“Dammit!”
I knew I should have pulled off sooner.
According to my directions I’m still a few miles shy of the Kodak Theater. I’m late for the conference, lost, and the emergency light on my fuel gauge has been lit for ten minutes.
I look left, then straight ahead, both directions showing nothing but a sea of stalled metal and red lights. I sigh, flick my blinker, then turn the steering wheel of the old Sienna right, cursing myself in every word I know in my native tongue, plus a few I know in others.
I shouldn’t have left Long Beach without gassing up.
I thought I could make it, left home with more than a quarter tank and only 30 miles to go. It was early, but LA traffic can be murder and I wanted to get into the heart of the city before the arteries clogged. The last 90 minutes spent at near standstill had reduced the tank to fumes. Now I was winding my way through the canyons of Mulholland Drive without direction in the vain hope I’d stumble upon a gas station before the Sienna started to sputter.
I suddenly smiled.
I remembered my miracle phone came complete with GPS. I pulled to the side of the road, which apparently angered the man in the black Escalade who gunned his engine and sat on his horn as he passed me.
I picked up the phone and hit the MAPS app, typing the word gas into the search field. A small map of the city appeared with one pin for me along with several other pins for gas stations dotted around my proximity, the closest of which was 0.4 miles away.
0.4 miles away!
It was almost spitting distance, but also in a place I never would have looked. Five minutes later and I was topping my tank and typing “Kodak Theater” into the Map. A neat blue line showed me exactly how to get from my A to B.
At lunch, I decided to get out of the theater and off for a walk. The streets of Hollywood are amusing after all. The Kodak is where the Academy Awards are held and sits directly next to the Mann’s Chinese Theater, where a riot of costumed panhandlers gather for passing attention. That day I saw Batman, Captain America, Shrek, Darth Vadar and Jack Sparrow, and that was just while I was descending the stairs. I stood on the corner and took out my phone. I knew where I wanted to go, just not how to get there. After listening to countless people over the previous two weeks telling me I needed to read Gary Vaynerchuck’s Crush It, I’d finally decided to go to the book store and buy it.
I typed “Borders” into the map and it blinked back with a route, a half mile away.
Of all the things I expected to love about the iPhone, the Map feature wasn’t even on my radar. Perhaps it’s because my first several years behind the wheel were spent doing deliveries and as a result I’ve driven tens of thousands of miles while having to navigate my next move on the fly, or maybe it’s that I’ve lived in the same area my entire life. Could be I’m a dude and therefore allergic to asking for directions. For whatever reason, I love that now when I need directions, there’s a genie in my pocket that will help me and never tell anyone I needed to know.
Thanks for keeping my secret.
About Sean Platt
You should do their commercials for them! The genie ideas is genius.
.-= Lori Hoeck´s last blog ..Self defense is seeing danger patterns early =-.
I would gladly do commercials for Apple. The boys in Cupertino wouldn’t even have to pay me!
.-= Sean´s last blog ..How to Find and Profit From a Ghostwriter =-.
You should do their commercials for them! The genie ideas is genius.
.-= Lori Hoeck´s last blog ..Self defense is seeing danger patterns early =-.
I would gladly do commercials for Apple. The boys in Cupertino wouldn’t even have to pay me!
.-= Sean´s last blog ..How to Find and Profit From a Ghostwriter =-.
If you’re going to pull off, it’s always better to do it sooner rather than later.
I can see how keeping it your pocket can be a real temptation. I confess, I’d play with it all day long. Looks like it got you out of a sticky situation too.
Aces.
If you’re going to pull off, it’s always better to do it sooner rather than later.
I can see how keeping it your pocket can be a real temptation. I confess, I’d play with it all day long. Looks like it got you out of a sticky situation too.
Aces.
I kept thinking, I can make it, I can make it! But seriously, if I didn’t have the phone I don’t think it would have been possible for me to. And it has Pac-Man.
