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DEL.ICIO.USI’ve been lost, then I was found
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I hope you never find yourself in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the night, somewhere in Beijing, with a cab driver who has no idea where he is going.
Trust me. I have been there. It is no fun.
On one of my final nights in China, I finished up late, far from the media village where I was staying. I could not hail a cab to save my life, but found a subway station and took it to the main station, figuring there would be plenty of cabs there and that someone could take me home.
Right on No. 1. Wrong on No. 2.
Maybe it was end-of-Olympics fatigue setting in but none of the cabbies seemed interested in my business. Finally, after some negotiation using my very limited Chinese vocabulary, and an agreed-upon-in-advance payment, I persuaded someone to take me.
Since it was very late after another 18-hour day I figured it would be alright to doze as my reluctant driver drove.
Wrong again.
When I woke up we were in a residential neighborhood, and the driver had clearly had enough. He stopped the cab. More negotiation. Nothing doing this time. Mercifully another cab driver showed up and finally got me to my destination.
Whew!
The very next day, by very happy coincidence, I took a Samsung Blackjack II phone out for a test drive. Samsung was a major Olympic sponsor, with a pavilion in prime real estate on the Olympic Green; Atlanta-based AT&T officials arranged a media tryout of the device.
It retails for $99, after mail-in rebate and discount for signing a two-year contract, according to the AT&T Wireless site
Sleek and lightweight, it came equipped with speedy Internet access and - glory be - a GPS navigator programmed with the streets of Beijing. The night after my impromptu moonlight tour of lesser-known Beijing, I found myself once in again in a cab with a driver who seemed a little puzzled as to where we were going.
It was different this time. Blackjack to the rescue.
The driver is a bit lost, but the Blackjack has the answers.
Because of the speed of the Internet connection, I was able to look up the restaurant where the party I was attending was being held, and quickly got help getting there.
Directions are spoken in English, or else I would have just handed the device over. I sat in the back seat and motioned to the driver before each turn.
(I wonder if a future model will offer directions spoken in Chinese?)
The Blackjack II and I team up as back seat driver. Luckily one of us knew where we were going
The Blackjack II is equipped with Windows Mobile. You can listen to music, watch videos or take pictures with it, answer e-mail, check your calendar, work puzzles and play games. (I suppose you could also make a phone call).
I should note, by the way, that I am no techno-expert, and do not usually review gadgets as part of my job. I was simply a reporter in a foreign place with a tendency to get lost a lot. (In other words, probably representative of the target audience for a GPS-equipped phone).
Knock-knock-knockin’ on the Temple of Heaven’s door, I was about to be lost, and then found
Its display screen is sized at almost two and a half inches - which came in handy on my next-to-last day in Beijing. I visited the Temple of Heaven, the early 1400s era complex of Taoist buildings, surrounded partially by wooded grounds.
Could the Blackjack help me on foot? I decided to give it a try, and got purposely lost in the trees. This time, I simply asked the device to spot my location and produce a map. It’s almost creepy how fast it found me.
Within a few minutes, I was out of the woods and on my way.
Alright Blackjack, get me out of here
I had hoped to be able to test out the device here at home before returning it to AT&T, to assess whether the routes it prescribes are the shortest and most efficient. But like many liaisons abroad, my fling with the Blackjack came to a sudden halt.
I’m hesitant to allege someone boosted it during my 23-hour journey home, since that wouldn’t be in keeping with the Olympic spirit of international goodwill. So I’ll just say that when I finally made it back to Atlanta, the Blackjack was nowhere to be found.
But we’ll always have Beijing.
Come back, Blackjack, come back
Ky Tanner entertains the crowds outside the Bird’s Nest.
Rather than take the 20 mph press bus back from women’s modern pentathlon tonight I decided to walk through the Olympic Green.
The crowds were streaming out, but there was still plenty of action as spectators lined up, camera in hand, to see if this nutty guy draped in an American flag and wearing a star-spangled hat would pose for pictures with them.
Ky Tanner, who lives here with wife Bev, was happy to oblige.
“He’s getting more attention than a middle-aged guy should be allowed,” joked pal Mark Dick, who lives here with wife Stacye. “If he keeps this up we’ll be here till 4 in the morning.”
The guys both work for oil companies and the two couples have been looking forward to the influx of global visitors.
“Mark and I have gone to two or three events a day,” said Stacye, whose brother lives in Dalton.
Between attending events and attracting fans with Ky’s festive get-up (complete with a pin from the Atlanta Games, which someone traded him), the Dicks and Tanners are determined to wring as much fun out of these Games as they can.
“We are going to be so depressed next week when this is over,” Bev said.
How about you? Are you sad to see the Olympics end?
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By Danielle Banks
August 28, 2008 2:29 PM | Link to this
Salsa for Dimes, in its 9th year will be Sunday, September 7 5pm-9pm @ the one and only Nuevo Laredo Cantina. Tickets are $75.
Let me know if you would like additional information.