Gadgetespair!

This post can be thought of as a homage to the familiar rant on how we have become a slave to technology and all that! The cell phones, the GPS and what not! I am a self confessed addict to all the above.

Today, we are faced with a fresh question! We have been thrown into a world where we have to choose! Choose between the Iphone and the Google Android! My first impulse was very predictable! Resistance! But I am fighting a losing war! The despair led me to conduct an experiment! What if instead of going with the flow and getting myself a T Mobile G1 (I have already decided that the day I succumb to this, it is going to have to be either the G1 or one of its successors), I took a step backward and got rid of my cell phone altogether?

That was slightly drastic! So step 1 was to keep my phone switched off. I sent an email out to all people who may have a tendency to call me at times and informed them that the best way to get in touch with me is email. Although, I would also periodically check my messages and voicemail!

Today is day 5 of that resolution! To say the least, it is not working out for me at all! For multiple reasons:

1) I spent more time waiting for my phone to switch on and off (every 2 or 3 hours) to check if I had any new voicemail. I got two new voicemail messages in the five days since I started the experiment.

2) Coordinating schedules with people has become almost impossible without the cell phones. I know people used to do it before we had cell phones. But just because one person was adamant enough to not want to use his, doesn't give him an excuse to inconvenience others.

3) It seems like a very selfish thing to do because you can call people whenever YOU want but people can't talk to you whenever THEY want! Ultimately you risk becoming "dispensable" from being "dependable"! Eventually you are a social outcast!

In the five days I have kept my phone switched off, the frequency of me wanting to check my voicemail has gone down. Considering that my phone still runs low on battery, I am going to continue pretending that I can do without the cell phone.......

Speeding Tickets and Instant Karma!

To most people I know the title of the post would be self explanatory! Yes indeed! I was recently caught for speeding. I went on one of those oft repeated trips to New Jersey this past weekend for my 6 year old cousin's birthday celebration. I was forewarned by my friend Wojciech about the impending accelerated traffic police activity on highways this weekend considering it was the last one in the month!

My uncle's place in New Jersey is about 180 miles from where I am. Optimizing for traffic and arrival time at NJ over the years, I have converged to a departure time of 7 pm. Being used to my usual schedule, my aunt called me at 8 that eventful night to find out that I hadn't left still. I was still in Rockville which added another 30 minutes to the total travel time! So optimistically speaking, I would be in NJ at 11.30. I told my aunt that I JUST left and will be there by 11.

On my way out, I realized that I had forgotten to take the Harry Potter book that I promised to bring for my cousin. This meant another detour and a stop at home. AND I had to stop for gas! There went another 20 minutes I am not getting back! Now I was looking at an arrival time of 11.50. DAMN!

Anyway I left from home at 8.45 and rushed out! At about 10.15, I realized that I might be able to make it to my uncle's place in a record two and a half hours!!! Then I just had to tell my aunt I was stuck in traffic for 15 minutes! Thats fairly believable. Wow! My speedometer automatically started recording some of the best speeds my car had seen. About 20 minutes later I saw flashing lights on my rear view mirror! This just HAD to happen didn't it :D

Parking on the shoulder, I started frantically looking for my registration in the glove compartment! There was LOADS of crap there! I was thinking to myself "One of these days I need to clean my glove compartment". The cop came to my PASSENGER side window! And I'm wondering why would he do that! What if I didn't have automatic windows? I would have to reach all the way to the other side and try to open the window unbuckling my seat belt in the process. And then, the cop could have ALSO given me a ticket for not having my seat belt on!!!!! Brilliant!

The conversation with the cop went something like this:

Cop: License, Insurance and Registration please.

Me: (Fumbling through a whole lot of documents and an open glove compartment) Here is my license. I am looking for my registration. It is somewhere here! Officer, I realize I was going a little too fast. But I really had to pee!

Cop: You what??

Me: (Still fumbling to find my registration) I really had to pee!

Cop: Oh ok!

(after about 30 seconds)

Cop: Is the car registered in your name?

Me: Yes. I have it here somewhere! Ahh! There it is! (Hand over everything to the cop)

Cop: Alright! I'll see what I can do and we'll get you out of here very soon!

(After about 4 minutes)

Cop: Here's what I did for you. I wrote you a warning for doing 84 mph on a 65 mph zone. There is no fine, no points for this. Other than that I wrote you a ticket for obstruction of view. You are not supposed to have these things hanging from your rearview mirror!

Me: (Grabbing and getting rid of the car freshener and the parking permit hanging down my rear view) Oh ok!

Cop: There are no points for this! You have a small fine!

Me: Alright! I am sorry for this officer!

Cop: Alright drive safe!

On my way out, in an elated state of mine I was thinking, "I just got out of a speeding ticket! The "I have to pee" trick worked! How awesome am I to come up with something so original! I should blog about this!" On resuming my journey, the speedometer needle wouldn't go beyond 65! It was like it was stuck there! I finally reached my uncle's place at 11.30 pm. Thankfully it was only 20 minutes from where I was stopped. (I might have made it in 18 if I wasn't stopped earlier for speeding. Yes! All this trouble was for saving 2 minutes! :D)

Back home, a quick google search revealed that this is a very common ticket and loads of people seem to have got it! There was this entire discussion about whether one should fight this ticket! "Dude! You got let off easy. Just pay it!" That was the majority response and I agreed wholeheartedly with it!

A little bit of thought made me realize what the cop had done! It was the end of the month! The Police department was in need of the much needed revenue and the cop was in need of the much needed appraisal for meeting his "Ticketing targets". He had ensured that the guy he was stopping realized he knew what he was being stopped for! He did NOT give the "traffic violator" guy a "speeding" ticket! The ticket the guy got was not something he would fight because the cop made the guy think "I got let off easy!" The government made the money they wanted to make. Court time was not wasted and most importantly the "offender" left the "scene of the crime" happy! So he eliminated the aura of negative emotions around him! It was Instant Good Karma for him afterall!!!