New Droid RAZR

Despite the weak threats and agreements of a set spending limit for gifts, my wonderful girlfriend decided I needed a new phone and bought me a Motorola Droid RAZR. YES!!! Coming from Motorola's first Android-powered offering, the Droid, I was clearly ecstatic to have the upgrade.

Since I purchased the Droid in 2009 I've been very happy with Android and how it works. It's still a newer operating system and has its issues, but overall it's a fantastic move in the right direction. I've only had a few complaints about the OS, but most of that was due to overloading my phone with too much junk for it to handle. A feature I was not aware of was the ability for the phone to not only retrieve my contacts, but the actual contact icons for each. If that wasn't enough, it even brought down my original desktop background and restored my screen brightness preference. Creepy, but WAY nice.

Now, the RAZR is something of a mini-tablet, in all actuality. It has some serious big boy processing power, very generous on-board storage and tons of memory. The screen is big, but not unwieldy. The commercials always say "impossibly thin", and I must say: I agree. Feels like a wafer in your hands. Light, easy to hold, super smooth. The kevlar-reinforced case and Corning Gorilla Glass screen helps longevity, I'm sure. I have an Otter Box case on it and it makes it fatter (only way to describe it), but it's insurance against my inevitable phone-related mishaps.

My original Droid had the standard music player that came with it, but it was relatively "blah". My headphone jack had started to misbehave and cut out the left channel regularly, so I never really used my phone for extended times at work for listening to music. Fast forward to the RAZR. The Motorola Music suite is a completely new interface and not the stock Android player. It has an equalizer built into the player to tune the music to your tastes, which is nice. The "shuffle" functionality doesn't really work as you'd expect. You can't just click the "shuffle" icon and expect it to auto-shuffle. It literally shuffles the playlist and continues on. The original Droid's music player shuffled song every time you hit the next track button. However, I will say that the sound quality is unbelievable on the RAZR. Not only depth, but overall clarity. Bass notes are deeper, highs are crisper and the mids are cleaner. I'm hearing facets of music I didn't have before, which makes me love the songs that much more. Another cool feature? Select songs have lyrics scroll as the song hits that line. Very nice surprise!

One of the benefits of having a new phone is the ability to utilize Verizon's 4G LTE network. I'm a believer. My best test, to date, using the SpeedTest.Net Android app netter 14.5 MB download and 7.8 MB upload. I've seen 4G LTE speeds up to 20+ MB download. Absolutely insane. Haven't noticed a huge battery drain while on the 4G LTE network, as most of the battery drain is because I'm busy surfing the internet, streaming video or music or going through email. At work we don't have very good reception so I turn the LTE option off in my Wireless & Networks section in my settings. Allows me to still get decent 3G coverage without compromising battery life.

Battery on this phone is reasonable, considering everything you can do. I honestly don't see a difference between my original Droid and my RAZR for battery life. I use both quite often at work and they both use battery as expected. I also turn my screen down to about 20% to try and keep battery usage lower. It's still insanely clear, just doesn't blind me.

Overall, I am very pleased with the phone and would definitely recommend it for everyone. Next step? Ice Cream Sandwich! Come on Verizon, get on the ball. :)

Big Lake + Sketchy Ice = Not OK

Some poor folks trying their luck on Mille Lacs just before Christmas had a rude awakening to the uncertainty of ice fishing. Check the KARE 11 news link below:

KARE 11 Story

Me and Kenny Wayne Shepherd!

Sorry, this isn't an outdoor-related post, but just had to share. I won a meet and greet with some tickets to the Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band concert last night. Great show and got a nice photo op with the band!

Deer Vision

A lot of folks are always concerned about which camo pattern works best. Some like Mossy Oak, some like RealTree, some like off-brands. Which is best? For an ungulate, it doesn't matter as much as you think. Here is some food for thought from Texas Hunt Works. I picked this up while waiting for a query to run at work and thought it bears mentioning to those in the market for some expensive camo.

Texas Hunt Works Article

This guy is awesome.

Awesome Video

Really? Carrying a deer?

And here I thought carrying Bach, my 90lb German Shepherd, was fun! I'll keep this in mind next time I'm out deer hunting.

Is tonight the night?

It's 30 degrees here in central Iowa at 6:30 AM and there's only one thing on my mind: deer.

