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Hoi Hoi!!

Welcome back to yet another DCR Newsletter. We are a second week into September now, and it’s hard to believe. That means the Maker house is full speed ahead gearing up for Interbike, ANT+ symposium, and all the other cool stuff Ray has planned for the next fe weeks. So, without further delay, let’s get this puppy started!

I would be amiss to not make a mention of our some 6,000+ new newsletter subscribers since last week’s edition!!! WHAT???? I’m flattered and now also wildly self-conscious. I might have to start sending my work out to a professional editor… except I don’t make enough money for that! Haha, no, for real, welcome to the newbies. My apologies for the grammatical errors you are sure to find!

Hint. Be sure to get all of the way to the end this week for the private link to “The Interview”.

Okay? Okay, great. You can catch up here with all of the Newsletter archives, otherwise the rest of the pack want’s to see what’s new! Onwards!

Last week was a rare week with Ray’s 5 Random Things making and appearance on a Wednesday. I think the last few weeks are a great example of how life and the workflow can get upended when an entire household catches a stomach flu, and family comes to town, and Ray has more technology to test than he knows what to do with. Last week was for sure a week where the work that was done won’t be/can’t be realized until the onslaught of reviews start to post in the next few weeks. Just hang on, they are a coming!

Next up was the wildly entertaining post, NYC GPS Running Accuracy Test Rabbit Hole. Wow, wow, WOW you guys! To repeat one reader’s comment (Jeremy’s), “Wow, people lose their minds over GPS testing”. Seriously, with 100 comments, it was one hell of a debate. I will admit, this type of GPS “geekery” is out of my wheelhouse, so I don’t have any points to add to the data collection and comparison process, it’s just not my digs. BUT, I do have to take a moment to add a thank you to commenters who continue to chime in. I LOVE seeing the big brains challenge and collaborate with Ray.

Ray and I don’t exactly sit around bottles of wine at the end of a long day and get into deeply emotional debates over GPS devices. Therefore I don’t always get to see Ray defending his honor. But this post and it’s comments, wow, thanks guys! While at times, unfortunately, a few commenters seemed to have a personal vendetta, they did bring up good points to which Ray had to open things up for a big conversation. There was a lot of talk about who does what, and which method it “best”.  And at the end of the day, I think most people walked away with a better insight of the how’s and why’s the Rays of the world conduct their comparisons the way they do. Which website does it best? Well, that’s all in the eye of the beholder. See for yourself, and check out the epic GPS conversation on the post - which was “supposed” to be a fun look at 10 years’ worth of ALL of the GPS brands suffering to plot routes correctly in the concrete jungle of NYC!

Next up was the much anticipated Giveaway Extravaganza! With 12 super cool products up for grabs to readers all over the planet, it was a big success! Due to 2,000-6,000 comments on products, the site almost crashed and burned a few times! Never could I have imagined that number of people swinging by! My favorite comments were the wives of readers who said “My husband made me do it”, and “My husband made me comment, but if I win I’m keeping it!”. I couldn’t read every single comment, or this newsletter never would have made it out today, but kudos to everyone who entered and set alarms to remember to come back every 2 hours! Good luck to everyone who entered!

Finally, as it seems the way of the world is headed towards video, be sure to check out the DC Rainmaker YouTube Channel. Here you’ll find a bunch of videos ranging from Ray’s Favorite GoPro Accessories Review, to this past week’s run in Central Park.

My favorite thing about his highly debated NYC GPS post was during Ray’s run, another DC Rainmaker reader caught up to him for a selfie! Check it out right around the six minute mark. We LOVE getting to meet readers, fans, supporters, however you want to describe yourself. Please don’t hesitate to say hi if you see us somewhere. It’s not weird, it’s really nice!

That’s all for the weekly Ray-Geekery! If you still have time after all of that nonsense, keep on scrolling for the In-Depth Thoughts from The Girl… cough, me.

In-Depth Thoughts from The Girl

Hey there! Thanks for taking the time to keep on scrollin’.

For the newbies on board. This is the section where you can find out about the most random of things happening in the Maker Household. Sometimes I’ll take a poke at Ray for his lack of ability to find flattering things to say to his wife, other times you might get some insights on what it’s really like to live and work side by side with Ray. Really, you’ll find here whatever is on the top of my mind come Tuesday morning.

So, what was on my mind today?

I'm still pondering yesterday, as it was the day of giveaways. The saddest thing about giveaways is, Ray won’t let me enter. For Real. I once tried to put my name in the “hat” (cough… sous vide machine), and pulled my own name out! He was less than entertained! I mean, this was way back in the day when we ACTUALLY printed off all of the names entered and cut them up for the drawing. Oh well, good effort though.

Also on my mind is the little “funny” Ray did yesterday. He was just seeing who was reading the full giveaway posts, as he added a hilarious Amazon product link to each new giveaway post. I give him props for creating such an extensive offering of ridiculous items people could purchase as gag gifts. However I wonder if he could have been using his time more wisely. My top three items are as listed as I am sure such things will find there way into Christmas stockings this year. First up is the motion sensor Toilet Bowl Disco Light. Followed by Canned Unicorn Meat! For real, there were over 800 Amazon Reviews on the product with over 4.5 stars! WHAT? Hilarious. And third place goes to the 3000 Live Lady Bugs delivered to your house as an organic pesticide option! Thanks Amazon.

Last but certainly not least this week, I present to you the much anticipated “The Interview”. A big thanks to everyone who emailed questions and posted questions to the DC Rainmaker Facebook page. While this interview may someday make it to the greater population of DCR readers, we really did this interview for YOU. A little fun for our newsletter subscribers and DC Rainmaker VIP members. Since so many of you take the time to read this weekly piece, we thought you might like to know a bit more about the author. Here’s the link again incase you missed it!

I really enjoyed putting it all together for you, and I hope you enjoy it. As the video also served as a fun project to get my feet wet with the video editing software! Hopefully with the new DCR Space we can finally organize ourselves and get more “fun” videos into your inbox! 

Without further adieu, thanks for reading. See you next week!

~The Girl.

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