.-= Sean´s last blog ..How to Find and Profit From a Ghostwriter =-.
I kept thinking, I can make it, I can make it! But seriously, if I didn’t have the phone I don’t think it would have been possible for me to. And it has Pac-Man.
.-= Sean´s last blog ..How to Find and Profit From a Ghostwriter =-.
I know you’re in love, but why haven’t you got your Amazon affiliate link under the first mention of your genie-baby? Every little helps, especially when, as Lori said, a recommendation from someone who’s in love with a product is as good as an ad.
.-= janice´s last blog ..A Patchwork Post: Writing Tips, Christmas Tips and Susan Boyle… =-.
I’ve no objections to affiliate links whatsoever, but for me, the juice has to be worth the squeeze. The Amazon affiliate payout is a sliver of a percentage and you have to wait an eon for your check, and the payout doesn’t happen until you hit $100. Considering the likelihood of someone buying an iPhone through the link, especially considering you need to deal with AT&T; or Apple as second parties anyway, it wouldn’t be worth the time to gather the link.
I know you’re in love, but why haven’t you got your Amazon affiliate link under the first mention of your genie-baby? Every little helps, especially when, as Lori said, a recommendation from someone who’s in love with a product is as good as an ad.
.-= janice´s last blog ..A Patchwork Post: Writing Tips, Christmas Tips and Susan Boyle… =-.
I’ve no objections to affiliate links whatsoever, but for me, the juice has to be worth the squeeze. The Amazon affiliate payout is a sliver of a percentage and you have to wait an eon for your check, and the payout doesn’t happen until you hit $100. Considering the likelihood of someone buying an iPhone through the link, especially considering you need to deal with AT&T or Apple as second parties anyway, it wouldn’t be worth the time to gather the link.
The map feature is what finally sold me on the iPhone. Everything else is just a bonus.
.-= Noble Savage´s last blog ..The OED has got nothin’ on me =-.
See, the map feature for me was a nice surprise. It wasn’t even on my radar as things to care about, but now that I’ve used it, it makes me all giddy with delight!
The map feature is what finally sold me on the iPhone. Everything else is just a bonus.
.-= Noble Savage´s last blog ..The OED has got nothin’ on me =-.
See, the map feature for me was a nice surprise. It wasn’t even on my radar as things to care about, but now that I’ve used it, it makes me all giddy with delight!
I love being able to look up the street address of a business – heh, remember those old days when really prepared people would travel with a copy of the yellow pages in the car?
The only thing it lacks is a magical device that lets me somehow hover up and over when I’m driving down one of the narrower streets in town and inevitably get boxed in by two Escalades or Excursions. Ugh, there needs to be an app for that.
.-= Tracy´s last blog ..Scary Products Contest Winners =-.
There will be an app for that – just give it time!
By the way, as of yesterday, I now have two apps in development! YAY!
I love being able to look up the street address of a business – heh, remember those old days when really prepared people would travel with a copy of the yellow pages in the car?
The only thing it lacks is a magical device that lets me somehow hover up and over when I’m driving down one of the narrower streets in town and inevitably get boxed in by two Escalades or Excursions. Ugh, there needs to be an app for that.
.-= Tracy´s last blog ..Scary Products Contest Winners =-.
There will be an app for that – just give it time!
By the way, as of yesterday, I now have two apps in development! YAY!
Yea I remember getting lost along the same road too!! haha! I had a GPS but I was too busy listening to the song on the radio.
LOL, I had to turn my radio off because it was part of the reason I was lost. I’d started to focus on the music since I was indulging in the rare opportunity to listen to grown up music instead of something kid friendly for a change.
Yea I remember getting lost along the same road too!! haha! I had a GPS but I was too busy listening to the song on the radio.
LOL, I had to turn my radio off because it was part of the reason I was lost. I’d started to focus on the music since I was indulging in the rare opportunity to listen to grown up music instead of something kid friendly for a change.