Geekery on the road

I have a GPS mounted on my trusty mountain bike (also known as my leg leg whacker upper) and I do find it quite handy. Really – I can tell how fast I’m going, how far I have gone and how long it took me to do it, which are important things to know if you’re serious about completing a triathlon in decent time. I also get a moving map that shows where I am, which is very handy as I still don’t know the local streets that well. You have to understand that local here means within a hundred kilometers.

Anyhow – while I have figured out how to get between Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal, I’m really boned when it comes to driving around trying to find something within the area, such as Rockland in Ottawa or KItchener (somewhere sort of to the west of Toronro).

To my rescue comes the miracle of modern driving, the car GPS.

This little device is loaded with maps and software that allow me select a destination and then be shown a series of possible ways to get there – fastest, shortest, back roads or scenic. Gas stations and pee breaks are shown, as are shopping, parks and other cool things.

Turn by turn directions delivered by my choice of robotic voice as an accurate yet somewhat childish cartoon type map changes to show what’s ahead of me. “Turn left onto highway 416 in one kilometer”. Cool.

There’s quite a choice of GPS models so I take what you might consider to be the easy way out and purchase them all¹. Now the window is all pimped out with GPS units of different sizes and shapes but I am no longer afraid to venture to a small town or obscure location. Beware motorists – Carly can get there but she can’t see over the GPS units, they draw so much current that the windshield wipers are feeble at best and the headlights are barely visible.

Oh well, at least I’m cool.

My name is Carly. I’m a geek.

[1] Look -  you’d ask for a second opinion if a doctor told you that your left antler was articulated – right? Besides, a vehicle is an extension of the purse which often holds lipstick and most of us have at least 6 colours of lipstick. Simple…

Alone

This is the first night that I have spent alone in the house – I’ve been alone before by nature of work and by choice but not here in a house that feels so alien with just the cat and I.

I don’t like it one bit.

I especially don’t like it as it gives me way too much time to reflect on how alone I feel in terms of health care, both mental and physical. That sucks, the feeling that nobody understands, nobody cares, that I’m just one more burden of a system that is stretched to the breaking point. Here’s some news for you doc – so are some of your patients.

So it’s the kitty and Carly tonight – the kitty is quite content to laze about and occasionally dash about the house, roaring upstairs to complete some mission that only a cat can appreciate.

I could go downtown and watch a movie – there’s plenty playing that I’d like to see bit I’d still be alone abeit in a room full of people. A room full of people that came with someone else, gee, that’s a cheerful thought.

A bit of Discovery Channel, another beer and then pop a few too many sleeping pills to help me drift off into a disturbed sleep that will leave me exhausted. Self dosage of prescription medication is not a smart thing to do – I know better yet here I am needing more and more to get me to sleep, more and more to keep me going in throughout the day.

I understand what you went through now – I’m sorry for not being more understanding, more supportive, less judgemental. It’s not just the pills…

Wake up in the morning, shower, drag my ass up to see a shrink about my current pill popping activities that are endangering my liver – lectures be damned, I need a magic bullet at this point to help me break free of this cycle from hell.

Is this some kind of cruel metamorphosis? A sick form of punishment?

I don’t know. At least I’m learning not to judge, or at least to be compassionate when I judge.

Anyhow.