The Saga of the Phone

Okay, so a few days ago Gary called me up and said it was time for me to get a new phone. Mine had pretty much died on me; it wouldn't even take a charge; and I had gone like two weeks with no way to get in touch with me.

Because I'm cheap, and I don't care about new gadgets, I kept thinking it might just start working again out of the blue. But, alas, it didn't. And so Gary called me up and was telling me about all the cool phones I could get to replace it. "Really," I said, "just get the cheapest one you can find. You know I don't care so much about cell phones." "There's this cool Blackberry you could have," he argued. "Nope, I don't even like your blackberry," I answered. "Besides, it has way too much stuff on it that I would never use." He told me he could just get a replacement phone that wouldn't cost anything and I said that was cool. Or... here came the selling lecture...we could spend just a little bit more (like only $29.95) and get one that can do a few new things. I let him go through the list of "cool" things and agreed that, yes, $29.95 sounds like a good deal and gave him the answer "Red" when he gave me the choice of a blue, red, or grey phone. "At least it can be my Bama phone. That will be good," I said.

With my new phone in mind, I thought I'd share with you a little bit about my relationship with cell phones!

The key to this really comes down to two facts: 1--I lose things, and 2--I'm cheap!

I have never really cared about having the newest, most expensive, most technological gizmos. Now Gary, on the other hand, loves getting the newest phone or the newest wireless hookup (although I really like how that's turned out!). He's the one who thinks it's so cool that Delaney's got an I-pod (I liked it too, once I figured out how it worked, but it's up to Gary to help her put songs out on it. Because I'm clueless as to all of that!).

I'm kinda that way with cars. Let me drive the one I'm driving until it pretty much dies, because that means I can go a year or so without having a car payment!

So, I'm pretty much that way with cell phones! I had my last one for three years and, in that time, everything under the sun had happened to it! I lost it a couple of times (my favorite time was when I lost it at Goody's and later found it inside a purse, because I then remembered that I had let Scout hold it--she was probably 1--and she had been playing with this huge rack of new purses they were about to display!). Each time, it got back to me though through the kindess of strangers who called and let me know they had it (although that may have been because it wasn't good enough to steal!). And of course, it looked pretty rough too. When it finally "died," it was covered with nail polish that I had spilled on it more than a year and a half ago!

(Now, my very FAVORITE cell phone story revolves around the first cell phone I ever had, which would make that maybe ten years ago! But I don't know if this topic will ever come up again...so I can go ahead and share it here! LOL Back those ten years ago or so, I went to an Alabama--Southern Miss game here in Birmingham and let's just say that a hurricane had decided to blow in! Gary was in Chicago on business and I was at the game with a girlfriend (she was as avid a Bama fan as I was, and neither of us was going to let hurricane-force winds and a Noah-like deluge stop us from seeing our favorite football players in action!). Well, in the midst of these torrential rains, I decided to call Gary and let him know that we were at the game and having a great time! From Chicago, he laughed at me: "Yeah, I can see you two on ESPN. There are only a few hundred crazy fans still in the stands and the commentator was just saying that only the diehard fans are left. I'm sitting here in the hotel, eating a pizza and drinking a beer. And you're there in the rain at the game. You guys ARE crazy!" We stuck it out to the end of the game, Alabama won, but--needless to say!--my cell phone died after being pretty much drenced in rain while I talked to Gary!)

Back to the present...

So, I wasn't really too worried about getting a new phone. I would have been happy with any ole little thing. And this still isn't the fanciest out there, but for some reason it makes me happy!! (I thought I had my card reader here so I could post a picture of it, but I don't...wah!!!...just imagine a cute, red, flat phone!)

Could be because it can play music on it like an Mp3 player (although it will probably take me a while to figure that out!), I've already got my address book filled with numbers (McKenna did that for me), and it plays the Alabama fight song for my ring tone (again, McKenna figured out how to do that for me!). And, oh yeah, it's got the Alamo as my screen saver; there were two choices--the San Francisco Bay Bridge and the Alamo--and my Native Texas heart figures it's fate that this phone belongs to me! (and, again, McKenna set that up for me!)

So...all this brings me to my Random Tuesday post (you thought I'd forgotten that, huh?) These are just some fun, random questions about cell phones, losing things, and other assorted topics that relate to my story for the day! Join in the fun if you'd like!!

1--Would you rather talk by phone or email? I really prefer email now. I've never been much of a phone person; I pretty much use it to arrange stuff and not to chit-chat. But I will definitely use email for that!

2--Techno or Not? Uh, right. I am so NOT technological whatsoever! BUT... I LOVE using all of it!

3--What's your ring tone? The Alabama Fight Song (yay, Alabama Crimson Tide, every Bama fan's behind you, hit your stride...) Funny story, though--my last ring tone was Jimmy Buffett's "Margaritaville," which is great except for when you accidentally forget to turn it off and it goes off in the middle of church!

4--What's your screen saver? Right now, it's the Alamo because it was part of the phone. But I'm sure I will change it to a picture of the girls at some point!

5--Are you a "loser" or not? (do you lose things?) I am the Master of Losing. My favorites are cell phones (as already mentioned!), pens, and car keys!!

Have a wonderful day! We are heading off to a birthday party for my nephew Garrett birthday this afternoon (should be fun; lots of Star Wars, Marvel superheroes, and all those things Syd calls "boy toys"!), then tomorrow we have a big July 4th celebration planned at the lake. I hope to make it back in here before all the Wednesday festivities get underway. And then, this weekend...the beach!!! A good, good week for all!!