I've been getting pretty burned out lately with the way my hunting season is going. After talking to a few folks about it, I think I have my state of mind figured out. First off, I already have two deer in the freezer so I can't complain. Second, as someone mentioned, if it were easy, everyone would do it. So tonight I'm going to be sitting in my stand with a decent NW wind, low of 22 and a chance of flurries. I honestly do not think the conditions could be any better. The Scent Bomb will be out in force, throwing the scent into the timber across the way (hopefully). I have a half day of work today and then it's hunting until dark. I've had to turn down social offers just to get my chance at getting deer number 3. I hope tonight is the night!

Another great weekend!

First off, a belated Happy Veterans Day to our men and women serving our country and securing our freedom!

This weekend was all hunting for me and it started Thursday. My co-worker (who happens to be a good fishing and hunting buddy) had the day off to go chase Bambi, and right at 9:00 I get a text from him saying, "I got one! Spike buck." I went to my boss and asked if I could leave for a few hours to help him drag the deer out. I got clearance and headed out. While driving in to go to the deer, we saw a solid 8-pt (low 100/high 90 class) spook up and run. My blood was immediately running hard and the pull of nature was too much to bear. After helping my buddy load up his buck I went back to work, put in for a half-day of time off and went hunting. My buddy joined me halfway through my sit and managed another deer, this time a small doe. Nothing for me.


Friday I got up early and beat the sun to my stand. Greeted by a beautiful fall sunrise and frost on the ground, I realized the high grass to my west was cut. A bit of a bummer as that was a solid spot for deer to walk through.
Squirrels were running amok getting ready for the winter, packing up their in-tree nests and gathering food. The birds were everywhere, chirping and singing while they foraged for little larvae in the bark of the trees around me. To the north, I could the coyotes yipping and yowling, telling each other whatever 'yotes tell each other. Saw a few does north and west of me, but once again, nothing came anywhere close to being within range of my bow. Called it quits for the day and then went back out for the evening hunt and saw easily 20 deer from my stand. None within range, which is clearly my luck. Watched a small basket rack chase around a doe and saw a few clusters of 6-8 deer walking around in the fields adjoining the property I hunt.

Friday night I hit the hay around 9:30, expecting to be up at 5:30 to hit my stand again. A few minutes after midnight my phone starts ringing: it's my neighbor. I click ignore, thinking he dialed me on accident. Immediately after I clicked ignore, it starts ringing again. I answer the phone and he's way too excited for a sober person at midnight. However, he's by no means excited as a result of the bar. His buddy finally shot the buck he's been tracking all year! This picture hardly does it justice, but rough scoring put it at 130 inches. This sucker was a brute. Luckily I was exhausted so falling asleep after being so excited was easy.

Saturday morning was a complete bust so I decided I needed to finally bow down and get some scents to put out. Since I was starting to get burned out sitting in the stand I decided to take a break and do some pheasant hunting with my other hunting buddy. We took his lab Carlos out just for fun, as he wasn't trained to hunt birds at all. He stayed close and sniffed around and kicked up several hens. Light was running out, so 10 minutes before we had to call it, Carlos suddenly lunges into the high grass. I didn't think much of it and turned to continue walking when a pheasant blows up out of the tall stuff. It kicked up at my 5 o'clock, but the ol' 870 was up and ready, poised for a kill shot. I yelled "Call it!" since the bird was in the sun and I couldn't tell if it was a hen or rooster. He responded "HEN!", so I shouldered my gun. Suddenly, he start throwing shots at it. Confused I ask him why he shot at a hen (completely missed it, by the way). He responds, "It was a rooster. Why didn't you take the shot?" *sigh* That's my buddy. I wasn't sore at him, but definitely sore from tromping through high grass for a couple hours.

I skipped deer hunting on Sunday morning to spend time with my girlfriend and her daughter. I took them to breakfast at IHOP and hung around a bit at home. A little after noon I headed back out. My buddy had already been hunting the spot in the morning so he punched out and I took the night shift. The owner of the adjoining field stopped by while I was packing up to head to the stand, so we talked for about 45 minutes. Nice enough guy, but apparently someone had been driving through his property. We explained our arrangement with the property owner and he was fine with it. I decided to hunt my buddy's stand with the prevailing wind out of the west, that way I could get a better scent dispersion with my Scent Bombs. Not a single deer, but had a nice, calm evening and a cool sunset to enjoy.