Maggie, Barack, and Me

...and my co-pilot, of course.  We took a 4-day roadtrip down to SoCal recently with our newly-adopted Magellan GPS, the Roadmate 1412 (a.k.a. "Maggie"); and the Senator from Illinois, who accompanied us via dramatic recorded reading of his book, The Audacity of Hope on CD (see excerpt). The four of us turned out to be quite compatible traveling companions.

Truth be told, Maggie got the cold shoulder from me when she first joined us.  I pride myself in having a better sense of direction than most and often claimed the role of chief navigator among my friends after I left the nest of my wise Mother who groomed and mentored this course-plotting grasshopper.  So when Maggie entered my travel world, I felt threatened.  And with good reason, as her confident commands and forecasting of upcoming streets endeavored to usurp my powers and render my map-rustling directions obsolete.  But she is slowly proving herself worthy of my respect.  I'm learning to swallow my pride each time she detours us away from traffic jams and covers for me when I've misplaced a map.  Granted, we're no BFFs, but I'm appreciating her more these days.

As for Mr. Obama, he certainly knows how to captivate this audience,...though perhaps not enough to prevent occasional snoozes when he launches into excessive detail.  Anyway, I need to finish the remaining 1/3 of his inspiring narrative by its library due date on Friday.  Then, onwards to Faith of My Fathers by his presidential opponent John McCain.  As I've always believed and Barack clearly articulates, "No one is exempt from the call to find common ground."