One More Thing on the List

In the past, I've dismissed people who make a bucket list (things they want to happen before they die); my to-do list is already long enough.  But then there are moments that are so unique, that it occurs to me as I seize them, "I don't have a list, but if I did, THIS would be on it.

As I left work on May 18th, last year, I saw a car coming over the horizon ahead of me, with the strangest looking bike rack.  It had a weird red ball on top.  As the rest of the car came into view, I realized, that's no bike rack.

 

"It's no moon either!"

That's the Google streetview mapping car camera assembly! The google mapping car pulled to the stop sign across from me, and I realized this was one of those moments.  Like when I got the email asking if any parents wanted to go see a shuttle launch with one of our high school students.  Or when I had the chance to go sky diving.

I knew if I did have a list, one of the things on it would be "Appear in a Google Map's Streeview photo."

I've been checking the google streetview images for that intersection every couple of months since then, and yesterday they showed up!  Look, I'm anonymously famous on the internet!

OK, that's not a REALLY good picture, but you can see me, way far away in the distance.  Here is the same shot, with my car in the red circle, close up.  See me?

But I played around and found a much better picture of me.  You can even see the shadow of the camera assembly on the side of the car.

Look, I still have that Census window decal on the side window!

Yay for the silly things that make us happy!

Here is the actual google streetview map of that spot.  You can actually pan around the photo, or click the "View Larger Map" tag to open it in another window.

View Larger Map

And here's a final photo I got of the camera car on the highway a little later.

Life is Good!