A colleague and I were on a business trip in Chicago this past Thursday and Friday. This past Friday was the coldest day so far this winter in Chicago. We woke to a crisp -10F, I am sure it can get colder but neither my colleague nor I were interested in sticking around to find out. Needless to say we were set on making our 2:40PM flight.
Past trips to this customer leaving for O'Hare at noon was tight but you would make the flight. We had a meeting 10-noon and left promptly at noon. I have been to this customer several times and know the route to/from O'Hare, however I started up Google Navigation on my phone. As we approached I294 to head south toward O'Hare, I realized that Navigation was not directing us to I294. The 'light' in the lower right was red (it's normally green) and Navigation was indicating 30min to destination which was normal. I decided to follow Navigation which took us on side streets all the way to the rental car return at O'Hare.
As we approached the rental car return from the back side, we noticed that the highway was completely stopped, the front entrance into the rental car return was stopped. Police were everywhere blocking traffic. There were also large groups of people holding Chinese flags. We returned the car and asked what was going on. Turns out Chinese President Hu Jintao was on his way back to the airport after a visit. We saw his motorcade drive by within 15 minutes of retruning the rental car and we were on the way to the terminal within 20 minutes.
We made our flight without any issue, in fact there was virtually no line at the security check point. I am not so sure we would have made it if I had ignored Google Navigation. If you have an Android phone, are headed somewhere, are interested in know how long it will take your and want to get there on time it's worth it to fire up Google Navigation. It just may save you from a major traffic headache. This was not the first time Google Navigation has guided me around a major traffic issue however this appears to be the first time it has saved me from missing a flight.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Monday, November 15, 2010
Something to try if Internet Explorer won't surf anymore
Being the geek I am, people assume I am good for technical support and I have to admit that on occasion I have the knack. I don't have a sweet UK Hinglish accent that you get with many technical support interactions. My accent leans more toward a Southern drawl every day. I am hopeful very soon no one will be able to understand me. It may be time to throw some chew into the mix. Anyway, I thought I would share a tech. support call I had this past weekend in the hopes that it may helpful to some and prevent a future call.
Something to try if Internet Explorer won't surf anymore:
First, why are you using Internet Explorer? Why would anyone want to wait for Internet Explorer if they didn't have to?
Sure there are some sites that you just can't get to work with other browsers, but that number is less every day. Life's too short to waste on Internet Explorer. I recommend Chrome or at least FireFox. Oh, you don't want google to know everything about you? News flash from 1998, it's too late.
OK, so let's say you were helping your daughter 'search the internet for information on a school project about saints'. I don't spin in the hip crowd, but apparently this is new code speak for visiting sites you don't want to admit you did. Oh, before I forget some advice shared by the tech. support caller: don't 'search for information on saints' while your daughter is watching. We did two things and it may have been one of two things or both that made the difference.
First item to try although I believe this one is less likely to have resolved the issue:
- Click on Tools --> Internet Options
- Under the General tab, Browsing history, click Delete.
- Un-check 'Preserve favorite web site data' (yes, this will delete any saved data from your 'sites about saints')
- Click Delete (this may take a while)
Second item to try:
- Click on Tools --> Internet Options
- Under the Advanced tab, click Reset (yes this will undo any customization you may have done, but it will also undo the customization your 'sites about saints' have done as well)
Hope this helps someone else...and prevents my phone from ringing...
Something to try if Internet Explorer won't surf anymore:
First, why are you using Internet Explorer? Why would anyone want to wait for Internet Explorer if they didn't have to?
Sure there are some sites that you just can't get to work with other browsers, but that number is less every day. Life's too short to waste on Internet Explorer. I recommend Chrome or at least FireFox. Oh, you don't want google to know everything about you? News flash from 1998, it's too late.
OK, so let's say you were helping your daughter 'search the internet for information on a school project about saints'. I don't spin in the hip crowd, but apparently this is new code speak for visiting sites you don't want to admit you did. Oh, before I forget some advice shared by the tech. support caller: don't 'search for information on saints' while your daughter is watching. We did two things and it may have been one of two things or both that made the difference.
First item to try although I believe this one is less likely to have resolved the issue:
- Click on Tools --> Internet Options
- Under the General tab, Browsing history, click Delete.
- Un-check 'Preserve favorite web site data' (yes, this will delete any saved data from your 'sites about saints')
- Click Delete (this may take a while)
Second item to try:
- Click on Tools --> Internet Options
- Under the Advanced tab, click Reset (yes this will undo any customization you may have done, but it will also undo the customization your 'sites about saints' have done as well)
Hope this helps someone else...and prevents my phone from ringing...
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