For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for August 03, 2010

  1. Lillypad
    lionsandtigersandbearsohmy  over 14 years ago

    (((( hugs )))) Michael…in a few days, the vacation @ the shack will be a funny memory. Just last week, our family planned a day-trip to a lighthouse in WA..Hubby ‘Googled’ directions ( a short-cut from the map I had printed up, of course)

    Needless to say…we drove 3 hours to a CONVENIENCE STORE called ‘Lighthouse’…it was funny…and this will be ,too =) We did eventually see the lighthouse as planned, though =)

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    Frankr  over 14 years ago

    @L+T+B etc: I’d bet the real lighthouse didn’t have Slurpees

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    alviebird  over 14 years ago

    Just today I Googled directions to a veterinarians office about 45 miles from here. It got us there, but you wouldn’t believe the back-woods dirt roads it took us down. There was a much easier way to get there.

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    myming  over 14 years ago

    michael, this too shall pass…

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    lewisbower  over 14 years ago

    Real men don’t need maps Maybe I wanted to go to Portland and not Portsmouth It was a piece of cake getting INTO Boston Any fool can drive in DC or NYC. Heck the city’s square Hey turn here, I think I know a shortcut. Don’t worry. Do I look like I’m lost? Ah, go in and buy something, ask the kid. I’, sure I’m right

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    Plods with ...™  over 14 years ago

    The kid’s learning early that stuff runs downhill

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    gobblingup Premium Member over 14 years ago

    I don’t trust online maps much either. My husband almost missed our daughter’s dance recital because he followed the directions from GoogleMaps. It sent him to the rival high school, instead of the one the recital was at. I’m sure some high school kid thought that would be hilarious when it just caused him stress. And yes, he put in the actual street address, not the high school name.

    (That is pretty sad about Michael and I’m sure many will chastise John and Elly, so I won’t bother with the obvious)

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    masnadies  over 14 years ago

    Yes. It’s not right, but so long as us parents are human, it happens to some extent. They benefit from our happiness and suffer when we’re sad or angry. We can only do our best to keep it to a minimum.

    We aren’t on the GPS yet (the street isn’t even). Every time someone comes out to deliver something, we get a phone call. “Did we get your street wrong?” “No, it’s right. Our house is new. We’re not on the GPS. Would you like directions?” “Uh… I guess”

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    rshive  over 14 years ago

    Lewreader - I never get lost. May not always know where I am..but that’s another story.

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    alviebird  over 14 years ago

    @Nab,

    I do use paper maps, but I didn’t have one for this particular city. Give me a proper map and an address and I can find anything. I drove a taxi for eight years, and occasionally delivered lost luggage for Delta.

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    JanLC  over 14 years ago

    Thomas Guides Rule!!!!

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    JanLC  over 14 years ago

    Used to be if you asked Yahoo Maps for directions from LA to Paris, France it would give you detailed directions from LA to the docks in New York, then tell you to swim 3000 miles to the coast of France. They took that down a couple of years back, but it used to be a real giggle telling all your friends to do it without telling them why.

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    bald  over 14 years ago

    some of these incidents will be material for your writing later in life michael cherish these moments

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    Smiley Rmom  over 14 years ago

    We use a computer software program that is installed on our hard drives. (My laptop, my hubby’s tablet). It gives the advantage of being able to pre-plan the trip at home, in leisure, with the advantage of having a GPS tell you where you are on the map when traveling. Just like paper maps, it has a legend to distinguish between highways, dirt roads, etc. It will calculate a route for you, but I’ve found it wise to review it before starting out, and put in “vias” where needed/wanted. It is nice to be able to zoom in & out, and to have the GPS locate you on the map. My husband & I only had one big fight (concerning the route) since we started using it. I can’t blame the GPS, my husband wanted to take the “road less traveled” and he succeeded. Unfortunately, I’d prefer smoother roads.

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    ses1066  over 14 years ago

    Several years back, there was a story about a couple buying a high-end luxury car with built-in GPS and picked it up at the factory as part of a vacation trip. They programmed it for the hotel and then wondered why the suddenly ended up in the water. GPS led them to the Ferry but the Ferry weren’t there. Oops!

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    dsom8  over 14 years ago

    (@howtheduck) Turning a painful situation into a humorous one is a sign of (or a part of) healing. And LJ’s medium is one way of sharing that hurt with others so that they might see the abuse for what it is.

    I don’t know how abusive her mother was, but there is a human tendency in all of us to take out our frustrations on those around us, usually the most vulnerable. Perhaps today’s strip and the linked one can help us be aware of our own weaknesses and work to overcome them.

    And, there are a lot of similarities here to Bill Watterson’s father as revealed in Calvin (and Hobbes)’s father.

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    Gretchen's Mom  over 14 years ago

    Poor Michael! I’d give you a hug if only I could!!!!! :-(

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    jeffreybradmc  over 14 years ago

    I would say to Micheal, be thankful that you, can have vacations, though some are greater then others. I say that becouse, the only vacation I rember, was before I was a teen, becouse we were to pour. But I’m still thankful that my youth wasn’t that bad.

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    myming  over 14 years ago

    ^ eloquent…

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