Cell Phone Phantasies

In case you are considering changing cell phones, let me tell you a little about mine. Best attribute: It's pink. (Aside: For someone whose favorite color is NOT pink, I'm certainly drowning in it.)I had been searching for a pink phone for a while. Well, any color would do because as I told you once, I love color. I also love variety - when I choose it. So I would have gone for red or royal blue. Even pink. When I saw the really pretty one that Kimora Lee Simmons put out, I decided then that I could live with pink after all. Except that one, with it's quilted look, real diamonds and signature kitty kat, retailed for about $700. It was just too sweet but that price was nuts.

My original phone was my first in a number of years. My VERY first one I can barely remember and it was only 5 years ago. But in the barrage of wedding planning, I went a little overboard, had an insane bill and had to cut it off for a while until I caught up with it. But my provider then was WorldCom (can you say Enron?). That baby went corrupt and bankrupt and my bill went bye-bye in the breeze.

So 3 years later I tried again. I decided to give myself a birthday present. Spend a little money on a phone I could love, get the number of minutes I'd really use and not the ones I tell people I use like a fake age or weight. This one was small and cute and I grew to love its features. No picture taking with this but I could use it as my alarm clock. I HATE alarms (Maybe I'll blog about that one day.) but at least I could wake to soothing music and not a harsh blare urging you to abandon ship. My little phone could also remind me to take The Pill because I was really bad about doing that regularly before and this phone helped me make it a habit. Most of all I could talk to myself on this phone. Leave myself audio notes of all kinds, little grocery reminders or cellular placeholders for all the writing I do on the fly.

And then, 1 year later I started to grow bored with its look.That's when I started looking for color and came across Kimora but I also came across face plates. Really pretty, interchangeable faceplates I could change like I change my hair. They were cool. I could be purple, pretty, preppy or posh (or any other Spice Girl your can name). I could even go so far as to switch out the little antenna for something that flashed when a call came in. It was perfect. Except for one thing: They didn't make simple snap on's for my phone. Oh sure I COULD change the plate but that would require removing the existing plate and THAT would nullify my warranty. It was only a year old and it just wasn't worth it.So we stuck together, my baby and me. I kept chatting and it stayed dependable despite my wandering eye. I gave up looking and decided to stick it out the whole two years and see where I was then. But then I saw it. A Verizon commercial.Motorola cell phones - Razor phones - were being offered for new clients. They were pretty in pink and I immediately called Verizon to say, "Hey! What's up? Those phones retail for about $400, don't they?"

"Why yes they do ma'am. But there is a special deal right now where you can get it for $80 after your instant rebate if you sign up for service."

"But I already have your service. That makes me loyal. Can I get it too?"

"Sure! Let's just see when your current contract expires."

Turns out I qualified for an early upgrade. I could get the phone for that price too if I signed up for 2 more years. $120 if I signed up for 1 more year. The military doesn't offer that good a deal and I loved Verizon so I said yepper and off I went to the store two days later, the Friday before Mother's Day, to get my new baby. Bye-bye old faithful. Mama's going color! (That reminds me, Pleasantville is another great movie.)

Life with Razor is....interesting. I can take pictures now, as you know. But I can't record messages to myself. I have some different ringtones to entertain myself with. But I have to get a wireless headset and that's about 80 bucks. Gotta love that sleek look but sometimes when I get a call the volume is low and when I try to deftly turn the person up, I find pushing the button while talking is actually an awkward movement, unlike my previous version where I could switch back and forth at will as I changed from soft-spoken friend to loud-and-clear friend.

And for some stupid reason every item in my contact list automatically is assigned a speed dial number so if one person has 3 different ways for me to contact them, each of those numbers, emails, etc. gets a speed dial number and there is nothing I can do about it. I actually have to assign a number a different spot further down the 1,000 spots available so I can free up a top spot and give my Husband and parents and certain friends the top spots they deserve. I don't know. I'm still getting used to it. I do kinda miss my other baby, though. I admit it. It was nice to be known so well and to have my needs understood and met. Someone else has my baby now. It went into a donation program so some deserving woman could get a free phone in case of emergencies. Farewell, my lovely. You knew me well.