I'm pretty new to pic programming and am still learing, I dont mind admitting I've got a LONG way to go yet
However what I'd like to know and I cant find an easy answer anywhere is:
Can you get a pic to do more than one thing at once?
What I've got in mind is Im using a pic to control solenoids in my car, measure and display temperature using a DS1820 and sending all the info to an lcd, but what I'd like to know is ...
Is it possible for the SAME pic to take a serial input, decode it and display the readings on 7 segment displays while doing all the above?

Put simply I'm trying to interface (once i figure out how properly) serial data from a GPS receiver to the pic, interrogate that data and when the NMEA sentence I'm looking for arrives, strip the SPEED from the NMEA sentence, convert it from Knots tro MPH and display it on a 2 7 segment LED display

Can I do all that with one PIC or would I be better off using a second pic and circuit for the GPS section of my project?

I need the speed reading to be taked once a second as its going to be used in my car as an accurate speedometer.
The Pic I'm using at the moment for the first half of the circuit is a 16F877A simply because thats what came with my easypic5 development board