What is that man doing at midnight in the back yard?

Submitted by Adam on September 14, 2006 - 12:17am.

Riding Shotgun with Adam

I don't often accept trades as pay for my services, but one of my clients that I have had for a very long time offered me a nice GPS device as a trade for a couple of appointments.

I have wanted a GPS system for quite a while and this one is perfect for my needs.

After teaching computer classes for the Parks and Rec. departments all day, I finally returned home around 9pm. Although I knew I still had a list of things to accomplish before bed, I had to play with my new toy before my mind could think about anything else.

I visited the Garmin website and learned all about the device then I reset it to remove all of the previous owner's information.

Finally I was ready to calibrate it and get it ready for use. The instructions said to turn it on and point it at the open sky the first time you use it.

There are two big trees obstructing the view in my back yard, but I tried anyway. I turned on the device and held it over my head (it was approximately 10:30 when I started this). The accuracy was only within about 50 feet. The instructions say it should be about 25 feet.

I reset the device again and moved to the most open area in my back yard. Holding the device high above my head I stood for about five minutes waiting for it to track all of the satellites. When the tracking was complete, it still said that the accuracy was over 50 feet.

My house is very close to the Catholic church and the church has a very large open parking lot. So, I came in the house, put on my shoes and then headed over for the church parking lot.

There I stood in the middle of the church parking lot at 11:15pm holding my hands high above my head, pointing my GPS at the stars. I felt silly, but my accuracy reached 24 feet.

I don't know if my neighbors were up and looking at the guy in his pajamas standing in the church parking lot pointing his "whatever that thing is" up at the night sky, but if they did, I am trying to think of something cool about alien communication or using my prayer device to beam messages to God from the Catholic hot spot.

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