Tuesday, March 18, 2008

New Toy (Tool) and Heart Thumping

So I got a GPS for my truck yesterday. Call it an impulse buy (it kinda was), but I don't really feel that it was a bad one. If you know me well, you know that I get lost....a lot. It takes me a good six months at least to get familiar with an area before I know it well enough to avoid getting lost. Even then, I usually stick to roads I've driven before and sometimes end up wasting time because I take the long way without knowing it. The Vancouver (WA) metro area is the only location I would say I know fairly well...and I lived there for about 5 years!

This semester alone, I think I've spent a good 4 hours or more trying to get unlost as I've attempted to familiarize myself with the Hampton Roads area. The most frustrating example occurred when I was in downtown Norfolk, got on the wrong freeway, got confused, and ended up clear down by Chesapeake...ultimately a 1.5 hour detour! The obvious cheap solution would be to buy a map, but reading a map and driving at high speeds in insane HR area traffic is a recipe for disaster. Plus as soon as I leave the map, I'm dead in the water.

So I got a GPS. For the price, it's quite efficient. I drove to work with it this morning and it performed wonderfully. It told me when to turn and announced the street name (handy for ambiguous intersections...do I turn in the driveway or the road?). When I took an unexpected turn (a shortcut I knew about), it quickly recalculated my route without missing a beat. I can't wait to test it out tonight.

Ooh boy...speaking of tonight. Um, yeah...it's a dance party. I'm already nervous, ha. I don't know why either. I doubt I'll even be able to dance, what with my knee and all. Probably has to do with the large number of amazingly pretty females my age at that church. Yep, I'm a guy...and when a guy is around beautiful girls, his heart starts pounding. C'est la vie. ;)

Anyways, the purpose of the dance party is actually to learn how to dance, instead of just doing it for the fun of it. There are evidently two weddings in the church coming up quickly, and knowing how to dance is definitely a bonus for the reception. There are a some very good dancers in the church (my friend Gabe is one of them), so a few of them are going to come out and teach us clumsy feet how to groove. Like I mentioned, I doubt I'll be able to actually do anything (stupid knee), but I'll at least be able to watch and hopefully learn academically by others' example. I really need to learn quickly though, because it just occurred to me on Sunday when this was being discussed that I am a groomsman at Caleb's wedding...which means I'll probably have to dance...and possibly with other people watching! Augh...help me! :o

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