Hello My Fellow Midnight Munchers, 

An interesting salutation?  I hope you think so.  By the end of this post, you will certainly understand why I chose to use it.

This past Saturday night, at approximately 11pm , I received a call from an old buddy of mine who asked me if I would like to go grab a cup of coffee at The International House of Pancakes (iHOP).  Since my wife had already retired for the evening and my two feline owners of 15 years, Amy and Rosalie were clearly finding me annoying, I accepted his invitation. 

Don’t worry ladies, I asked my wife if I could go and she sleepily approved.  Believe me, I know the pecking order in this house; my wife, then Rosalie (who adopted me first), then Amy, and finally at the very bottom of the totem pole, me.  (Smile).

But I digress …

Anyway, after he picked me up, he received a call from some friends inviting us over to a popular Los Angeles pub.  Being an old man of 42 and rarely venturing out into the Los Angeles nightlife in favor of staying in and enjoying my comfortable home, I reluctantly agreed.  Remembering how irked my wife had been when I woke her to ask if I could go out, in the first place, I decided to make an actual unilateral decision all on my own, a risk to be sure.  Further, I wanted to spare myself the embarrassment of having to ask her in front of my buddy, a confirmed bachelor who, rightly or wrongly, believes that all married men are spineless jellyfish.  Hmm, I’m starting to believe that, myself. 

I’ll tell you the truth, the real reason I was so very reluctant to go to the pub was because I was all set to enjoy a big warm plate of hot blueberry pancakes drowned in sweet soothing syrup with a side of crispy bacon and a tall cold glass of orange juice, nah, probably cranberry juice, yes, definitely cranberry juice.

I will not bore you with the details of my two hours of torture in a dark, loud, smelly, drunkard infested tavern of hell in which I swore I would never frequent again.

Instead I will fast forward to when my friend and I found ourselves driving up and down mostly dark and deserted Long Beach boulevards desperately searching for some place, no, any place to eat.  Did I mention that neither he nor I live in Long Beach? 

Fighting the urge to reach over and thump my friend on his big bulbous shaven head for having ever called me in the first place (after all, it’s always someone else’s fault), I remembered that I had my beloved Samsung Epix SGH-i907 Smartphone complete with Mobile Geo in my Bat Belt. 

Oh yeah!  I also had to fight the urge to call my wife and say, “HELP!!!!!  Come and get me!!!”  (Smile)

By this time, it must have been around 1:30am, we were totally lost in some big condo development. 

I told my friend to stop the car and just wait.  “Wait for what?” he asked, impatiently.

“Just wait,” I replied as I launched Mobile Geo.

Because I did not have my external Bluetooth GPS receiver, I set Mobile Geo to use the phone’s internal GPS receiver, instead. 

I was absolutely astonished when, in less than 40 seconds, Geo informed me that it was tracking 9 satellites with an accuracy rating within 15 feet.  God!  I love my Epix!  It is an amazing device, worthy of Mobile Geo, to be sure.

With my hands shaking, (for this was a real situation, not a trial test) I decided to search for a Del Taco 24-hour restaurant near my house.

Sensing that my apple-headed friend was about to ask me a banana-brained question, I quickly said, “Just a minute, man; I can do this; this is going to work.”

In the edit field of the Advanced Search Dialog Box, I entered “Del Taco” and chose to search by name.

Within seconds, Geo informed me of the distance and direction to the Del Taco restaurant near my house, two cities away. 

With a feeling of complete triumph I looked over at my friend and said excitedly, “Got it.  We’re n business, brother!” 

“Great,“ he replied.   “Which way do we go?”

“One more minute, all I have to do is create a route and …” 

Tapping the [Enter] key to open the details screen, I tapped the Options button and selected to create a Motorized route to the restaurant. 

Geo instructed us to drive east and turn left. 

After I relayed these instructions to my friend, he asked, “Which way is east?”

To which I replied, somewhat sharply, “I don’t know.  Just drive.”   

He hit the gas and we took off.  Frankly, it felt good to just be moving again; believe me, you don’t want to sit still in the city they call Long Beach.

Within 40 feet or so, Geo informed me that we were off-route and asked if I would like to recalculate.  Feeling as though a guardian angel was watching over us, I tapped the “OK” button.

Almost instantly, Geo recalculated the route and gave new driving instructions. 

From then on, it was smooth sailing all the way to that tantalizing tabernacle of tasty taco tummy temptations.

My buddy, having never used a GPS navigation solution was quite literally beside himself with amazement. 

As my friend dropped me off, safe and sound, in front of my house in the cool crisp southern California Sunday morning sea breeze, all he wanted to know is from where he could purchase Mobile Geo.  Too tired to explain, I said, “I’ll tell you all about it, tomorrow, OK?” 

Revving the engine, he said, “You know, it was like magic, wasn’t it?” 

Tapping a button in my shirt pocket, causing my garage door to open and hoping that my beloved wife would not be awakened by its familiar rattle, I said with a grin spreading across my face and joy flowing through my soul, “Hey!  When you hang out with Mark Marcus, you’re hanging out with magic.”

We both chuckled and with that, I shut his car door and walked into my house, closing my garage door afterwards.
And that’s what I mean when I say, “Mobile Geo is making mobile magic.”

Most Sincerely,

Mark