I’m referring not to facial blemishes but to the comic strip, which is one of my favorites due to its ability to unerringly portray the foibles and habits of teenagers. And, apparently, me.
See, we’ve got this new car – a Honda Ridgeline, if you must know. It’s loaded with toys – navigation package, XM radio, 115 volt auxiliary power outlet, and Honda’s HandsFreeLink, a Bluetooth-based system for using your cellphone and the car’s GPS without actually touching those devices. Those are all really cool things, but the owner’s manual is almost 400 pages, and the configuration of the technology is not always intuitive.
So, I sat in the car in the garage for more than an hour yesterday, pairing my phone to the car’s system, and [making attempts at] importing my contact list into said system. At one point, my wife felt it necessary to come into the garage and observe that I reminded her of Jeremy from the aforementioned cartoon, when he and his friend took possession of an ancient, non-running VW bus and, lacking funds and skill to make it go, contented themselves with just sitting in it. I couldn’t really argue with the comparison, given the less than stellar success I was having making this hands-free thing go.
I did eventually get my phonebook imported, sort of. If your first name begins with “A” through “P” and you’re in my contact list, then I can call you via the car’s system, but for some reason, you who are in the dread “Q-Z” category didn’t make the import. I’m really sorry, but you probably won’t be getting a call from me anytime soon, at least not while I’m sitting in my garage, since I still haven’t figured out how to do anything with the whole shooting match while actually driving down the road.
Baby steps. Or, at best, teen-aged steps.
My new car doesn’t have any of those gadgets – but on the other hand I don’t have a 400 page manual to read either lol.
I guess I missed the news of your news car, Rachel. What kind did you get (besides one that’s so incredibly simple that you don’t need a 400 page manual to make it work! ;-)?
2000 Honda Civic (Red like a fire engine!). The gears are on the dash and the handbrake is a pedal! Best of all, the letters on the number plate are FAQ (Frequently asked questions hehe).
I was trying to think of another alternative interpretation for “FAQ,” like “Fast And Quiet.” That Q is sort of hard to work with, though.
When you get it figured out, do you suppose you can just recite your grocery list and send it on it’s way? 😉
I’m beginning to think there’s just as good a chance that it would do my grocery shopping for me as there is that I’ll ever figure it out!
I really like my car GPS gadjet. It is much more convineient to use than a map. I don’t usually worry about getting lost on a long journey anymore.
Yeah, maps are old-school. Plus, you don’t have to figure out how to re-fold a GPS!