Some of my family members and I participate in location sharing with Google Latitude. I think it's a rather fun application and it makes it very interesting to follow family members when they're traveling. Sometimes though, as with all technology, blips occur. I don't know how many times I've been tempted to call my son and ask if he threw his wife off a bridge or if she just decided to jump because according to Latitude, she got out of the car at the river and he kept going. (Of course that's not what happened in real life.)
And even now, according to Latitude, which I keep on my Google homepage, I'm not at home in my office typing this. Nope. I'm 80 miles away from home doing only God knows what. And funnily enough, this happens almost every morning. My location is transmitted from my phone and my phone is in my pocket, so how is it my transmitted location is off by 80 miles?
So my question for the universe today is this: do our cell phones have virtual souls that participate in astral projection? And if so, why doesn't mine have a better imagination?
I love road trips. I love to drive. Of course the current price of gas keeps my road trips to a minimum, but I look forward to just about any excuse I can get to get in the car and drive somewhere.
Yesterday, I traveled 220 miles with my husband to help the grandkids celebrate their birthdays. The route we took was a familiar one. And as many times as I've made the trip I'm always bemused by the "Low Flying Aircraft" sign which we see along the way. Just what is it I'm supposed to do with this information? How do I react to this cautionary? Am I supposed to duck? If I see a low flying aircraft am I supposed to change lanes or maybe swerve to miss it? I'm puzzled, I'm confused. Why are they telling me this?
And who hasn't seen this falling rocks sign from time to time on their travels? Once again; how am I supposed to react? Am I supposed to drive along looking up at the cliffs searching for these rocks so I can swerve if they fall? Am I supposed to speed up and drive really fast so if there are falling rocks they don't hit me?
I have another theory. You've heard that expression when someone dies suddenly from something catastrophic and people say, "They never knew what hit them." I think that these signs have been erected so that if a low flying airplane or a falling rock smashes your car and kills you, you'll at least have an idea of what it was that caused your death. You will have been forwarned what it was that hit you and you won't die clueless. I think that that's what these signs are all about.
I was getting dressed the other morning when suddenly I felt a small but very sharp pain in my derriere. Ouch!I removed the last item of clothing I had put on to discover the item pictured here. It is a little piece of very fine gauge wire and it had become caught in my Cabela's 100% silk long underwear.
I realize that the average person would have just thrown away the offending item, finished getting dressed and gone on about their day... but not me.
I was most perplexed. How in the world did such a thing get caught up in my long johns in the first place? I mean, really, for the most part my underwear only goes where I go and to the best of my knowledge I had not been anywhere to pick up such an object.
It brought to mind that vintage cartoon where the shopkeeper closes up for the night and after he leaves, all the inanimate objects in the store come to life and spend the night partying. It made me wonder if my clothes go out for a romp after I fall asleep at night. After all, my clothes don't sleep in the same room as I do, so they could easily sneak away without me knowing it. And if my long johns are getting into this kind of trouble, God only knows what my bras are up to. So until this little mystery is solved, I guess all my clothes are under suspicion and can't be trusted.
Is it just me? Am I the only one who's frustrated by the endless fluctuation of gas prices?
I used to live in a rural environment and found myself having to fill my tank at least once a week, if not more, whether I wanted to or not. Now that I'm living in a more urban setting I can go longer before I have to fill up and I notice that I'm almost obsessed with the price of gasoline. One day I'll notice that the price has dropped a penny or two and I'll look at my fuel gauge and notice that I have a half a tank. So I ask myself, hmmm, should I fill up now or wait a couple days and see if it goes lower? But, what if this is the lowest it gets and I miss this great opportunity? Like most women, I put off filling the tank until I absolutely have to so I just end up taking my chances on the price.
However, a couple of weeks ago I was really getting low and I was on my way to the state park to take my dog for a walk. It's only 4 miles away and I contemplated filling up on the way there or waiting until the return trip. It would have been more convenient to wait because the station would be on the right hand side of the road coming home, but I know how tired I am after my exuberant young Lab has drug me around the sand dunes for 2 and a half miles, so I filled up on the way there. Don't you know, an hour later on the way home, the gas price was posted at 2 cents less!!!! I felt so cheated! I know, I know, we're only talking about 30 cents here, but it's the principle!
On the flip side, two months ago I was driving south to visit my family in Georgia and was looking for a gas station with reasonable prices and I pulled into a Pilot station as they had the best price that I'd seen. I filled up, pulled out again and happened to glance back up at the price sign and couldn't believe my eyes. While I had been filling up, the price had gone up 2 cents. I quickly grabbed my receipt out of my wallet for a second look and was relieved to see that I had been charged at the lower price.
Sometimes I feel like I'm a participant in a surreal reality game show and I can only win by buying gas at the best price within a 72 hour time period. When did gas prices start changing so rapidly? Was it with the advent of the digital price signs? Did the price of gas change less rapidly when someone had to physically go out to the sign and change the prices by hand? Now someone can just sit inside the store and push a button. No big deal.
And what if this rapid price changing trend catches on with other commodities? Will we see digital marquees in front of our supermarkets reflecting an hourly change in the price of sugar and coffee? Don't laugh, I'm afraid it could happen.
Some of my family members and I participate in location sharing with Google Latitude. I think it's a rather fun application and it makes it very interesting to follow family members when they're traveling. Sometimes though, as with all technology, blips occur. I don't know how many times I've been tempted to call my son and ask if he threw his wife off a bridge or if she just decided to jump because according to Latitude, she got out of the car at the river and he kept going. (Of course that's not what happened in real life.)
