Cathy's Blog » Travel

Exploring Microsoft SYNC in 120 Hours

Cathy — Wed, 26 May 2010 19:00:33 +0000

While we were home in Boston a few weeks ago for my sister-in-laws wedding, we had the pleasure of renting a 2010 Ford Explorer (with the Eddie Bauer trim) from Avis. We usually request a full size sedan, but ran into some trouble operating the windshield wipers on the Nissan Altima that we were assigned. Before driving the Altima off the lot, we inquired about the finicky wipers and they quickly gave us the Explorer, which I knew would be fun to drive. Turns out this vehicle was equipped with Microsoft’s SYNC technology. Great we thought! We’ll finally get a chance to try it out.

For those who aren’t familiar with this technology, which is available in select Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury models, here’s a quick excerpt from the Ford Explorer site:

”SYNC®In-car Connectivity System Available SYNC allows you to easily operate most popular MP3 players and Bluetooth®-enabled phones with simple voice commands.”

Before heading out for an afternoon of errands, we hooked up our Zune to the USB input and initiated communication with the SYNC women. Naturally, we pulled out the SYNC owner’s manual to follow along in connecting our device. She was nice and pleasant to listen to but it seemed she couldn’t really understand neither Kevin nor I. She kept saying, “I’m sorry, I can’t understand you. Did you say X?” After several unsuccessful attempts, we finally just hit the play button on the device and stowed it away in the console.

Towards the end of our trip at home, I made the 1 hour and 30 minute drive from Kevin’s house to my parent’s house on Cape Cod. I was really looking forward to giving SYNC one more chance to redeem itself. I knew though, that I’d be traveling on almost all highways and wouldn’t have a chance to wrestle with the SYNC women or the device. But after familiarizing myself with some of the basic commands like, “USB” and “Play artist Cartel,” in the driveway (and obtaining a little extra patience), I felt confident that I could recall as many artists on my Zune to fill up the 90 minute drive. It ended up being a successful trip and I realized there’s definitely a huge learning curve with SYNC. I just hope I don’t forget everything I learned before our next trip back East!

Check out this guide for yourself to see the 12 step process to playing music from a device.

Summers in Seattle

Cathy — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 19:50:49 +0000

It’s funny. All you East coasters think it rains all the time here in Seattle. This includes my mom, whom after 3 years of me living here also still thinks it rains all the time. Well here’s my proof. It seems you guys are experiencing some rain today. Oh look though! It’s 79 degrees here now and not a cloud in the sky. I won’t lie either, it’s been this nice out since about the end of May. At one point, we even experienced 29 straight beautiful days without rain. So the next time someone tells you, “why would you want to move to/visit Seattle? Doesn’t it rain all the time there?”…tell them Seattle is the West Coast’s little secret!

Bing helps you get home

Cathy — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 21:26:14 +0000

Can’t figure out if you should take 520 or 90 home from work? Well the other day, I ran into the Bing truck driving around campus and it clearly decided for me that 90 was the way to go.

I am hoping next time it can suggest a 30 minute recipe for dinner or predict if the driving range will be crowded tonight!

Stitching in Yakima

Cathy — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 04:26:39 +0000

Yakima Valley Stitch Fixed, originally uploaded by swenton.

Have you ever used the stitching or the “create a panoramic photo” feature in Windows Live Photo Gallery? Well if you haven’t it’s pretty sweet and before you know it you’ll find yourself out in the wild with your camera moving from left to right in a steady sweep of the scenery in front of you. This is my 3rd stitch so far (and one of the best yet)! Now if I could only find somewhere to print these amazing photos…

Yelp Review 100: Coming Soon!

Cathy — Thu, 28 May 2009 17:48:00 +0000

I will soon be writing my 100th Yelp review. I’ve been Yelping since October 2008 and became Yelp Elite shortly after the new year in 2009. Since then, I have documented my explorations from the east coast to the west coast and met some great people during the Elite events around Seattle.

Tonight, I’ll be attending my 2nd Yelp Elite event at Cinebarre in Mountlake Terrace which is a new 21+ dinner and drinks movie theater. I’m pretty excited about the opportunity to try out this new place especially since we’re getting a sneak preview before tomorrow’s Grand Opening!