Product Review: Classic iPod 120 GB

 

I am from the generation that grew up on cassette tapes and walkmans, then transitioned to the MP3 phase. Most of the music that is in my CD collection is available to stream through Amazon music, but there are a few things that I have on CD that are not. I managed to put my entire CD collection on here (I had somewhere in the neighborhood of 300 CDs before I stopped buying them) before iTunes stopped the ripping from CD capability. You can still use this version of the iPod on iTunes, but you have to rip CDs using a different service and then transfer the MP3 files over to it. So, getting music onto the older iPods like this is not as easy as it used to be, but is still doable. The pros of this model are that you will be able to get at least a good chunk of your CD collection on it (depending on how many CDs/MP3 files you have and if you get the model that has 160GB or more or storage space) and it has pretty good sound. And, assuming your vehicle still has an AUX port, you can plug it into that and play all your music in your car.

Some of the cons are, i) it does not have Bluetooth, so you will need corded headphones, ii) it is fragile, so you definitely want to find a case for it because if you drop it on a hard surface, it can easily break, iii) it has no internet connectivity, so to get music onto it you will need to plug it into a computer.

So, if you are in your late 30s and up, and still have CDs, but don't want to lug the CDs around anymore (assuming your car still has a CD player in it) and don't want to fill up your phone's storage space with MP3 files, this is a good option. If, however, you do not have a CD collection or you do not have a bunch of MP3 files on your computer that you want to be able to take with you, this is really not necessary.

Workout Update: Chalean Extreme Day 1

Day 1 of Chalean Extreme was the burn circuit 1 video. During this circuit, you select weight so that you can make it to at least 10 reps and at most 12 reps. Once you can easily reach 12 reps, then you increase the amount of weight.  Every single exercise, with the exception of push-ups, are compound moves that combine an upper-body or core-focused exercise, like shoulder flys, shoulder presses, bicep curls, side bends, etc., with a lower-body exercise or an ab exercise like squats, lunges, leg-lowers, or the like. You target the weight to what the primary move in the exercise is, for example, when it is shoulder flys you select a lower weight, and if it is squats you select a larger weight. The big thing that Chalene Johnson, the trainer for the videos harshes on is to go slowly through the reps so that you do not use momentum to complete reps and are really focusing on the muscles. Because of that, you may have to use less weight for some exercises in this program than you did for similar exercises in a program in which you were lifting the weights more quickly. For example, in this workout, I was using 17.5 lbs for bicep curls whereas in P90x I could do 10 reps with 22.5 lbs. On some moves, Chalene does a breakdown set in which after you do the 10-12 reps for the regular compound move, then you will do three ultra-slow reps for the primary move (or a different move that targets the same muscle group as the primary move), to really fatigue the muscle. Ultra-slow means about 8 counts up and 8 counts down. 

Overall, the workout went well. I definitely picked lighter weights for this workout. Some I was dead on with my guess and for others, the weight was a bit light so I will be increasing it for the next workout. One thing I do like about this program is that there are multiple modifiers. One modifier uses bands, and another uses very light free-weights and does modified versions of some of the moves. So, it can really be tailored to your fitness level and level of strength. 

DVD Review: The Dukes of Hazzard Complete Series

 

Chances are, if you grew up in the 1980s (especially if you were a boy during the 1980s) you watched the Dukes of Hazard. The show ran from 1979 to 1985. To the extent it had much of a plot, it revolved around the Duke family (Bo, played by John Schnieder, Luke, played by Tom Wopat, Uncle Jesse, played by Denver Pyle, and among many a kid's first crushes, Daisy, played by Catherine Bach), who were moonshine runners down in Hazzard County Georgia. They were constantly being chased by the corrupt, but inept Sherrif, Rosco (played by James Best), and his inept deputies. The county was essentially run by the even more corrupt Boss Hogg, played by Sorrell Booke.

The show basically recycled the same plot over and over again, and then toward the end started getting even more silly than it already was (including episodes involving hilariously fake-looking aliens). And, we will not even talk about the Coy and Vance season. Of course, the big attraction was the car, "The General Lee", and the jumps. Of course, nowadays there is a huge backlash over the fact that the car was named after the traitor confederate general and had the confederate flag painted on the top. Even though the show was never overtly racist, and the car was used in more of the "southern pride" context than a racist context (although for some in the south the two are a circle on a Venn diagram), the show was not exactly the most racially inclusive thing either. The handful of black people who ever appeared on the show were usually bad guys, including the Sherriff of the neighboring county who would also torment the Dukes any time they crossed county lines.

It looks like there are a couple of different sets floating around out there. I have the one that just sold the individually packed seasons together. Because they were released when the physical DVDs were still pretty popular, each season had a lot of extras, most of which were produced in the "present-day" for the DVD releases. Those included a lot of interviews with the surviving cast members, but there was also some behind-the-scenes footage from when the show was originally aired that was included too.

Overall, the set is pretty good. The DVD releases were much better than what most shows get today. You do have to contend with the dreaded double-sided DVDs for some of the seasons. In my set, seasons 1-3 have the double-sided discs and then seasons 4-7 have the regular single-sided discs. So, you definitely want to watch them right away to see if you have any scratched discs. The show was never going to win any acting or writing awards, but it generally had a good theme of family and community, and even the "bad" guys had some redeeming qualities to them. It is a show that would certainly not be made today, at least not in the same way that it was back then, but even so, I think it is stupid that it has been pulled from syndication and is almost never on television anymore (and that is coming from someone who is half black and lives in Minnesota). For those of us who grew up watching it during its original run and/or when it was played heavily in syndication, it will be a fun blast from the past. It is certainly not as good watching it as an adult as I thought it was when I watched it as a kid, but it has a nostalgic feel and the car chases are still pretty cool.

Workout Update: P90X Days 90 and 91

Day 90 was x-stretch. It was the last full day of the program, although on day 91 I did do a truncated version of Yoga and the Chalean Extreme fit test. Overall, I would say that I made okay progress with this first round, but not as good as I could have. That is mostly because my nutrition has been pretty crappy at times. I have been able to stay kind of status quo weight and bodyfat-wise because I have been doing intermittent fasting. Basically, I stop eating by 4:00 PM and then don't eat again until 8:00 AM the next day. Even when eating crappy food, that has kept me from gaining weight but I have also not lost a significant amount of weight since phase two. So, my goal for Chalean Extreme will be to eat cleaner than I have been, and instead of doing a full cheat day, do two cheat meals on Sundays. My birthday is this week so that plan may not totally work out until next week, but that is the goal. Tomorrow starts Day 1 of Chalean Extreme, which I am looking forward to.

Product Review: Logitech Quickcam

 

This is an older camera, so the image quality is not as good as many (if not most) of the newer ones. It does work with Windows 10 if you download the updated driver from Logitech's website. It does not have the greatest software, but it does work with Zoom and Teams just fine.