JT's Blog

Inspired by my unwillingness to sellout and get an iPod after my iRiver woes from last week, I searched around the internet for iRiver H300 replacement batteries. To my surprize, eBay is crawling with them. I guess there’s a real aftermarket! (thinly vailed dig at iRiver) It would stand to reason, therefore, that somebody out there knows how to crack open the iRiver and replace the battery. Sure enough!

Since things have a way of dissapearing on the interent, I have taken the liberty of copying that web page into this PDF (1.2MB). Credit to a guy named Denny, from the UK, and to Misticriver.net – for iRiver enthusiasts.

Westhampton Airport (also knownas Francis S. Gabreski, or KFOK), is home to a little restaurant called Belle’s Cafe.

Located about 50nm West of New York City, and once a military airbase, this airport is now mainly a civilian home to general aviation, with an occasional C130 flying in.

When you land, taxi to the base of the tower, shut down, hop out, and go enjoy some great food.

I contributed this little review to the airnav.com website:

A small cozy place with home-cooked food. The value is not in the presentation, but in the flavors. The Carribean and Cajun inspired dishes depart from anything you’ll find this far North. Don’t ruin your appetite with the Corn Chowder and warm Corn Bread. I followed the intro with Lobster Bisque, and Seared Catfish. You don’t really find sweet potato mash very often. There are also dishes for the less adventuresome – steak, pork chops, shrimp etc. Expect the shell on your shrimp, and you’re expected to eat with your hands.

The food and the pace are relaxed, and really contrast with NYC, just 50 NM to the East. This is not a place for a 15 minute meal on the run. Expect to wait if you arrive at peak hours, and expect not to be rushed while you eat. It may seem a little pricey, but considering it’s basically a home cooked meal, and considering you just FLEW IN for dinner, there’s no complaining about the price. A friend and I gorged ourselves on the day’s top-priced specials for about $75 total, with tip. There’s live music on weekends, which may be a little loud if you want intimate conversation. It’s BYOB if your passengers want an alcoholic beverage, so pack a cooler; otherwise, they have the standard soda, water, etc., be sure to try the cinnamon ice tea. Also, consider yourself warned about the Key Lime Pie.

Much love to Didi (the owner).

A friend gave me a hand-me-down iRiver H100 when they first came out. It was such a great 20GB mp3 player that I bought a friend the iRiver H320 for Christmas a few years later, back in 2004. It was a bit expensive, but seemed worth it given my anti-mainstream (anti-iPod) mindset. The device was perfect: USB – comes up as a drive, can record FM radio or voice with the buil-tin mic or with an external mic.

Then I felt the need to upgrade mine and get an H340 (40GB).

Fast forward to present day: my friend’s player keeps cutting out – seems like the battery is shot and won’t hold a charge. Then, a few days ago, I plug mine in, the screen freaks out, then goes white, and the device gets REALLY HOT to the touch. I didn’t smell any funkiness (aka burnt silicone), but it’s obviously not happy.

So I call iRiver support – I’m impressed: some dude answers the phone after a very brief wait on hold. (not off-shored either). Here’s the skinny: the iRiver comes with a 1 year warantee, and they don’t offer repairs due to the cost – not even if I’m willing to pay. They e-mail me some web site where I can log in and they’ll give me some e-credit towards one of their new H10s. Oh gee. I’m thinking: why replace a product that breaks in 15 months with another?

So then I think maybe it’s time to sell out and get an iPod… I mean, there’s an adapter for it to integrate seamlessly into my Mini… they offer battery repair /replacement kits, and there are tons of really cool accessories etc. etc. etc.

But then I think – NOOO! I can’t sell out to iPod and iTunes and their proprietary nonsense – I mean, why must I put iTunes on my PC just so I can use the iPod? More importantly, why must their application default to their proprietary digital audio .aac format rather than the industry standard .mp3 format? Why can’ t I just upload my own mp3s as if onto a USB flash drive – kinda like the iRiver? Why do they use some proprietary connector rather than an industry standard mini-USB? Ahhh, so there is the incentive to try and solve this iRiver problem.

A quick search of eBay reveals they many replacement batteries for $30! A quick search in Google reveals step by step instructions on how to do this. AWESOME! I love the internet.

And then, almost as if on queue, I my friend (whose H320 won’t hold a charge) tells me that she plugged it into the USB, and charged it that way (rather than use the wall wort) and it hold a perfect charge again. Could that mean the charger is defective, and not the iRiver?

HOLY CRAP! My iRiver shit the bed when I plugged in the charger – actually, I kinda did something that I know I shouldn’t have done – I plugged in my iRiver before flipping the switch on the power strip… I’m thinking the surge is what fried the iRiver but this brings up a very interesting issue: could their devices be great, but they just have cheap ass chargers!

So now I get to pull apart my iRiver (from those awesome instructions) and see if there’s anything I can salvage :-/

I just can’t put into words how annoyed I am at the fact that NYC uses parking tickets to generate revenue. Let’s face it: fines – these monetary penalties levied by “the people” vs. your sorry arse exist because you do something that isn’t severe enough to warrant being tossed in the can.

But this city has decided it’s going to give social rejects with bully complexes the authority to give tickets. And they do a horrible job! Basically, they slack off as long as possible, and then rush to meet their daily quota as they run out of time o­n their shifts. They give nonsense tickets that the average person must then dispute. And unlike the core justice values of the country, the city extorts money from its residents because you’re guilty of this summons until you s prove this ticket is wrong. The whole process takes about 2 hours, and most people just cough up the cash because it’s such a hassle. You end up loosing out more by missing an afternoon of work than you do by just paying the damn fine.

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