I used to think phones with internet capabilities were for nerds--those too busy or too self-important to just take a few hours away from their professional lives, and didn't mind living tethered to the outside world AT. ALL. TIMES. Crackberries bugged me, as I've seen people text/check email while teaching and driving and watching movies. I never wanted to be like those people.
Then I spent the weekend in the mountains with my friend Rose, and we played Scrabble. In the mountains. Without any resources. And right before we had to arm wrestle over words, Rose would pull out her trusty smart phone and check Merriam-Webster.com--probably saving our friendship a time or two. :-) Her phone made all kinds of racket all the time, and quite frankly drove me nuts, but when we got lost on a curvy mountain road in the hills of North Carolina, that GPS sure came in handy. And it occurred to me that I could keep mine on SILENT. And I began to covet. Sigh.
I've been with Sprint since my first weekend away at college. My contract has actually been up for a long time, because they don't hassle you to sign a new one and change your plan, and so I don't. I carry the cheapest plan possible, and every once and awhile call Customer Service just to see if I can nickel and dime them down a few more dollars. Last time I called, the guy said, "Oh, yes...I see all the notes from where you've called trying to get free things." Whatever. The lady I spoke to before him gave me $100 credit when I asked, so it paid off!
All that to say, I'm cheap. And didn't plan to act on my covetous thoughts in the foreseeable future....until Katrina published this. I mean, it's like all signs point to upgrading to a smartphone, right?
When I called Sprint to cancel my service, the customer service guy realized that someone had accidentally changed my billing plan, and that I had paid too much the past couple of months. He would fix it right away, he assured me, and send a check to cover the difference. You know what else that check covered?
This:
Eric has wanted me to upgrade to the iPhone forever, because he has to use a standard work-issued thing and he wants to play fishing games anytime I'm driving him to take his mind off his own mortality. I love my iPod (that work bought, of course!), but couldn't quite justify spending any money out of pocket for a phone. (We usually just get whatever's free.)
With the Sprint rebate, the iPhone 3G was just about free! And when I signed the new AT&T contract at Wal-Mart, the salesperson told me to take the paperwork immediately up the road to the AT&T store and get my teacher discount (!) on the monthly fee. So the cost per month ends up being not much different that what we were being charged from Sprint! Which just eliminated all buyer's remorse!!! Whoo-hoo!
This evening, I've put all my CDs on it. I've downloaded the Facebook application, signed up for an iTunes account (where I promptly bought The Phantom of the Opera soundtrack and Carrie Underwood's I Told You So song that I've been belting at the top of my lungs since Eric left for work.) There's even a Scrabble application that makes me miss my best friend, and Oregon Trail which gets me excited for Social Studies. Plus Pandora radio. And maybe, just maybe, I'll figure out how to get Sweet Home Alabama loaded onto it, so I can take Josh Lucas on the road anytime. Kaela and Ben want their Looney Tunes disk on, too. Glad I drank coffee for dinner!
Oh, and perhaps the coolest thing--I tried to find a skin for it at Wal-Mart, and they just had these ugly plastic pink and red ones. Plus, they were expensive! So I went online looking, and I found this website www.skinit.com where you can design your own!!! So I chose lime green (of course! the color of happiness!), uploaded a black and white picture of Kaela and Ben, and in 2 days will have a totally customized skin for less than $20!
So that's it. The cause for all the loud singing out here. Thanks, Rose! And Katrina! And Sprint! Here's to more music and texting and Scrabble playing and quieter car trips and joining the 21st century. Just like those people.
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