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Happy Thanksgiving Newsletter Readers!

Or for the non-Americans reading, myself included, “Oh hey”.

With another week flashing past us, I will admit we are scrambling here at the new DCR Cave to get the place clean, organized, and ready for the holidays; and our holiday party (the DCR Open House)! A party which is shaping up to be a great night. We are currently looking into securing a company who will bring all the booze and food! Along with many other details, giveaways included, I can’t reveal them all, as it will ruin the anticipation! Hang tight. T-Minus 10 days!

I guess I should clarify, at this very moment I am not scrambling. In fact I am sitting dangerously wonderfully close to the heat fan, as I am the coldest Canadian on the planet, and enjoying my newly built IKEA Poang chair. Don’t pretend you don’t know or love this IKEA classic, this is my jam right here! The new official Newsletter Writing Chair. Anyways, it's time to move on.

Oh wait!! If you’re a first time newsletter reader, I suggest you get your own Poang chair, sit back and read all of the Newsletter archives. Or not. No one will be the wiser!

Enough of my rambling, that’s what the In-Depth Thoughts from The Girl below are for! You might be wondering what’s all the tech news?

The biggest news for the moment is that as I’m pressing send on this newsletter, Ray is pressing publish on a new post. His annual Black Friday Deals Post. Errrrr Black Thursday Post? Basically Ray, as he does every year, will annoy me for the entirety weekend by keeping an internet connected devise within arms reach for the entire five day period. “For the benefit of my readers” he will say. This Black Friday shopping post/guide will continuously update with great deals as he finds them, you send them to him, or companies allow him to make public! At this moment there are already sales open and ready for consumerism. So, go forth and good luck.

Next up is a recap, in case you have missed it. Ray has spent more hours than you could ever imagine creating buyers guides, and staying active in the comments sections. Those said guides are all listed here for you! 2018 Smart Trainer Buyer Guide; 2018 Power Meter Buyers Guide; and the general Sports Technology Buyers Guide. Also, not to be forgotten, his Gear I Use Post, and my, The Girl’s Gear I Use Post.  Although I technically I wrote the last one, Ray is the one who spends all the time keeping up with all comments. An activity I can’t even begin to explain the number of hours contributed!

Now for the “new stuff”. Today Ray posted an In-Depth Review on the DJI Mavic 2. Personally I thought this drone was super cool. We did some Active Track testing while out cycling together, and Ray and DesFit did some mountin bike stuff while in Reno earlier the fall for Interbike as well. However, as I am sure you’ll read from Ray, I think they made a mistake with this newest version regarding their clunky remote control situation. Just my two cents, you can go see what Ray had to say!

Next up, let’s hear some cheering, we have a new 5 Random Things post. With a bit more of a sneak peek into the new DCR space, and a review of our first Sinterklaas parade, it’s a fun read. As well, I’m always amazed by how many comments are left when Ray mentions a piece of technology that he is looking into for personal use. Speakers and data storage solutions pretty much consumed the comment section of this post! So if you’re interested or have an opinion, drop us a note!

Last but not least, the classic Week In Review. This is a weekly post that Ray writes in order to justify to me his amount of internet usage and general interwebs surfing. Check out what headlines caught his attention last week, or what the latest software/ firmware updates happened while you were sleeping.

Since life is hectic at the moment, and it seems only the most critical items are getting checked off of our To-Do lists, there were sadly no YouTube videos. Which is a good moment to remind you to subscribe to the DC Rainmaker YouTube Channel for instant notifications of new stuff!

That’s all the news from the tech side of our house. If you have time to keep on scrollin’, I’d love to invite you to the section below. That's where you'll find the “In-Depth Thoughts from The Girl”.

image Black Friday & Cyber Monday Sports Tech Deals!
image DJI Mavic 2 Zoom and Pro In-Depth Review
image 5 Random Things I Did This Weekend
image Week in Review–November 17th, 2018
image Sports Technology Buyers Guide & Recommendations: Winter 2018-2019

In-Depth Thoughts from The Girl

Hey! Thanks for making your way down to my section of nonsense.

I figure since everyone is in the buying mode, I would give a little bit of my two cents regarding buying for your (female) significant other. This isn’t necessarily tech stuff, maybe just the stuff a female thinks of that men don’t know that we think of? Do you follow me?

