It's EZ To Write Washington About The Spill

BP and the federal government say they're doing their best to cap and clean-up the oil spill but it's not good enough. Communities along the Gulf Coast are having to holler to get the resources they need to mop up the slick while it's still out on the water and protect their marshes, beaches and wildlife when it nears the shore. Insiders say that with BP in charge, chaos reigns.

Last week, President Obama appointed the Secretary of the Navy to lead the clean-up, but there's no sign of him. Meanwhile oil continues to spew into the gulf and it looks like hurricane season is going to hit the region hard in the coming weeks and months. The only way we're going to see coordinated action is if someone like General Honore -- the man who single handedly brought order in post-Katrina New Orleans -- is put in charge of the spill.

Here's where you come in. I recently posted a page on our sister-site BPFilmFest.com that explains how easy it is to write the White House and your U.S. Senators and U.S. Representative. They need to hear from you that you want to see them immediately put an aggressive leader in charge of the spill -- at BP's expense, of course -- and more men, women and machines on the water mopping up the oil before it lands. Write your own letter or use the the sample letters I sent to elected officials that you can use as a guide.

As outdoors-people, we have an obligation to get involved. We can't just sit back and watch the Gulf get destroyed. Please click HERE to go the BPFilmFest.com page that has instructions and links for contacting your elected officials. Thank you.

i-Tab: Isn't RuggedReviews.com Material (yet) But I'm Addicted

Reviewing the alpha model of any electronic gear is a thankless task. It's rare that I've taken a risk and been a first-adopter and received gear -- hardware, software, manuals and interfaces -- that didn't need a lot of tweaking to work properly. Waiting a few months for the manufacturer to introduce the improved version is usually worth the wait in avoiding hair-pulling, head-banging frustration.

I created RuggedReviews.com specifically to review products that have at least had their initial shakedown to ensure a level of quality before I even engage. I don't like wasting my time, anymore than you do. What truly sets RuggedReviews.com apart is that after I purchase gear, I use it for at least three months in real-world applications before issuing a verdict.

I'm breaking the rules with this blog entry. I'm reviewing the i-Tab -- described by the manufacturer as "the world's first electronic songbook" -- to illustrate how difficult it is to review new technology. I do want to say from the outset, however, that although the i-Tab has many frustrating issues, I am rooting for the manufacturer to fix the problems to produce an A-list product. And, despite the faults you're about to read, I'm keeping my unit for reasons I'll explain in the final paragraphs. The basic premise is fantastic. It's the execution that's lacking.

Loitering in the music gear department on Amazon.com June 11, 2010, I stumbled onto the i-Tab, a PDA like gadget that allows guitar players to download chords and lyrics to their favorite songs from the i-Tab website and then play them while the device scrolls through the song. I get pretty tired of lugging around a bunch of sheet music and have always dreamed of such a device. I fought the urge to order one for about two minutes, then I clicked buy -- with next day delivery.

The i-Tab arrived a day later. I pulled it out of the box and thought I'd be off and playing in sweet bliss in minutes. But, as with all alpha versions -- the i-Tab only began shipping about two months ago -- there were roadblocks, serious roadblocks, immediately thrown in my path.

The i-Tab arrives loaded with 25 songs -- most of them I didn't like. I went to i-Tab.com to order a bunch of songs at 44-cents each. Over an hour or two, I clicked my way through the entire library of great song titles and found that 99 percent of the tunes listed have not yet been tabbed and uploaded. Grrrrr. How can you load the promised thousands of songs on your unit, if there are only dozens actually available? I emailed a service rep and he responded -- quickly, to his credit -- that they will tab a song upon request. It would have been a cooler experience if the library was fuller from the start. (There's a feature I haven't tried yet that lets you tab your own songs.)

Again, after spending another hour going through the alphabetical list of songs -- they really need to separate the list into established tabs and those to come -- and choosing about forty to purchase, I entered in all my credit card information and pressed purchase. I immediately received an error message stating that the ordering system for the company located in Ireland doesn't accept U.S. credit cards. Again, Grrrrrr. The service rep gave me a ten dollar credit and said they are working on the ordering system.

I loaded about twenty songs I liked and sat down to play. The unit has a five inch touchscreen that's easy to see indoors. I powered it up. More challenges. The basic settings choices allow you to turn the metronome sound on/off, pick the beat countdown to the beginning of a song, and select the font size and color and background color. (There's no screen brightness or metronome volume control.) Pretty basic. Unfortunately, you have to make these choices every time you power up the unit. Apparently, it has no user memory at all. You also have to reset the metronome beat count -- which also controls how fast the song scrolls -- every time you bring up a song. This is kind of shocking in the Electronic Age, when everyone is looking for gear that's instantly at their service and tailored to their needs.

