Tong Family (richtong.org sync)

!>http://www.steves-digicams.com/images7/aa_nimh_batteries.jpg! We’ve had rechargeable batteries for a long time. I mainly use them to run my bicycle flashers, but with the advent of LED flashers, I don’t use them much. The big use we have is for various kids toys and also walkie talkies where AAs and AAAs are in…

Almost no one I know travels with these things, but I’ve used my jumper cables and also flashlight. The main thing to do as “About.com”:http://cars.about.com/od/adviceforowners/a/ag_winterkit.htm and “Minneapolis.About.com”: http://minneapolis.about.com/cs/transportation/qt/wintercarkit.htm says is to get: # Emergency hazard triangle. Personally I don’t like flares as things are flammable obviously and they have a…

Well the market for steering wheels and joysticks for the PC has pretty much collapsed. Most folks are using consoles for games like this. I tried to resurrect an old Microsoft Wheel and Joystick, but they use the old analog input with the DB-15 plug. It costs $25 to get…

I got the MDX stuck in the snow. I didn’t think it could really happen with a big burly SUV, but that’s learning. It was a little bit of a strange situation. Snowing heavily and I tried to park in a spot that had 2″ of snow. Got stuck because…

!http://photos-356.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v79/6/97/505253356/n505253356_57356_4479.jpg! Skis have gotten fatter and fatter. Five years ago when I bought my first set, the “mid fat” was a very chunky 78mm at the waist (the narrowest part of the ski under your foot). Now you regularly find people with 90mm and wider that you can use for…

Someone asked me about radar detectors. I’ve actually never gotten one, but have looked over the years, but haven’t had the patience to use them, plus I don’t go fast too much. That being said, the state of the art has really improved. “007radardetectors.com”:http://www.007radardetectors.com/tests.htm runs an annual test and while…

I’ve been using “Thule”:http://thuleracks.com for years and Yakima before then. They are both great. Just depends on what you started with. The old !>http://www.thuleracks.com/images/logo.gif! Volvo used Thule, so switched to them a while back. It is hard to get discounts on the stuff, but typically you can get 10% off…

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Well, it certainly is snowing and raining a lot in Seattle. Most folks just use the tires that come on their cars, but having dedicated snow and rain tires really make a difference. “Tire Rack”:http://tirerack.com is an amazing source of information about winter tires. For instance, they explain the basics…

If you have a 1.0.2 phone and you click on itunes and take the 1.1.1 or 1.1.2 update, you will unfortunately have a bricked phone that won’t make calls but will work on Wifi. There are a host of ways to fix this, but here are some folks who can…