Insatiable appetite for technology

Earlier this month we finally caved and bought a mini van.  With two kids and two big dogs, we conceded defeat and now we are mini van people.  I've known this day was coming for a long time now but we put off the inevitable for as long as we could.  

We're used to doing a moderate amount of travel throughout the year.  Mostly during the summer.  We like to do the 6 hour drive to Brantford a couple times a year to visit Maureen's parents and we usually do the 16 hour drive to Halifax to visit my family.  When we got Brixton three years ago, it slowed us down a little.  When we got Dexter last year, it ground to a halt.

I will admit, it's true what they say about a mini van.  It is very comfortable to drive and well we all fit in nicely!  We are very happy with our Dodge Grand Caravan.

However, anyone who knows me, knows that I'm not just content to blindly operate my new vehicle/tv/radio/computer/ without making it my own.  I like to open things up.  I like to figure out how they work.  Sometimes I break things.  But mostly I like to customize them and make them my own.

 Computers are easy.  I've been tinkering with hardware for half of my life.  Video game consoles..I've been known to play with them a day or so before opening them up and poking and prodding until they do something they weren't meant to. ;)  But my car!  This is an area that has always been a big scary mystery to me.  I always had an aftermarket stereo put in, but I always paid someone to do it for me.  NOT THIS TIME!

This is where I'm starting.

2009 Dodge Grand Caravan

Stock radio

Rear overhead DVD/Divx/mp3 player for the kids

Portable sirius radio

Portable magellin GPS

This is where I intend to wind up.

2009 Dodge Grand Caravan

Custom carPC

• 7" in dash VGA touch screen
• AM/FM radio
• Sirius Sat. radio
• playback all audio formats (mp3,ogg,wav,etc)
• playback all video formats (mpeg2,mpeg4,h264,divx,etc)
• large capacity hard drive
• gps nav.
• bluetooth hands free
• wifi

Over the next few months (or however long it takes me)  I'll be using this blog as my project worklog.