The next major irritant occurred when I was done with a song and I wanted to play it again. There is no repeat button. You have to drag your finger on the touchscreen to move the scroll bar on the bottom of the unit all the way to the left to bring the song to the beginning. The problem with my unit is the scrollbar doesn't move all the way over to the left, which means the top line or more of a song is not visible. This means to repeat a song, I have to go back to the library, select the song, and reset the metronome (that also forgets your preferences every time you leave the song). That's not convenient at all.

Quickly, other irritants were: 1) Some of the chords in the tabs don't seem lined up to the right words -- I've seen this in songbooks, too. 2) I tried the TV Out feature to show the tabs on my TV -- wouldn't it be cool to have more than one musician playing along karaoke style -- and it didn't work. I wonder if it's in the European PAL format instead of the NTSC format we have in the states. There's no discussion of this in the brief guide, and I'll have to take it up with the company when I have a chance.

Now here's where this review gets interesting. There's absolutely a lot not to like about the i-Tab, but I can't stop using it. I was actually tempted to send it back to Amazon.com, but I can't.

As it exists right now, the i-Tab (at about $200) is an expensive electronic songbook that won't appear on RuggedReviews.com until (and if) the problems are addressed. That said, it's addictive to have hours worth of music at my fingertips without having to thumb through a pile of books. Working with the metronome and scrolling function are increasing my accuracy and consistency -- especially on the majority of songs that appear to be properly tabbed. And I find increasing the beats per minute on the metronome is a great way to challenge my ability to maintain control under pressure -- which will only improve my playing ability. If only I didn't have the knot in my gut at all the hoops I have to go through to get it to work right.

If there are any other i-Tab users out there, I look forward to reading your experiences.

We Need YOU To Contact Washington

RuggedReviews.com wasn't conceived as a political action site, but the BP oil spill demands that people who enjoy the great outdoors make a stand. It's clear that BP isn't doing enough to cap the well and clean up the spill, yet, until today, the White House and Congress were leaving the entirety of the process to the company that started it all. This is like leaving a mass murder in charge of the penitentiary. And we can't afford to sit back and watch BP murder the Gulf of Mexico.

I created a site called BPFilmFest.com that features news updates, links to donate to the Gulf victims, a call for eyewitness videos, and links for people to contact the White House and Congress. It's amazingly easy to write your elected officials. I worked in public relations in Washington for almost fifteen years, and I can tell you, without a doubt, our representatives do act in our interests when they get a bunch of constituent messages.

I believe if we don't stay on top of Washington, it will continue to defer to BP, and we will continue to see oil spoil more marshes, waterways and beaches all along the Gulf Coast. My greatest fear at this point is that people pained by the site of oil-covered wildlife are starting to avert their eyes -- just as they did when the true horrors of Katrina were revealed. We can't afford this kind of apathy.

As outdoorsmen and women, who reap enormous rewards from camping, hiking, kayaking and a myriad of outdoor activities, we have a tie to the land and water that's stronger than the average American. Just as we have benefited from the natural world, we have an obligation to protect it. Please visit BPFilmFest.com and write your elected officials. Fifteen minutes will make an enormous difference.

Break A Sweat Without Breaking The Bank

Being a gear-head and reviewer who pays out-of-pocket for the adventure, fitness, music and tech gear he reviews, I have to strive to find products that deliver the absolute greatest bang for the buck. I never really thought specifically about the economics about working out, however, until I read a brief article this week by CouponSeven.com writer Celia Colista. She explored specifically how people on a tight budget can afford to get fit.

Colista's advice was superb. Her advice was: 1) If you can't afford a private gym, seek out public facilities; 2) If you can't afford new home fitness equipment, search for used equipment on sites like Craigslist.com; and 3) If you can't afford workout DVDs borrow them from the library.

Advice like this can save you a lot of money. To her excellent list, I would add that there is a lot of effective low-cost equipment out there that can be used to make a full-fitness home gym. For aerobic activity, all you need is a pair of walking or running shoes. There, you have the basis for cardio-training. For resistance training, I recommend:

1) A set of push-up bars (Altus Athletics cost around $10)

2) A door-mounted pull-up bar (The Doorway Gym $44.95, but I've seen them as low as $20)

3) A dip station (Triceptor costs around $79)

4) Resistance bands (GoFit Ultimate ProGym set cost around $25)

5) A workout mat (cost around $10)

With this basic equipment and your own body weight, you can build a fit body. Most of this equipment is reviewed on RuggedReviews.com. Click HERE to take a look. If you're really ambitious, check out this superb work-out book: The Special Ops Workout. It has excellent workout programs and advice on proper form.