To preface this list, I’d like to state for the record that I’d really prefer everyone just take the day off and enjoy a meal with friends/family without all the gadgets and doo-dads. But that’s just me dreaming. So onwards with my gift giving advice! I have listed my top 10 holiday gift ideas for you below.

1)    If your person has a sister or bestie that you know she talks to all of the time, please do yourself a favor, and sneak said person’s phone number and call them. Just call them, give a poke, and see if there is something they’ve both been squawking about lately! Buy what she tells you to.

2)    Does your significant other find it overwhelmingly sad and annoying that all of her pictures are stuck on their phone? I hate that we take all of these beautiful phots of our kids, trips, silly selfies, and we have nothing to show for it other than a growing Apple storage fee each month. Solution? Well I can’t solve your Apple bill, but for Mother’s Day this year, Ray bought for me the Cannon SELPHY Photo Printer. Instant photo printing gratification! Well, that is if you remember to buy the paper and ink too! I couldn’t be happier with this little photo printer.  Photos now cover our fridge.

3)    Maybe your person prefers experiences over material items? Like maybe a nice afternoon at her favorite spa/ massage/ nail salon/ fancy brunch? Does she ever go to places like this? NO? Is that because she feels bad about spending the money on herself? Does she feel bad to take an afternoon “off” from mom patrol? It might be nice for you to coordinate with the person from idea #1 and pre-book an afternoon for her.

4)    Maybe your person does in fact prefer experiences over material things, but cringes at the idea of how many feet have previously dipped in the pedicure bath at the nail salon. So how about looking into a “Wine and Painting” night class, or something similar. I so often see my girlfriends from back home posting Instagram pics of their “Ladies’ Night Out” classes. Especially if there are any guys reading this with kiddos sub-5 years old. I can almost guarantee you that booking SOMETHING for her, so she doesn’t have to think about it, feel bad about it, stress about the price, is a great gift idea. Just do it, and call her bestie (or her bestie’s husband) and get together on the idea.

5)    Please don’t buy her “experiences” that involve anything athletic. Anything that could be misinterpreted as “you need to exercise”. Please do not misunderstand my ladie’s night out ideas for getting her a personal trainer… just don’t.

6)    In case I’ve over stepped here, and we should get back to material items. Can I tell you about my coffee machine? I have finally gotten Ray on board with coffee now too, and we love our Nespresso Pixie Machine with Milk Frother! If you’re coffee peeps, and don’t have one yet, it’s a big sale item for the next few days! Also makes for easy add-on presents later in the year to get the fancy coffee. We tend to buy the more generic coffee capsules at the grocery for day to day coffee.

7)    Lucky number 7. Chocolate. Now be warned. Don’t buy her a ton of candy and chocolate just because it’s an “easy buy”! Most people are trying to cut out this type of stuff come the New Year anyways. So, be purposeful in your candy selection! Is it fresh? Is it local? Or is it something that has a sentiment between you two? If so, great, buy one! Sander’s Salted Carmels is a chocolate brand that Ray and I unanimously agree on. We used to buy one can of them each year from Costco (seemed to be a seasonal thing there?), but now I see them on Amazon… hmmm Ideas. These are delicious. Tried, tested, and true.

8)    How about a good book? Maybe wrap up a new book and a great bottle of wine together? Currently on my reading wish list are: Behind Closed Doors, and The Breakdown, both by BA Paris.

9)    Are you thinking technology might be the winner with your lady friend? If she does like reading, have you considered just giving her a Kindle? Maybe a kindle paired with an amazon gift card for her first reading choice? We may or may not have two kindles in our house… just sayin.

10)  Last but not least. Rounding out the top ten buying ideas. Buy her a another puppy. Maybe you already have a dog, and that dog might be lonely, and sad, and wanting a puppy sister? A tiny, new, Boston Terrier might just be the best thing she could find this year under the tree! Sorry, I had to add that one in there. Just in case Ray is actually reading the newsletter, maybe he’ll crack under pressure? [Update from Ray reading: No.] What? Come on, you guys are still sending me messages about getting the man a Pizza Oven. Can’t a girl get a puppy [Ray's still here: Still no.]?

That’s it. I’m out of ideas, and I imagine that might have been too long. I do hope it helps someone figure out a nice gift idea for their other half.

Happy Turkey Day to the Americans. And as always thanks for reading,

~The Girl.

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