I got a new toy and you'll never guess what my first thought was. I received a GPS in the mail and have raised the bar on the yarn crawl. I can now, on the fly, look for a knit shop anywhere at any time through the yahoo browser within the GPS unit. I have some of the local shops I like plugged in already so if we are out and about and it's late in the afternoon I can hit the button and it checks the local traffic conditions and calculates ETA with multiple routes. We can make the judgement call on if we can make it to just one more before they close. I know boys and their toys right? let me tell you the story how I got this. A few months ago I was in the break room at work fixing a cup of hot tea and there was an article about a new company road testing a Wi-Fi/cell based GPS system. The article was in the business section based on the fact that they were still a Privately held IPO and that the business was expecting to take off after the road test and product launch. Here was what caught my eye, They were looking for testers who would be commuting to work in Orange County Ca. They were looking for a wide demographic and accepting request from potential volunteers. What you get in return is the use of the GPS for a whole year If you drive around with the unit and let the comapany know of any problems you find. I figured there was going to be thousands of applicants but went to the website and applied. Well a month later I got the E-mail saying I was selected and 2 weeks after that it arrived. I've used GPS systems in rental cars for a few years, but this has live traffic and suggest alternate routes when the ETA changes for the worse when alternate routes become faster. Well it's fun for me because I think driving in Southern Ca is a sport anyway.
The Xterra looks more like a James Bond car now with the Satellite radio on the left and now the GPS on the left.
I plugged in the address for the Saturday monthly knit group in Balboa Park San Diego. Good traffic past the Marine Base according to the green line.
They don't sit in my line of sight because I'm 6'5" and from my vantage they are not blocking my vision. Shorter people may have difficulties seeing past the gear though.
How very cool! Since I have absolutely no sense of direction, I would love a GPS. Fortunately, my DH is usually pretty good. And my oldest daughter has a built in GPS . . . totally incredible . . . even in the dark in a strange city (once in Tucson, after arriving at 9:30 p.m., she looked at the map ONCE and directed me to the hotel and even when I insisted that we needed to go right and she said left, she was correct. She still talks about it. BRAT!).
ReplyDeleteI probably would have a problem with the site line as I'm only 5'1". And maybe that is why Sarah has a built in GPS as she is only 4'10"!
Anyway, have fun.
Your car is looking very futuristic.
ReplyDeletePunkin
Good to see you have your priorities straight, getting the GPS sighted for San Diego. Funny thing is my husband bought one a week ago and for DAYS has been trying to install the drivers. The internet on base is slow, and then the power goes out due to all the storms in Va. He loves his and even took it fishing. This is going to be so cool. That looks bright to me. See you in August I hope, I did that no wrap heel (she says bragging-ly)
ReplyDeleteI have been GPS shopping for the past 3 days! I got spoiled borrowing my brother's up in the Bay Area, but I want one with a few more features, incl real time traffic. Let's talk specs at PubKnittin'!
ReplyDeleteI have been GPS shopping for the past 8 days ,nice
ReplyDeleteI'm always tempted to go to that knit-in down in San Diego, maybe I should one of these days. Do you go every month? What day does it meet on? There are a few quilt shops, yarn shops and cross stitch stores I could hit on the way down there!
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