The Aston Visit

So the pathway for pictures to get to the MoBlog will be:

1. Canon EOS 10D to CF microdrive
2. Insert microdrive into iPAQ Pocket PC expanision pack
3. Use Rsco Picture Viewer to select photo and resize to 640x480
4. Email to TextAmerica for posting
5. Email from iPAQ is via Bluetooth to the T68 cell phone...
6. ...then via GPRS to the Internet.

Sounds like a lot, but it's a cakewalk and completely wireless.

Busy weekend, just getting back to this. The reason I stayed up to 3 AM on Thursday night was that I was trying to get the data connection from the Smartphone to work with my T-Mobile account. No luck. I spend the morning on Friday running around the office asking co-workers with the same phone what I was doing wrong. It appeared I had it all configured right, so I ended up calling T-Mobile. They removed my registration from the network and had me power cycle the phone. That did the trick. The T-Mobile rep reminded me that there is no need to lose sleep because the customer care is available 24x7.

This phone is way cool, but I'm not sure it has many advantages over my SonyEricsson T68 + iPAQ H3970 Pocket PC combination. More on that later. I found some awesome software for dealing with photos on my Pocket PC. Check out Resco Picture Viewer. I will be using this to view and resize photos on the trip. My digital camera, Canon EOS 10D, uses a Microdrive and I can drop the Microdrive right into the CompactFlash Expansion Pack on the Pocket PC.

Okay, I'm getting tired. Another night up to 3 AM, last night trying to cram my brain for the trip. But wait, first the good news. I was able to secure a loaner Tanager Smartphone w/ camera yesterday. I've set up a MoBlog on TextAmerica where you will be able to check out nearly real-time photos.

I've add the ability for readers to post comments. Just click on the link "comments" at the bottom of each log entry. This service is provided by Enetation.

I've loaded MapPoint Europe 2002 edition on to my Dell laptop for the trip and routed the driving trip from London to the Aston Martin factory in Newport Pagnell. As I won't be doing the driving, I'm hoping to capture the GPS track log with my new Geko 201 for real-time tracking against the map as well as location metadata for photos and video captured along the way.

I've also discovered a cool tool for managing GPS data called ExpertGPS. The same company also has a free version called EasyGPS. Thanks to Sean for the tip!

I'm starting to assemble the electronics I will be carrying on this trip. It's scary. Here is the latest addition: The Garmin Geko 201. I'm hoping to use the Geko GPS receiver to create a track log of the major parts of the trip to allow me to synchronize my photos and video to locations during the post-production (ha!) phase of the trip. Watch for additional posting on the other electronic tid-bits I will be packing.

BTW: I should mention that the salesman at REI also introduced me to the hobby of "Geocaching". News to me, but check out this interesting phenomena. I also understand interest has declined slightly due to security concerns, but it's still going strong.

My sister reminded me last night that I failed to mention the important point of our trip to visit the Aston Martin factory. No, this is not a pre-sales investigation (as I dreamed). Rather, we will be accompanying the noted automobile journalist and author, Winston Goodfellow as he conducts a set of in-depth interviews and general fact collection and photography of Aston's latest dream machines for his upcoming publications.

See Mr. Goodfellow's latest cover photo and article "Classic Reunion" in the May 2003 Robb Report.



Did I mention that Mr. Goodfellow is my brother-in-law?

Welcome and stay tuned. On July 7th, I leave for London and will be meeting my sister who is coming in from Milan. On July 10th and 11th, we will be visiting the Aston Martin factory in Newport Pagnell, UK. The journal will chronicle my trip. Buckle up!

-K