NonStop Chatter

Fun Features I Want in a GPS

The Chatterbox — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 22:36:23 +0000

I was on a trip with my sister, looking at houses, and listening to her GPS give directions. Hers is a bottom of the barrel cheapie they bought off Woot! some time back. It gets the job done often enough, though. New housing developments would give just about any GPS the fits until the streets are uploaded into the database.

But it was the little stuff like “In. One hundred. Fifty. Yards. Straight. Ahead” immediately followed by “Straight. Ahead” that had us all cracking up and joking about the other features a GPS should have.

1. “Where the. Hell. Are You. Going?”

Considering how often we did something other than follow its directions, I’d just love to see one ask that once in a while. Instead it kept trying to get us to turn around.

2. “I’m Lost.”

Ever just want the GPS to admit it? Sometimes it gave us far more complicated directions than necessary to get where we were going.

3. Impatient tone of voice.

Even it it doesn’t start swearing at you, to just have the GPS sound impatient when you miss a turn would make it more interesting. Maybe that’s just me.

4. Scenic detours.

Be fun to tell the GPS that you have time to stop off for interesting sites. It would be really wonderful on vacation.

5. Begs to return to favorite location.

Go somewhere a lot? Have your GPS keep asking when you’re going back. Sounds fun for favorite vacation places and such… just don’t teach it to love your workplace that much!

All in all, it’s just that I want them to have personality. Sure it would be annoying at times, but probably not boring.

Spaceport America Making Progress

The Chatterbox — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 12:10:10 +0000

I’m quite delighted to have read that Sierra County, New Mexico has approved a 1/4 of 1 percent gross receipts tax increase to fund the building of Spaceport America. They’re working on getting all the other approvals they need to operate the spaceport, as well as a deal with Virgin Galactic.

There’s just something about seeing commercial space travel make progress that’s really exciting to me. I figure it comes of having a space-crazed father and reading quite a bit of science fiction.

Do You Backup Your Computer?

The Chatterbox — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 21:53:08 +0000

I bought a Maxtor One Touch 4 500 G external hard drive recently, and finally got around to hooking it up to the computer the other day. After all, what’s the point of having an external hard drive if you don’t take advantage.

So far, so good, although the Amazon reviews do make me nervous. I hadn’t seen them before purchase, as this was a fairly spontaneous one - got it for $100. And I have noticed an occasional issue with it losing connectivity with my computer for a moment or two, which is an issue I see in the Amazon reviews. But I’m trying to keep my hopes up. At a touch it is a touch warmer than I would like it to be as well, judging from how my computer feels.

What I do like is how fast it goes. It really does that job well, at least. And looking through the external hard drives on Amazon, it appears that most brands have issues pretty regularly. I guess I have to hope I got a good one.

Fortunately, I’m not relying on this critter 100%. I back up my computer to my husband’s computer and vice versa periodically. Just the My Documents section, not a full system backup or anything. We figure odds are we won’t have two computer failures at the same time.

The catch to the OneTouch is also that it doesn’t have a function to back up the entire computer. You do have to get a separate utility for that. I’ve been looking at that option, but I do have a good warranty on this computer (and taken advantage of it in the past!), and the discs to the programs I’ve installed on my own, so I think I’m in pretty good shape.

How to Handle Middle of the Night Wrong Numbers

The Chatterbox — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 21:32:46 +0000

My husband and I got a call on his cell phone in the middle of the night the other night. Some probably drunk guy asking for Jill. Very insistent that he had the right number.

So insistent that he called back, twice. Not something that is greatly appreciated after 3 in the morning.

My husband was telling me that he thought he should have just told the guy that clearly “Jill” had dissed him. But I like my answer better.

I told him he should have turned to me, and said it so the guy could hear it:

“Hey, your name Jill?”

I think we could have played that one up a little, if we’d just been awake enough.

Got a Song Stuck in My Head

The Chatterbox — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 22:14:19 +0000

Not just any song… a parody! I keep trying to think up words for it, and it’s been going on for days.

Some ways it’s worse than having a regular song stuck in my head. Trying to come up with new words or remember the regular ones so that I can come up with new words is really, really distracting.

I have no idea if I’m going to finish it or not. I think I’m just going to have to write out what I have so far, see if that helps to banish the song.

No, not going to share it yet. And definitely don’t expect me to sing it on tape for YouTube or anything. I really doubt I’m that brave… crazy… stupid… self obsessed, or whatever else you want to call it. But if I like how it comes out, I might post the words.