Free FM offered a stream URL instead of forcing you to use their Flash-based player … I’m still working on a way to get around that.