GPS Shortcomings

Last Mother's day I gave the Mrs. a Garmin. It's great! I love the maps and it's fairly efficient in giving me directions to where I need to go. I love the technology too. It's like watching yourself on a map while you're driving. However, I do have a few suggestions for improvement.

Let's talk about the voice. Our's is pretty neat since you can give it an English or Australian accent. Or, if you're ambitious and bilingual, you could actually program it to give you directions in your second language. Honestly, though, after a while, you want something a little different. Perhaps some additional dialects could be added into the device. Take for instance some northeastern accents. We lived in Northern New Jersey prior to moving down here and nothing would be cooler than hearing a nice Jersey accent with the appropriate attitude while driving. The female voice even talk like she has a big piece of gum in her mouth or something. And to have the male voice, say something like "Hey! You missed the turn! Sheesh! Hold on while I recalculate..." Of course, I would wonder whether someone from New Jersey would be able to tell you to turn left at a major intersection. (If you don't get that joke, then you probably don't know what a jughandle intersection is either. :-) )

Now that I live in Charlotte, I think it would be great to have some southern accents as well. "Where do you want to go today sweetheart?" Or "Oops, well bless your heart, you just missed that last turn. Hold on honey while I recalculate that for you." It could even call me "sir" at the appropriate times - now who wouldn't like that? Or how about a little more familiarity in tone? "You want to go where? Oh, now you can't get there from here. You wanna head on down to the post office and then turn left right after the Bojangles..."

Of course the sky's the limit with this. A london cockney accent or a nice thick Yorkshire dialect. You name it, it shouldn't be that hard to add these.

But here's what I really want when it comes to the Garmin. I want the following dialogue:

"Turn left in .2 miles"
(No turn)
"Recalculating..."
"Make U-turn in 400 feet"
"Recalculating.....again...."
"Please turn right onto Main St."
(Volume increases)"Please adjust the volume on your GPS while I recalculate again"
"Please turn right onto 2nd street"
"Um, hello? Are you even paying attention to me? Let me recalculate again"
"Turn right onto 3rd Street"
"Do you even want my help! Why did you even buy me if you're not going to listen to my recommendations"
"Turn right on 6th Street"
"OK, now you're really lost....you are so clueless!!!!! Recalculating...."
"Arrive at Destination on left?!?! Wow! I never thought of going this way. I take back everything I said. Please accept my apologies. I bow to the one with superior directional knowledge. Let me file this route away so I won't suggest you go that long way again."


Now THAT would be cool.

Election Day

Similar to last May's post during primary season, here are a few notes about today:

I have to admit I'm not the most patriotic person in this country, but I do love this day. There is something very special to me about waking up and exercising my civic duty. This year is a very exciting one as we have an American hero running against a younger man who symbolizes hope for many minorities across our multicultural nation. I know I'm a bit rose-colored in my thoughts on this, but I believe they are both good men. They both have political views that I don't agree with, and yet, I admire them. I will be excited about the changes coming our way as a nation regardless of who wins.

In my town, the YMCA is on the second floor of the town hall. The Y opened at 5 am and the polls open at 6:30. I had decided to go to the gym at 5 and then go downstairs and cast my vote. I am not progressive enough to vote early. When I went to the gym at 5:15, there were already 3 people in line. By the time I got downstairs, at 6, I was the 24th person in line. By the time the polls opened, my small town had 200+ people wrapped around town hall ready to vote. It was amazing, and encouraging. I was only there for about an hour, but in that time, I got to talk to a number of folks from my town who I know and respect. Moreover, I am sure that I was speaking to folks who were voting for different candidates. Did this make the interactions tense? Not at all. As a matter of fact, people were generally smiles. It was good.

Of course, as I type this, everything points to our 44th president being Senator Obama. For some this is a very exciting event and for others, it is very upsetting. Part of the reason for this victory is that polls are showing that evangelical Christians have split between the two candidates. Consequently, I have read some very judgmental things regarding the other half of Christian voters and I find it appropriate that this past weekend, the sermon at my church included the following verses from James.

"Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?"
-James 4:11-12

This is something we need to take to heart as we continue. There are Christians who voted on either side and all of us need to pray with pure motives for our leaders regardless of who they are.