For those of you who know my family, you know there were four members: myself, Natalie, Lenny and the recently deceased, Sheila. Sheila was my Windows Mobile Pocket PC Navman PiN 100 GPS device. She got us from place to place without fail and frequently was a source of entertainment to my wife and myself. As Natalie puts it, “Sheila saved our marriage.” No longer do we fight over directions and argue over which way to turn. My sense of direction is awful, but with Sheila, I had the confidence to get anywhere…
Yesterday, on Thanksgiving, I discovered a huge crack across her lovely touch-screen. Somehow, even in her protective leather case, she received a crack that now renders her unusable. I can’t even tap in the security code to perform a memory card backup.
Frequently, I feel like it’s a good thing when electronics die because it gives me an excuse to buy new ones… but not Sheila. She was special. I bought her on an anline clearance… She got me from place to place, played some of my favorite movies and songs, played special proprietary programs that I had developed for her and even knew the sound of my voice-commands…
I figured that with all the “Black Friday” sales this morning, I’d force myself to go out and fight the crowds to get a new GPS device since Meijer had them on sale for $99. I now have a new Magellan device on my dash and intend to go to a Verizon store to get a smartphone to replace my Pocket PC, now that our contract is done with Alltel. …but it won’t be the same. Nothing can replace Sheila.