In 1911 our grandfather came west from Ontario on a "harvester's special". He got off at Fort Walsh, where he found work as a cook and cowboy. We've lived in and loved Alberta ever since. Jewel of the Canadian West is an occasionally updated blog about Southwestern Alberta's people and places. The best corner of the best province in the best country in the world, I like to say. Welcome to The Jewel of The Canadian West!

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

GPS (Guy's Perfect Soulmate?)

It seems that everyone these days drives with their GPS on, whether they need it for directions or not.  We bought one a few years ago, manufactured by Magellan.  We didn't need it much, but the few times we did use it the pleasant female voice telling us where to turn led us eventually to nickname the device "Maggie".  The funny thing is, it seems that a lot of the people I see driving around with their GPS on are male, alone, and don't really look like they're lost.  It makes me wonder if the very fact that they can drive around and listen to a woman's voice is why they have it at all.  If so, I find it a sad commentary on our society that actual back seat drivers have been replaced by electronic ones (although they can be muted with a mere touch on the screen).  My wife, of course, thinks it's because we men are so used to being told what to do by women that we can't function without them anymore.  Anyway, there's some sort of interesting psycho-something going on here.  I guess I'll know I'm in trouble when my wife downloads a male's voice to our machine, and starts going for long drives.  On the other hand, Magellan was a guy after all!  Any of you noticed this trend?