Friday, October 2, 2009

out of the dark ages

I am a total idiot when it comes to gadgets. I once almost electrocuted myself by sticking a knife into a toaster that was plugged in. I have no understanding of most technical things, and I don't even own an iPod for crying out loud.

So it would make sense that I have had the same exact cell phone for four years. Your basic old model allowing me to simply make calls and retrieve voicemails. I'm not a big phone talking person to begin with. Seriously, I probably average 150 minutes a month. I rarely text because it takes me too damn long and by the time I figure out where all the letters are I could have just called the person. Plus some of the lingo just seems, well, a little high school I guess. And as someone who recently attended a crowded high school football game, I can honestly attest that 98% of the kids there were not watching the game but were looking down at their phones sending text messages to each other. I wonder, if current high school kids text each other at school all day, what will technology be like by the time my boys are in high school? Will they be able to teleport themselves to class? Is teleport even a word, or is that another example of my ignorance of technology?

The point is, since I left the corporate world to stay home with the kids, I just never thought I needed anything fancier than your average phone.

However, over the summer we did quite a bit of traveling and we were on the go more than ever. And since we are always lugging a gajillion tons of kid crap everywhere we go, bringing my laptop just to have the luxury of checking my email while we were away seemed like a hassle. But then we'd come home, and I'd have hundreds of emails to pour through. Between Facebook, MOMS Club stuff, Freecycle, social emails and emails for my part time marketing job, we're talking a plethora of emails. And here we are now in our new normal life - two kids in school, various sports, gym classes and other activities, plus working part time and just trying to manage a pretty darn hectic social life and I'm here to say it ain't going to slow down. Probably ever.

So I finally decided it was time.

We visited the Verizon store a few nights ago and after what was probably a very painful 90 minutes for our salesman, I walked out with a Blackberry. A very cute, shiny, pink one. I have no idea how to use 95% of the features yet (can someone just help a sister figure out how to change my friggin ringtone??). I can check my email, reply to an email, and make a phone call. I think I know how to check my voicemail. But that's it. I'm going back to the store tomorrow for a personal tutorial on how to use my new gadget because I can already tell, this thing is going to be the cat's meow. No longer will I have to come home to a list of 117 emails to sort through. We're constantly on the go and I'm always somewhere waiting. No more! I can actually get stuff done while I'm on the go. Anyone will tell you, I'm big on email. As I was sitting somewhere today with idle time, returning emails and able to access the weather forecast I thought WHAT TOOK ME SO LONG? Andrew says I'm a late adaptor. And I guess its true, I do like my comfort zone. But this whole technology thing is pretty cool.

Look out, because I just might have to get an iPod next!

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