<VV> GPS and John Staluppi

[Steven J. Serenska]

VVers:

I am enjoying this thread on GPS's, etc. because I am also a Luddite.  I 
only own a cell phone because I drive 50 year old cars. I purchased my 
cell in 2005, because the one I purchased before it in 1998 gave up the 
ghost. I was tickled to death the day I went on eBay and scored a new 
battery for $1.00 for the 2005 model (a Motorola Razr).  I was so happy, 
in fact, that I bought two batteries so I can use the second one when 
the first stops holding a charge.  My teenage daughters mock me to the 
high heavens for this but I really couldn't care less.  The cell phone 
routinely sits in the glovebox of my car for weeks on end.

My second daughter gave me a GPS for Christmas a few years ago. I can be 
gracious now and again, so I didn't point out that it was sort of like 
handing a light saber to a caveman.  The first time I used it (in my 
Corvair, driving 600 miles to/from Maine), however, I saw a benefit to 
it that I hadn't thought of before.  I'm bringing it up here in case it 
helps others.  The device (mine's a Garmin) polls the speed and location 
of other GPS devices on the road ahead of you and reports in real-time 
when there's a traffic slowdown ahead.  This is completely VALUABLE, 
particularly in large urban locations where there are many suitable 
byways, beltways, local roads, and other alternatives.  The ability to 
dive off the interstate and jump back on to avoid a backup is 
indispensable.  I don't travel a long trip in unfamiliar territory 
without it.

On a completely unrelated note, I also need to comment on what a 
gentleman John Staluppi must be:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRPKxnaVUEs

Throughout his interview with April Rose, his eyes remained even and 
level and never once, ahem, "wandered". Mr. Staluppi did better than I did.

The only downer in the video is that they didn't show the "1969 Monza 
'69 Butternut yellow Monza convertible with black interior, 140, w/smog 
eqpt, 4 speed and wire caps" that Brent Fullard mentioned.

Steven "but I probably wouldn't have noticed the Monza, even if they 
had" Serenska