Four events were on my schedule for Tuesday: take a tour of a winery, eat lunch at the Marin County Civic Center, watch my niece Mackenzie's Kindergarten graduation, and arrive between 5-6 p.m. at the Poolers' house (about 60 miles east of San Francisco). I started from Ukiah, California and enlisted the help of my Garmin GPS to arrive at the Rutherford Hill Winery (seeing views of Napa Valley that were equal in sublimity to those of the forest drive from yesterday), making it in time for the 11:30 tour. This winery, now run by the Terlato family but at one time owned by Pillsbury, uses a system of machine-built caves tunneling deep into the hillside to store oak casks of wine, which must be topped off from time to time because 15% of the wine evaporates in a year and air left in the resulting space could negatively affect the taste. From the winery, the Garmin got me to San Rafael's Marin County Civic Center by 1:30. This is one of Frank LLoyd Wright's buildings that is still being used for its intended purpose. Unfortunately, my GPS was not capable of helping me to find a parking space quickly. After several minutes, I pulled into a 30-minute one and went up to the cafeteria on the top floor where I was able to eat my Reuben sandwich at a patio table by a fountain, while looking off in the distance at the Bay area...as well as about 15 ft. away at a couple being married by, I presume, a JP. Hustling within a half-hour back down to my SUV, I reprogrammed the GPS for a Panera restaurant in the Oakland suburb of Dublin because it would have free Wi-Fi where I could watch the live-stream of Mackenzie's graduation. However, I didn't choose to follow its directions precisely because I wanted to cross the Golden Gate Bridge. This, by the way, cost $6--the same as the drive-through tree attraction would have cost. Once in downtown San Francisco, I tried to follow the recalculated directions as best I could. At one point, the computer tells me to turn right on one street, then--before I do--says to turn onto a a different street--and then another different street--then, says, "Find the nearest road." Before I had to turn, the instructions went back to the original, and it worked to get me heading in the direction I needed to be going. But, it can't predict traffic, and I realized that, even though, by its calculations, I should arrive at Dublin in time for the ceremony to start, I was never going to make it. I had to get off the expressway and find another Wi-Fi location. Peet's Coffee offered an hour's worth of Internet usage with a purchase, so I ordered an iced tea and started up my Mac to discover that I needed a code. Went back to the cashier, got the code. Pulled up the school's Website, looked and saw announcements about the Kindergarten graduation but no link for the live feed. I tried clicking on many of the links, including one for the church associated with the school, but didn't see any way that I was going to be able to view the ceremony and figured the school just hadn't been able to get the feed set up. However, on one announcement, there was an alternate Website given, so I tried it, and it turned out to be the church Website I had seen--but this time, I noticed a link for the live feed. Immediately after clicking on it, up pops a window displaying the graduation. Kindergarteners in white robes were having their names called and walking across a stage to get their diplomas. I heard a last name that preceded "W," and I was so glad I hadn't missed Mackenzie. Then I realized they weren't following alphabetical order, and the procession ended after a few more kids walked across the stage, none of whom were my niece. But, a great thing about this graduation is that it didn't merely consist of graduates walking across a stage and a speech. The students performed songs, and there was a slideshow, too, and I was still able to see Mackenzie multiple times during the remainder of the program. When it was over, I closed the browser and my Mac, got in my SUV, and started typing in the address for the Poolers. Their city did not seem to exist according to my GPS. Come to find out, at the time my Garmin was bought, it probably didn't exist since the community is only four years old. Oh well, I thought, I'll just drive close to Peet's and open my browser again and use a map program. Too bad...because I had closed my connection, I wouldn't be able to access the Internet again without a new access code. I did the "old fashioned" thing and called my friend Chris for help with directions, and after a couple more phone calls, I eventually arrived at his house for dinner with him and his family.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Wonders and Limits of Technology
