Magellan Maestro 3200 Portable GPS

Maps are becoming a thing of the past with the recent upgrade to a GPS, or Global Positioning System. GPS's are the easiest and fastest way to get from point A to point B.When they first came out most GPS devices were slow and unresponsive. Nowadays, everybody is moving so fast that only the quickest GPS will cut it.

Magellan is one of the better known GPS makers on the market today. They offer a quality product that offers good speed and uo-to-date information. The Magellan Maestro 3200 lives up to the Magellan name with ease.

The Maestro sports SiRFstar III technology with an integrated antenna which allows for quick position acquisition. It also has 3.5" QVGA color touch-screen display with an easy-to-use interface and backlighting that makes it easy to see and use. No longer will you be confused with a tricky interface because the Maestro offers an intuitive interface for clear usage. A QuickSpell system intelligently searches and checks spelling when you enter adresses to help you find where you need to go. If you have ever gone somewhere and been stopped by heavy traffic or a construction detour then you know how frustrating it is, especially when you have to back track and start over. Well the Maestro offers SmartDetor which prompts you around heavy or stopped freeway traffic.The interface also allows you to search by address, intersection, or any of up to 1.3 million points of interest. There are also a variety of different ways in which you can view the display. Choose from TrueView, a pop-up view of an upcoming turn, Map view for a 3-D bird's eye view of the map, or just a standard map view. The Maestro also has a night view which automatically adjusts brightness based on time of day. It also has a built-in rechargeable battery which provides up to 3 hours of battery life and also recharges while you drive. And finnally, the Maestro omes with a windshield mount, adhesive disc for dashboard mount, a basic cradel, and a DC power adaptor with software CD-ROM.

Needless to say this GPS looks to be top-of-the-line. It offers clear dorections and an easy-to-use interface which makes traveling easy and fast. The Magellan Maestro 3200 Protable GPS will run you around $95 which is a fair price in the expensive line of GPS devices today.

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Naples, Florida

Just a few weeks ago was my first trip going to Florida where I was going to be doing a lot of the driving. For many people they would rather just sit in the car and relax but for me it is different. I like to be the one in control and to know exactly where I am at and where I am going. Out of the 17 hours that it took to get down to Naples, Florida I drove 14.

We left around 2 p.m. on a Monday afternoon and arrived at my grandparents the following morning around 6:30 a.m. It was long drive going straight through. We were trying to get there as soon as possible. So we made only short stops and to get gas go to the bathroom and back on the road. Out of the whole drive down we made only four stops. It was very worth it once we got there for all the driving we had done.

We would be there about a week. It had been cloudy and rainy in Naples the week before but it was going to be in the 80’s all week which made it very nice and perfect weather. The ocean was still a little chilly at only 60 degrees so it was a little cold to actually get all the way in.

Where my grandparents live you have to be at least 55 to own a house. At times I felt a little out of place being so young. The people there are some of the friendliest people I have ever met though. Between the meeting hall where they hold bingo tournaments and have many dinners set up and the pool outside with the shuffle board tournaments going on it was a very good trip.

It is very different driving down the road seeing palm trees everywhere. I would love to be able to have a palm tree in my front yard. Also the chances of a hurricane hitting and taking everything away there are many people that live down there that have another home in another state and only spend the winter months down in Florida.

The drive home was a little more relaxed. It took a couple more hours than it did for us to get down there to get home. When you leave Naples it takes at least 6 ½ hours to get out of Florida and into Georgia. We ended up stopping and staying the night right before Atlanta, Georgia on the way home which made it a lot easier of a drive.

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Traveling By Air... not this time

I don't mind driving, I actually enjoy it. Every family vacation I'm the designated driver and we usually take my Expedition so that the whole family (Me, my wife, our daughter, and my mother and father) has room to relax and we have plenty of space for luggage and a cooler. It really makes the trip pleasant.... for awhile.

The problem is when we start talking about 12+ hours in the car. My 2 year old daughter does well as long as she is entertained, but 12 hours is a lot for a little one. So, when we decided we'd be making a trip to Cape Corel, Florida this year I jumped online to find airline tickets. We were flexible on dates so I was able to find round trip air fares anywhere from $380 a person, to as low as $160 a person. This excited me, until I did the math... $160 times 5 people (we need a separate seat for my daughter now...)... is still $800. Which isn't bad except when we land: we need a car. A 10 day rental on a decent sized vehicle (which we need to hold all of our luggage), is another $500 or more. That brings the total for the trip to $1,300. That's also assuming we can get each person to only pack 1 suitcase... which is doubtful. Assuming we need 2 or 3 extra pieces of luggage on the plane, that's an extra $100 or so. We're now at $1,400 at least.

So next, I looked into driving. From Middletown, Ohio to Cape Coral, Florida is around 1,100 miles. Assuming gas is at $2.50 a gallon and my truck drinks it at a rate of a gallon every 14 miles... it will cost $392 in gas, round trip. That's $1,000 less than flying. Even considering any incidentals like more stops for meals, etc, we'd still save a fortune.

So... in this rough economy... how can I really justify spending $1,000 more on a trip than I have to? I can't. And that is why this year we will be driving to Florida and using our savings to enjoy activities that we otherwise might not have done.

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Vegas Vacation

Two weeks ago on Nov. 14th two friends of mine, my fiancé, and I decided to take a trip to Las Vegas, Nevada, also known as Sin City. We flew out from the Indianapolis Airport via AirTran and took a direct flight, which was great to avoid layover times and the hassle of changing planes. A week prior to the trip I had an occurrence at work where a customer of mine was interesting in renting a projector which would connect to their Microsoft Surface. When I initially received this request I was a bit confused as to what exactly a “Microsoft Surface” was until I did a bit of research. It turns out that several hotels in Vegas use the Microsoft Surface and I decided then that I would have two missions while on my trip. One being to win tons of money, and the second was to find an actual Microsoft Surface. On one of my outings I found a little boy playing with a projected image on the ground and once I got a bit closer I realized he was trying to catch a fish. Once he touched the “fish” they would scatter and the “water” would splash all around him. He was playing with a virtual fish tank and he was interacting with it by using a Microsoft Surface. This was seriously one of the coolest things I had seen on my trip and would highly recommend this product to anyone going to a tradeshow or convention that would like to catch people’s eyes.

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