As I mentioned in my last posting there were a few glitches in the new truck, most of them involved electronics. Now, I'm not totally illiterate in the field but I am in no way an expert either. While we were able to get answers from the manufacturer concerning the major stuff, we were not able to get the TV nor the dvd player to work. The dvd player kind of worked: all movies were in black & white and there was NO volume. We had to wait until we had a few days down time so be able to talk to someone and have them walk us through it. I called the company that built the BlueRay/DVD player and the tech walked me through. As it turned out, the installers used the wrong type of cable from the player to the TV and had it plugged in wrong. We could use the wrong cable but to then watch the TV we would have to change cables from the player to the satellite and back again. DUMB !!! So we bought the correct cable and from that point we had DVD ability. Yay! After that I tried to pair our Directv box to our satellite. I discovered the change I needed to make but could not get access. By this time it was late and we decided to just watch a movie.
It's the next morning now. After breakfast I called Directv and explained to the person what I needed help with. She couldn't help but said she would transfer me to someone that could. Ok. The next voice I heard was the voice of the automated system. Doesn't it just figure? I had to go through the system and do her suggestions. When she finally asked if this helped with my problem I said "NO" very emphatically. I was immediately transferred to a real person. This man was so polite and explained what I would need to do. The screen was frozen and took about 10 minutes to clear. We had a nice chat while he waited on the phone with me. He promised not to hang up until I was completely happy with the results. Amazing! He explained that in order to pair the two things I had to put the first setting on something obscure, go to the second setting and set it according to directions for the satellite, and then go back to the first setting and reset it to the needed setting. And now for the test ride! Hallelujah, it all works! We finally have TV & movies on January 18. Now I am a happy camper!!
We're heading for Colorado for delivery tomorrow and then Wednesday we head to Washington D.C.
I may not be able to blog for a few days but I will be back. Until next time . . . . . . . .
Monday, January 21, 2013
Sunday, January 20, 2013
And The New Year Begins
Let me start by telling you about our Christmas vacation. We took our daughter, Robyn, and our grandson, Caleb, to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee for a very "down-home" country Christmas in a log cabin in the Smokies. Ron's sister, Donna, joined us from Holiday, Florida. We had a wonderful, joyous, wet time. It rained every day and was damp and cold. But we had the best time. Donna is already planning for next Christmas. We visited Dollywood on the only day that didn't rain. It was very chilly but no wind or rain while we were there. What a blessing to get away for a while to celebrate Christ's birth and spend a week with family.
Now, on to the new year. We started by having Directv installed in our home so that we could have the satellite tv in our truck. On January 3 we drove to Mansfield to pick up our brand new 2013 truck from the owner. While we were in Ohio we took the truck to have the Quallcomm installed. This is a computer that FedEx uses for our communications while on the road. It also is our electronic log so we no longer have to fill out paper log books. The next morning it had to be taken for installation of the Ameriscanner. This is the recording device for our temperature-controlled loads (pharmaceuticals, art loads, etc.). This took longer than anticipated and resulted in a later appointment for the branding. After the installation was completed the truck had to be taken to Akron for branding-the FedEx lettering on the doors and box. While Ron took the truck to Akron I took the car and headed back home. Ron arrived @ 3:30 a.m. on Saturday the 5th. We had a marathon packing time and headed back to Green, Ohio on Sunday afternoon. Monday noon on January 7 we were at the FedEx main office lot for a 2 1/2 day testing of the reefer to make sure it is able to maintain different temperature settings. After this was finished on Wednesday we had to do a dry run for at least 8 hrs. We were finally finished with all the testing by 10 p.m. Wednesday and able to start running again on Thursday morning. During this first week in the new truck we drove almost until we dropped. We went from Ohio to New Jersey to Pennsylvania to California to Texas and back to Arizona. At this point I was almost out of driveable hours and we had to spend a couple days outside of Phoenix. During all this time we had no TV, no dvd's, just radio. But I'm saving that story for my next blog. So, until next time . . . . . . . . .
Now, on to the new year. We started by having Directv installed in our home so that we could have the satellite tv in our truck. On January 3 we drove to Mansfield to pick up our brand new 2013 truck from the owner. While we were in Ohio we took the truck to have the Quallcomm installed. This is a computer that FedEx uses for our communications while on the road. It also is our electronic log so we no longer have to fill out paper log books. The next morning it had to be taken for installation of the Ameriscanner. This is the recording device for our temperature-controlled loads (pharmaceuticals, art loads, etc.). This took longer than anticipated and resulted in a later appointment for the branding. After the installation was completed the truck had to be taken to Akron for branding-the FedEx lettering on the doors and box. While Ron took the truck to Akron I took the car and headed back home. Ron arrived @ 3:30 a.m. on Saturday the 5th. We had a marathon packing time and headed back to Green, Ohio on Sunday afternoon. Monday noon on January 7 we were at the FedEx main office lot for a 2 1/2 day testing of the reefer to make sure it is able to maintain different temperature settings. After this was finished on Wednesday we had to do a dry run for at least 8 hrs. We were finally finished with all the testing by 10 p.m. Wednesday and able to start running again on Thursday morning. During this first week in the new truck we drove almost until we dropped. We went from Ohio to New Jersey to Pennsylvania to California to Texas and back to Arizona. At this point I was almost out of driveable hours and we had to spend a couple days outside of Phoenix. During all this time we had no TV, no dvd's, just radio. But I'm saving that story for my next blog. So, until next time . . . . . . . . .
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