Tuesday, November 11, 2008

ELEVEN ELEVEN

Yesterday I ran several errands with the aid of my new iPhone. I had to visit point A and then travel to points B and C. Uncertain of the exact locations of B and C I used my new toy to map a route through the entire metropolitan area to guide me through my day. I took screen shots of the maps and saved them in my photo roll for easy access.

Leaving point A, I picked up my iPhone and, smiling confidently, hit a button that would show me map routes and addresses. Instead it showed me a white screen and made a noise like gerbils having carnal knowledge.

"Er?" I grunted.

Still showing white. Now silent. Gerbil lust apparently spent.

"Whuh?" I grunted. I shook phone. No response. I tried to reboot. Pressing the power button did nothing.

Fortunately I hadn't really needed the map to find point B, though I had spent the forty minutes mapping out routes using the iPhone's features, well, because I could. So I found point B by just driving there using only my brain all by itself. Cursing, though, the whole way, because now how was I going to find point D, an Apple store to fix the thing, when I didn't have an iPhone to tell me where one was and how to get there.

Point C, the Secretary of State office, likewise was problematic since I had no idea where it was and couldn't recall the map instructions. I checked the iPhone again.

It was now functioning perfectly, smiling at me and wagging it's tail like a puppy that's just crapped on the rug. Little bastard. But thank God.

So I followed the map's explicit instructions across town, turning here, avoiding traffic there, and my iPhone led me precisely to where the Secretary of State's office wasn't.

Never had been. I asked a lady.

"Nope," she said. Nothing like that 'round here."

"it should be," I said, studying the map I had spent all morning making, "right... about... where you are standing."

"This is a church," she said.

"Yes," I said. "I see a steeple."

"Welp. Good luck."

"Yes. Thank you."

I did not make it to the Secretary of State's office yesterday. Today, I looked up the location of one near me using The Yellow Pages. I arrived to find that this one actually existed in MY time/space continuum.

But it was closed for Veterans Day.

1 comments:

juliet said...

I think you have another song in the making: Gerbil Lust.