Thursday, March 05, 2009

Lubbock and Dallas

So. Okay. I'm buying a @#$%ing GPS.

Driving and trying to read directions off a printout from Google Maps in the middle of Texas, twenty miles from anything resembling a landmark just sucks. Especially once it gets dark.

Today I drove from Dallas to Lubbock, using the directions provided me by my faithful admin. I knew I was kind of screwed when the directions took me in this weird partial loop around part of Dallas, and I drove back past my hotel fifteen minutes later.

I'll be doing a lot of driving for this job, so from now on, I will have a polite lady's voice telling me where to go.

I didn't see much of the Llano Estacado or whatever driving in as the sun dipped around 7:00ish, and I arrived about 9:10. So, Wow, Lubbock. Nice, terrifying dark roads you got going on out here.

SMU's campus is very nice, btw.

Tomorrow is Tech.

I had a dinner at the bar where I made the bartender tell me her life story. The BBQ was okay, but very salty. Still, for getting a BBQ plate at 9"30 at night, it was okay.

Dallas Radio

So Driving around Dallas I was having trouble finding rock or classic rock on the radio, but I did find a number of religious stations and a metric-ton of Tejano. It was kind of an interesting juxtaposition of listening to Sarah Vowell's discussion of our forefathers, Puritanism, etc... and then listening to the confluence of religion and politics on the radio, and how political issues aren't actually up for debate. The debate has been settled by an interpretation of the Word of God as channeled from the chosen radio DJ.

It's not exactly news that the endgame here isn't entirely different from how law was decreed and interpreted by the separatists and Puritans who fled England to set up shop far from the Papists and not-as-pure-as-themselves Englanders. Its still a fairly crude set-up of abject paranoia and ego manifested as decrying anyone not onboard with your viewpoint as sent from the devil (let alone finding a flock that will buy into your line). And seeking to rule based upon God's authority (ie: your authority, because only you have the "correct" interpretation of scripture, current events, etc...).

It's just kind of kooky to listen for a while and hear the repeated insistence that there's a conspiracy to silence Christians, how many people aren't really Christians (ie: do not listen to this radio show), and how Obama's spending versus Bush's equally reckless spending (if we want to talk deficit numbers) is somehow a sign of the end times. Oh, yes. The end times. Everything is a sign that the end times are drawing nigh.

Bear in mind, I only listened to this for under an hour and heard these messages repeated over and over. This is on every single day, all day.

Anyhow, having had my earful of people calling in to talk about how nobody else is as Christian as the caller and DJ are, I tuned around until I found some classic rock.

On my way out of Dallas, I was listening to ACDC's "Back in Black". I don't particularly care for ACDC, but they'll do in a pinch. And the DJ came back on the air to announce, "You know what's black but won't be back? Terrell Owens."

Well, yes, technically, TO is African American/ black, and he was just released from the Cowboys' roster (setting them back $9 million). But, still... wow. I don't even know what's specifically wrong with that, but I think there's plenty there to work with.


Something else

Here's something new: My pals in Seattle, The My and Bryan have put together yet another musical act. Here's a link to a sampling. Behold, its the dawning of Jupe Jupe.

So where the hell is your latest, T-Jeff?

10 comments:

Michael Corley said...

You're going to be doing a lot of driving for your new job? Ah brother, you have joined us.

May I reccomend...

Audio Books. You can get them free at the library (they're freaking expensive) and burn them to your computer and thus to your ipod type device of choice. They will save your sanity.

Sirius Radio. I don't know if I can reccomend this since I keep hearing rumors of them going under, but it's awesome. And you don't have to listen to wacky religious types because there is nothing else available.

If you're going to be in Lubbock let me know. I'll try to swing my schedule to concide with yours. I go through there once a month.

The League said...

As I mentioned, I did the audiobook of Sarah Vowell's "The Wordy Shipmates" between Austin and Dallas and Dallas and lubbock. And, yeah, I totally recommend it. Its' working great.

I'm keeping my eye on Sirius. I almost did it a while back, and my car might be ready to do it if I just sign up. We'll see.

I'll also keep you posted on future Lubbock trips. I'll be back!

J.S. said...

I still can't believe they didn't give Jamie a GPS when she worked at Garmin (or sold her one for very cheap). When you've got employees working on helping to develop a product, it's just good policy to try to put the product into their hands so that they can play with it and better understand how people use it.

mcsteans said...

A) Dude, I was constantly teased for not knowing how to use the devices.

B) In my defense (and agreed, it is a weak one), our office did not actually make or program the devices, we made the PC software you could use to enhance your GPS experience. Most of the time I was working with the running wristband GPS which I was constantly taking home with me and monkeying with. I even strapped it to Mel once and let him loose at the park. Good times.

C) I kind of hated the car devices (see A). I did borrow one a few times and never went the route it suggested.

D) I could have gotten a discount, yes, but it was miniscule and at the time those things were not cheap. Also - see A and C.

E) Notice I quit.

NTT said...

GPS devices are so cheap now. Look on Newegg.com or Tigerdirect.com. They consistently have prices $30-$50 below avg. retail at Best Buy.

I would recommend the Garman Nuvi over Tom Tom.

Anonymous said...

I haven't been impressed with the audio fidelity of satellite radio. It may be okay for talk, but the music sounded kind of "swishy."

Ryan, I shall send you an "NPR Map" so that you'll know the nearest public radio station to any town you're in.

The League said...

I wound up with a Garmin. It worked great. Deeply satisfied as my primary concern was ease of use and relieving my anxiety while driving.

Anonymous said...

>So where the hell is your latest, >T-Jeff?

Sometime this year. Finished the artwork already.

Also, looking forward to seeing the Jupejupe live and in person.

The League said...

When you're ready for a public release, let me know so I can do some promotion here

Anonymous said...

awesome