Saturday, March 13, 2010

The Navigator

Ever since I got my car almost two years ago I've had a love/hate relationship with my navigator. I can't make any entries when the car is moving, which I wouldn't do anyway, but if I had a passenger he couldn't either. One time, it kept telling me to go south when I knew that my destination was north.

This morning I headed out to north Jerey to a book reading and signing by a friend of mine. I had never been there before so I went to MapQuest and Microsoft Streets for directions. They gave me two different ways to get to my destination. Before I left the house I also programmed the address into my navigator. I was following the directions from MapQuest and they seemed to agree with the navigator. Suddenly, the navigator started giving me different directions. Eventually, I listened to him. Those directions were pretty good and I found my destination easily.

When it was time to go home, I typed my address, but I was told there was no such house number. I eventually convinced the navigator to accept my address, but it would go no further than accepting my city. Finally, it calculated the trip and I was on my way.

We've been having terrible rain and wind here, so it was no surprise that traffic was backed up. It took me 1/2 hour to travel 1 mile. Then I discovered that the route I was on was closed and I had no idea how to get home from there. As soon as I went off the main road, the navigator recalculated the trip and directed me back to the main road. Later on, I came across another closed road, but it was close enough to home that I could find my way.

So, even though I still have a few problems with my navigator, it was very useful today.

I will give you a review of the book, Hard to Place in a day or two. It's a wonderful story and true.

2 comments:

ms/sss said...

I watch my husband with the navigator. There's always a silly grin on his face as he listens to "Lola" direct him, while he chooses the route he wants and she, then, "recalculates". Personally, I think Lola should just yell at him.
HARD TO PLACE...You're right. It's a good memoir, written by a good person who is a lifelong friend of ours.
ms/sss

Pamela said...

I want a GPS! I thought I was going to get one for Christmas... and then I got this huge box. It was an electric foot and leg massager. One that looks like a pair of cement boots. ha ha.

The only place it takes me is to nirvana.