Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self. - Cyril Connolly
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Once I was lost, but now I am found
The new job requires me to visit about 30 different locations off campus every month, in many areas I've never been to before. I spent 20 minutes getting completely and utterly lost at the intersections of Old Court Road (times five it would seem), Park Heights Ave., and Stevenson Rd., yesterday and had to phone my assistant twice to figure out where to turn. It made me late for my first meeting with someone. Not a great first impression, and although they were very nice about it, it made me furious with myself.
Since the new job is paying for my cell phone, which will save me about $100-$150 bucks a month, I stopped at Best Buy on the way home last night and bought a new toy, which I will definitely deduct as a business expense on my taxes next year.
Tells me where to go, how to get there, and announces the actual street names, instead of just saying, "turn right in 200 feet", when, like yesterday, there were three right turns in the next 200 feet staring me down for choices.
The accuracy of the thing is downright scary. I live on an alleyway that rarely shows up on maps other than Google Earth, and taxi drivers and the pizza delivery guy usually end up calling me on my cell phone to let me know they're nearby, but can't figure it out. This thing shows my actual parking spot! And it lets you choose the voice you want to listen to, and pick a vehicle icon that actually looks like your car. You can even choose a tank as your icon if you want. It also lets you download photos to it, and you can use it like a photo album to show friends and family instead of hauling a laptop everywhere or printing the photos out. The screen size and clarity are perfect.
No more printing out Mapquest directions. No more maps for that matter. And hopefully, no more late meeting arrivals until I have the routes to all these new offices figured out. Garmin will make sure I get there on time.
Couple things to note about your new purchase. (I have a Nuvi 350 so I know what I'm talking about). * The estimated time of arrival is based on you average speed. So if say you are cruising on down to DC and average 70mph until you hit the DC Beltway your ETA to where ever will still be based on the fact you made such great time down to 495 even though you are now in a parking lot. * if you travel with it you will long for it to have more details on restaurants aside from just cuisine and location. * it always seems to take too long to find a satellite * It might not always take you the way you know is best but it will always get you there. (Use it around Baltimore to places you know where you are going and you'll see this in action) * You should buy this for it: a Garmin Portable Friction Dashboard Mount for Nüvi (http://tinyurl.com/2bz5fc) It works better than the stupid suction cup and if you travel you can easily bring it and put it on the rental car's dash.
Couple things to note about your new purchase. (I have a Nuvi 350 so I know what I'm talking about).
* The estimated time of arrival is based on you average speed. So if say you are cruising on down to DC and average 70mph until you hit the DC Beltway your ETA to where ever will still be based on the fact you made such great time down to 495 even though you are now in a parking lot.
* if you travel with it you will long for it to have more details on restaurants aside from just cuisine and location.
* it always seems to take too long to find a satellite
* It might not always take you the way you know is best but it will always get you there. (Use it around Baltimore to places you know where you are going and you'll see this in action)
* You should buy this for it: a Garmin Portable Friction Dashboard Mount for Nüvi (http://tinyurl.com/2bz5fc) It works better than the stupid suction cup and if you travel you can easily bring it and put it on the rental car's dash.
Congrates on the new job and new gadget. :-)