critter unexpecteds and gps

[ceagle]

-That "attack squirrel" I had mentioned....
Well, I guess it's just a very, uh, 'tame' local squirrel which the local households feed and the kids all play with... no-one debriefed me though, so it's just been a complete surprise each time it has come closer.. and closer... and finally a couple of days ago, it came zooooming up to me, ran up my leg (on the outside of my pants, luckily!), up my back and on to my shoulders, ..where it then bolted up to the fence, awaiting peanuts.. apparently!
I wasn't expecting to be used as a human launching ramp or pole vault... but now that I know, I guess I'm prepared...

-In the dim dim dusk as I was walking the trash barrels to the corner for pickup the next morning, I saw the local fox just about 30 feet away, just standing and staring at me calmly... Maybe it thought I couldn't see him/her in that light... but mostly surprised the din of the rolling barrel didn't scare the critter off..

-The groundhog is still in full-swing demolishing the lawn, and I happened to see it popping up and grabbing at leaves to take down into his/her lair today.. eeesh..

-In non-critter news, shows what ya get for not reading the fine print ;p ... Saw an amazing special at Fry's.. I guess since GPS is on just about every smartphone nowadays, they are practically giving some of them away!
After waiting a long time for them to find the right model in stock, and then the sweet-talk at the checkout counter, I got to the door and luckily the final inspector noticed I hadn't gotten my discount! 8|
So it all took quite some time, and in some avenues of economics that's called 'opportunity cost', but in sheer dollars it was nice to receive another 5% off for their error.
GPS is one of those things (like Blu-Ray) that seems to have taken a disproportionately long time to find an affordable price-point-for-quality and middle-class buyers. For many years they hovered between $400 and $700 so I just wouldn't bite.
When they came down below $300 I finally decided to try a Garmin, which was horrible. Took forevvvvvvver to find satellites mainly. It had other annoyances too, but I've forgotten the others since it's been tossed in the attic in a pile of disgust somewhere all these years.
Then a few years later yet, when Wal-Mart had a TomTom for sale for just $125, I seized on that opportunity, especially since they'd been high-praised by sayh. I must express that I've been very pleased with it, although it does crack me up sometimes with the funny grammar and vernacular (stay on the right lane, take the motorway and go straight on!), and it does make occasional *slight* mistakes.
With the Fry's price of about $70 for this new one though, it's practically free considering what it is!... so this will give me some experience with the Magellan brand, and I won't have to keep detaching and moving the TomTom back and forth between cars.
So far it seems fine, although as the TomTom has some aforementioned idiosyncrasies, this one is already revealing some too... such as, while having much better command of English, the voice is fuzzy and too fast, and as far as I can tell, it just has that one voice option at this price, where the TomTom has several.
Selecting the destination address also seems about twice as lumbering as with the TomTom. However, the Magellan comes with Lifetime-Traffic-Coverage, which is a BIG boon! It also has (unexpectedly) a satellite-driven altitude readout, which is also immensely useful for me, as it helps me control the accelerator (and therefore mileage) even more precisely, and getting another 10 or 20 miles out of a tank is nothing to sneeze at! (especially with gas nearing $4.50 a gallon lately).

Thanks for reading, and best of of wishes to you alls ... ^v^

Comments

[orv.livejournal.com]

I'd like to hear your thoughts on the Magellan. I have two GPS's -- an older Navigon that I bought five or six years ago, and a Magellan that's only a couple years old. I had high hopes for the Magellan because it's such a well-known brand, but I'm not as happy with it as I was with the off-brand Navigon. It loses satellite lock easily when driving under bridges and overpasses, and afterwards sometimes goes into a snit where it refuses to give any more directions. I also find the UI clumsier than the Navigon's, and finding points of interest is slower. It also has a weird glitch where, while entering an address, I'll touch a letter, and it'll SAY the letter, but won't enter it on the screen.

I'm curious if they've improved. I also don't have the traffic feature, and I'm curious how well that works.

