Unfortunately the electrical gremlins have found their way into the wiring of the old boat. So we have returned to dry dock for an undisclosed amount of time.In the meantime I was able to have the good fortune of a family road trip with my two favorite people on the planet.
While I normally shy away from most things considered to be new technology. The household President however is very keen to pick up on new conveniences.
During our trek from the big city to a little coastal town nestled on the banks of the Pacific Ocean, I was introduced to an application called Waze. While I'm sure there are quite a few navigation applications available for many the device, I found this one to be particularly interesting.
While enjoying my navigator position I was able to spend some good time interacting with this application( yes I'm going to use the whole word the whole time).
Ill go ahead and say up front, after fumbling along for several minutes while trying to get the clubs I call fingers to input our destination correctly, it was quite easy to use. Once that side show of gorilla like behavior was over come it was time to get down to the business on making pavement disappear in our attempt to reach our destination.
Fist thing to pop up where optional routes, least traffic, fastest route etc. etc. We decided to veer from the lazy snake know as the five.
After a few miles I began to notice all these icons on the map, after asking what was probably an obvious question, it was clear that we were not alone. The little smiling faces looking up at me where actually other "Wazers" as they are called. Not only where we not the only application users traveling that day, they where also looking out for us.
The first icon that came up was of a siren, after clicking on it I was notified of the long arm of the law attempting to damper our fun times.
As we neared the location a window opened allowing me to note whether or not Johnny Law was still hiding out. Fortunately he was not as I believe anything greater than eleven miles per hour over the posted speed limit is a felony in our fine state, scare tactics.
Alas after clicking the "not there" buttom and resuming our quest, we where rewarded with a reappearance of the icon. Only to find an apparent non-Wazer enjoying the company of the tall gentleman in the flat rimmed hat. "Click.....5.0!!"
The entertainment continued with road construction icons, pothole warnings and many more of the big five zeros. Noting these for other interactive Wazers gains you points, the more points the more icons the more options.
The only thing I found it lacking was the ability to track my route, thinking this would come in handy for establishing times on certain roads, however I may be the reason they don't have that option, yet.
I will say that Wazer ninja status is going to happen.
