"No. No! NO! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" I was traveling down a busy street, unable to divert my eyes from the road to figure out why, all of the sudden, my GPS decided that I needed to go from the far right lane to the far left lane in less than 30 feet. At the next light I took a second to decide why my machine freaked out on me all of the sudden. After a quick glance at the turn-by-turn directions, it appeared as though the machine gained a brain of its own and decided to override my request to avoid the death trap that is I-71's construction zone.
This is just the latest of the many, many mishaps sponsored by Magellan. Back in June I decided that it would be in my best interest to get a GPS unit. I wasn't sure that I could trust myself to print and remember to carry a Google map with directions through two airports, a hotel, and a rental car. I was scared that I wouldn't be able to find the building where my interview would be held, so I went out and bought an item I swore I'd never own.
Since then, it's been nothing but "fun." Magellan has a habit of not telling me about turns until they're less than two seconds from happening, usually after it told me to go to the furthest point from that turn less than ten seconds prior. That's how I got stuck driving in circles around freeway exits one day for twenty minutes when all I wanted to do was get to my hotel.
For as much as Magellan "forgets" to tell me that I need to turn, it has no problem incessantly yelling at me for no reason on other occasions. "RED LIGHT CAMERA AHEAD! RED LIGHT CAMERA AHEAD!" That's what it was yelling at me today, instead of telling me that I was about to miss a turn. Thankfully, at least one of us was paying attention.
Living in a rural area, there's not much in the way of reception- my radio gets NPR, Southern gospel, and only two local stations during the drive to work. From 1/2 mile outside of Logan until 1/2 mile outside McArthur, there is no cellphone reception, leaving approximately 20 miles of silence. This lack of reception applies to Magellan also- it's worse than useless getting me from point A to point B anywhere south of Logan (which is pretty much most of my travel area.).
So why keep it? That's the question I ask myself every day. As much as I like playing with technology, I still prefer my paper maps. Magellan, I hope you enjoy looking at the inside of the glove box.
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Thursday, October 3, 2013
Big Happenings in a Small Town
Tuesday, we had all the components of a blockbuster here in Logan. Action, suspense, police, romance- everything. It was JUST like a movie.
I was so close to sleep- that happy state of being super tired but super comfy and knowing that in just a few minutes you'll easily be off to dreamland. Then, in quick succession- sirens, followed by the sound of screeching brakes, two booms, and more sirens. Needless to say, sleep was over for the time being.
The evidence of the action was easily viewed from the front window of my apartment. At the intersection was a semi and the remains of two cars. Car parts were everywhere. A fire truck arrived, followed by two police cars that literally skidded onto the scene.
Suspense was in the air, and people poured in from surrounding homes to stand at the scene and watch the events unfold. At one point, I counted thirty people standing at the curb. They stood with arms folded, occasionally gesturing to the scene of the accident or into the air as if they were making some great intellectual point. A short time after the accident, dogs showed up on scene. Were there drugs involved? No, some of the mini mob were out walking their dogs before they came across the accident, so a Basset Hound and a Schnauzer were included in the mix.
Then, out of nowhere- romance. What? Okay, so it wasn't anything thrilling. Turns out, two of the gawkers were a couple. When the police shooed the growing crowd back away from the scene so the tow trucks could move in, the couple walked hand in hand into Speedway to grab a cup of coffee before returning back to the curb to observe the cleanup.
Long story short, the events of the night were caused by a sheriff's deputy who was on his way to a call (hence the sirens) when a woman coming from the left hit the back end of the cruiser (boom number one), which sent it flying into the semi (boom number two). All that resulted in an hour of entertainment and, thankfully, no injuries. Clearly, it doesn't take much to entertain the locals (and myself) on a Tuesday evening.
I was so close to sleep- that happy state of being super tired but super comfy and knowing that in just a few minutes you'll easily be off to dreamland. Then, in quick succession- sirens, followed by the sound of screeching brakes, two booms, and more sirens. Needless to say, sleep was over for the time being.
The evidence of the action was easily viewed from the front window of my apartment. At the intersection was a semi and the remains of two cars. Car parts were everywhere. A fire truck arrived, followed by two police cars that literally skidded onto the scene.
Suspense was in the air, and people poured in from surrounding homes to stand at the scene and watch the events unfold. At one point, I counted thirty people standing at the curb. They stood with arms folded, occasionally gesturing to the scene of the accident or into the air as if they were making some great intellectual point. A short time after the accident, dogs showed up on scene. Were there drugs involved? No, some of the mini mob were out walking their dogs before they came across the accident, so a Basset Hound and a Schnauzer were included in the mix.
Then, out of nowhere- romance. What? Okay, so it wasn't anything thrilling. Turns out, two of the gawkers were a couple. When the police shooed the growing crowd back away from the scene so the tow trucks could move in, the couple walked hand in hand into Speedway to grab a cup of coffee before returning back to the curb to observe the cleanup.
Long story short, the events of the night were caused by a sheriff's deputy who was on his way to a call (hence the sirens) when a woman coming from the left hit the back end of the cruiser (boom number one), which sent it flying into the semi (boom number two). All that resulted in an hour of entertainment and, thankfully, no injuries. Clearly, it doesn't take much to entertain the locals (and myself) on a Tuesday evening.
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