Four events were on my schedule for Tuesday: take a tour of a winery, eat lunch at the Marin County Civic Center, watch my niece Mackenzie's Kindergarten graduation, and arrive between 5-6 p.m. at the Poolers' house (about 60 miles east of San Francisco). I started from Ukiah, California and enlisted the help of my Garmin GPS to arrive at the Rutherford Hill Winery (seeing views of Napa Valley that were equal in sublimity to those of the forest drive from yesterday), making it in time for the 11:30 tour. This winery, now run by the Terlato family but at one time owned by Pillsbury, uses a system of machine-built caves tunneling deep into the hillside to store oak casks of wine, which must be topped off from time to time because 15% of the wine evaporates in a year and air left in the resulting space could negatively affect the taste. From the winery, the Garmin got me to San Rafael's Marin County Civic Center by 1:30. This is one of Frank LLoyd Wright's buildings that is still being used for its intended purpose. Unfortunately, my GPS was not capable of helping me to find a parking space quickly. After several minutes, I pulled into a 30-minute one and went up to the cafeteria on the top floor where I was able to eat my Reuben sandwich at a patio table by a fountain, while looking off in the distance at the Bay area...as well as about 15 ft. away at a couple being married by, I presume, a JP. Hustling within a half-hour back down to my SUV, I reprogrammed the GPS for a Panera restaurant in the Oakland suburb of Dublin because it would have free Wi-Fi where I could watch the live-stream of Mackenzie's graduation. However, I didn't choose to follow its directions precisely because I wanted to cross the Golden Gate Bridge. This, by the way, cost $6--the same as the drive-through tree attraction would have cost. Once in downtown San Francisco, I tried to follow the recalculated directions as best I could. At one point, the computer tells me to turn right on one street, then--before I do--says to turn onto a a different street--and then another different street--then, says, "Find the nearest road." Before I had to turn, the instructions went back to the original, and it worked to get me heading in the direction I needed to be going. But, it can't predict traffic, and I realized that, even though, by its calculations, I should arrive at Dublin in time for the ceremony to start, I was never going to make it. I had to get off the expressway and find another Wi-Fi location. Peet's Coffee offered an hour's worth of Internet usage with a purchase, so I ordered an iced tea and started up my Mac to discover that I needed a code. Went back to the cashier, got the code. Pulled up the school's Website, looked and saw announcements about the Kindergarten graduation but no link for the live feed. I tried clicking on many of the links, including one for the church associated with the school, but didn't see any way that I was going to be able to view the ceremony and figured the school just hadn't been able to get the feed set up. However, on one announcement, there was an alternate Website given, so I tried it, and it turned out to be the church Website I had seen--but this time, I noticed a link for the live feed. Immediately after clicking on it, up pops a window displaying the graduation. Kindergarteners in white robes were having their names called and walking across a stage to get their diplomas. I heard a last name that preceded "W," and I was so glad I hadn't missed Mackenzie. Then I realized they weren't following alphabetical order, and the procession ended after a few more kids walked across the stage, none of whom were my niece. But, a great thing about this graduation is that it didn't merely consist of graduates walking across a stage and a speech. The students performed songs, and there was a slideshow, too, and I was still able to see Mackenzie multiple times during the remainder of the program. When it was over, I closed the browser and my Mac, got in my SUV, and started typing in the address for the Poolers. Their city did not seem to exist according to my GPS. Come to find out, at the time my Garmin was bought, it probably didn't exist since the community is only four years old. Oh well, I thought, I'll just drive close to Peet's and open my browser again and use a map program. Too bad...because I had closed my connection, I wouldn't be able to access the Internet again without a new access code. I did the "old fashioned" thing and called my friend Chris for help with directions, and after a couple more phone calls, I eventually arrived at his house for dinner with him and his family.
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Wow! What a day, Zac! I'm VERY impressed that you were able to find that link for the live feed of graduation. The website I was given was not the right one, as you figured out. SO sorry about that. The live feed was from the church's website instead of the school's website. I'm shocked that you figured that out as I did not even give you the church's website. Impressive, Zac! I'm glad you got to see the program. I will tell Mackenzie. She will be delighted! We love you and are glad you're enjoying your trip.
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