My Hero

The icing on this crazy-work-travel-week cake was that I had to drive to Annapolis today in order to attend a meeting where I had to present in front of a room full of people. Ok, so that is not THAT unusual (it’s part of my job description) but after coming off of three days of travel it kind of sucked. Not to mention that the weather is absolutely horrible today. (Rain, rain, go away indeed!)

My day was this close to getting much worse when my gas light came on during the drive home. Now, I had noticed that I was a little low on my way to Annapolis this morning but by the time I got to my car to leave I was wet, hungry and anxious to get the heck outta there so I didn’t pay attention to just how low things were getting.  By the time I realized what was happening, I knew I needed to take the next exit and find a gas station pronto. Unfortunately, once I exited the highway I realized that I happened to be in the middle of nowhere.  After driving around for a few minutes (which seemed much longer) I could feel the panic starting to take hold. What if I can’t find a gas station? What does running out of gas feel like? It’s going to be really embarrassing when I have to call Jason at work ask him what I should do….

Suddenly a light bulb went off- my phone! Thanks to Jason (who absolutely would not purchase a new phone or get a new phone plan this fall until the Motorola Droid came out), I have a super awesome smart phone with GPS capabilities and everything (my friend Stephanie has also chronicled the wonders of the Droid on her blog—check it out). Surely it would help me find a gas station. And it did thanks to an awesome Google app—Places Directory (also recommended to me by Jason)—that allows you to search for local establishments and attractions including restaurants, bars, banks, hotels, and (wait for it…..) GAS STATIONS! With a push of a (touch-screen) button my hero, the Droid found a gas station a mere 2 miles away and even provided me with turn-by-turn directions to get there. Who knows...if it hadn't been for my Droid, I might still be sitting on the side of the road in Maryland somewhere!