[c-eagle.livejournal.com]

OkyDokey!... I'll report more if I encounter enything differmint :> ... So far I'd say it's a value for the price... especially for the altitude and traffic features :9
I plotted a few different routes and 3 out of 4 times it gave the traffic delay warning (with esstimate actual delay time) and asked if I wanted to try alternate routes all within a minute. The 4th time it said it didn't have traffic covereage in that area and/or there were no traffic delays.
I remember you talking about the Navigon, but I don't think I've ever seen one... *rufflefluffle*
No satellite losses the entire time so far, and it does give about half the talk that the TomTom does. Have not tried POI yet.... but I think I maaaaaay have seen that touch-a-letter thing... not certain... but I dunno, maybe I just didn't press firmly enough.
The very first time I used it, it did do a funny thing and picked a city far across the country before I narrowed it down to a closer one :D
Also... the instruction book verrrrry mysteriously deja-vu-ishly has several streets and cities right to the east and west to me as examples... even though the company is based hundreds of miles away :D

So far so good! *tailwags*

[c-eagle.livejournal.com]

oooo... loca fox goes yip yip yip! Actually it also goes

grrrhawwwwwwwchth! grrrrahhhwwwwwwwwwchth! Nuff ta almost make a person call 911 ! LOL ...

This year it is (or seems to be) living in the ivy at our neighbor's place, as I frequently see it running to or from there when I drive up :>

[c-eagle.livejournal.com]

*nodnods* I certainly shall, if I can git a pic! Remember, this was at almost the dimmest darkest point before twilight is over....
Once, a few years ago, one of them local foxes almost came up to me!.. This one didn't know I was there, and I'd been standing at a pond where it came up to drink.... 8>

[tacet.livejournal.com]

Groundhog issues?

Can you get dog hair? Cat hair? From anyone's pet. Heck even human hair! Get enough to wad and stuff it into the holes.

The idea is the dog hair will make it smell like a dog as it goes through and its mate will be put off. Eyes don't work as well in a dark burrow, so scent is king underground!
No more babies, after a while, no more gophers.

[c-eagle.livejournal.com]

Wow....! Neat Idea!... Alas, no pets currently, but i s'pose I could ask around.. had not heard of this strategy before but it sounds feasible!

[linnapaw.livejournal.com]

Good to hear from you!

We inherited a GPS, but I think it's lost in a snowbank somewhere in town right now.. *L* :)

[c-eagle.livejournal.com]

Yipe!!. I hope it doesn't get smoooshed by a plow!

[chefmongoose.livejournal.com]

My first GPS was a loaner from warphammer, who was kind enough to lend me one for a road trip for some months. After that, none until my smartphone got it. I was tempted often.. but got by on map printouts. :)

Hope the new one is groovy for you!

[c-eagle.livejournal.com]

Neat tale!... aha!.... another one supplied by smart phone I see.... ;>

I've only been able to try this one once so far... but thanks!

...and maps.. hehe.... I still like the old school stuff... I drove all over Germany a few years ago with just one printed map :D

[genecatlow.livejournal.com]

Attack squirrel! Woah.. when I was at the San Jose plant there was a squirrel so bold he would run right into the cafeteria and beg for snacks! (Oh, and he was very definitely a "he", no doubt about it. I leave to the imagination the number of jokes about squirrels and nuts he was responsible for starting *^_^*)

[c-eagle.livejournal.com]

hehheh!! With this one I couldn't tell... guess he's more interested in the chow than showing off :D

[aldi.livejournal.com]

So lucky to have all that wildlife action going on!

[c-eagle.livejournal.com]

heh! *fuffles your fur* I hope to get a chance to observe the critter more some time... the only two times so far though that I've seen it, I've been on a schedule and had to leave rather soon.

[blue-lory.livejournal.com]

Guys fascination with GPS devices is soooo weird! ;)

Cool squirrel experience! Dare-devil squirrel!

[c-eagle.livejournal.com]

Oh, I dig gauges and measuring/testing devices pretty much in general... heh! Sound meters, light meters, power meters, micrometers, rain gauges, wind gauges... it's fun getting perspectives and comparatives of our surroundings ... :D ...though I do not rely on GPS as much as some... the last big road trip I did completely old-school with a printed map!