Feb 28, 2007 
One of the best things about Google is that they continue to be innovate and add new features to their products. The most recent being traffic monitoring to google maps. Now if you check out the metro Columbus area (or any other major city) on google maps, you can click on the traffic button and it’ll show the speed of traffic throughout the city. A very handy tool if you’re about to head out of work and want to see the best way home. Microsoft’s Live Maps has had this feature for a while, but only in major metropolises like L.A. or New York that I know of.
On a related note, I’ve now twice become the personal GPS service for someone who didn’t know where they were going. Once it was to help Kim find her way home in Boston after getting lost trying to find a Trader Joe’s (we ended up finding the Trader Joe’s and getting her on her way home). And a second time it was to help Bree find Microcenter. For both instances I was explaining directions and even landmarks (using the satellite coverage) to help guide them through locations that I have never driven or seen. Its very strange how far technology has advanced.
You may have seen in the news how the DOW and S&P 500 dropped quite a bit yesterday. Its the first time in my life that such a large fluctuation in the stock market effected me directly. I’m now at the point where I have a decent amount of money invested in the stock market for savings and retirement purposes and a drop of that amount can add up to 100s of dollars lost in a single day. Did I run out and sell all my investments? No, this is how the stock market works and I realize that. It was just interesting to see how up until now, I had known the joys that 2 or 3 % single day gains can bring. Now I can see the flip side of how a loss of that magnitude can effect your net worth in the reverse manner. Just part of growing up I suppose and learning how the world works.
newbs says: 
