So, apparently my cell phone has reached that magic age when some of the buttons stop functioning. I've been here before. And luckily, as my cell phone needs are limited (Not giving in to the now ubiquitous need for a fancy phone with email and apps. Nope. Okay, almost. But, no...), I’ve developed a technique for dealing with it.
1. Look on the AT&T website to see which phones are free or cheap with a contract extension
2. Go to the AT&T store and ask a staff member which of the free phones is the best
3. Get the new phone. Get the staff to transfer my address book. Leave happy.
4. Eventually learn how to use the new phone
My goal was to take care of this Monday after work. I trot on over to the store. They point me to the cheap phones in the dark corner where they assume no one will want to shop. I consult with a staff member and learn that they no longer carry the inexpensive/free phones in the store. You can only order them online (no doubt to try and force you to buy something snazzy for instant gratification). But I have the internet, so I have my 5 second consultation and run to catch my train.
Today, I went back to the website to buy my phone. Both of the recommended phones in my category have terrible reviews from users on the website, mostly about scratches and covers falling off, and battery life. But I figure, I am mostly only using this thing as a phone. I am not trying to make it be something it’s not, though doubtless I will drop it several times. So I read a few more reviews, and make my choice. And boy, oh boy, the phone I want comes in RED. Why not? Let’s branch out a little from the basic black (oh, excuse me, graphite...). I make my choice. I start the check-out process... ...only to learn that the red phone requires you to fork over $50 at the check-out and send away for your rebate, while the black phone is just plain free from the start. This seems akin to the myth that red cars are more expensive to insure than others, but this one appears to be true! They are counting on people (like me) not bothering/forgetting to send for the rebate. Such a racket!
So I picked black. It will match all of my shoes.
Showing posts with label Internet and Technology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Internet and Technology. Show all posts
3/24/2009
Look!
I found this site on The Paris Apartment blog today: http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/colors.php
I downloaded this picture:
And got back the photoshop palette which includes colors called trout, dawn, eagle, scorpion, and brown derby.
Hours of fun!!! If only I could download the resulting swatches...
3/19/2009
Breaking the habit...
My relationship with AOL started after I graduated from college. I had a fabulous Macintosh courtesy of my mom, and a brand new modem courtesy of my sister, and a shiny AOL floppy disk free-for-nothing. We’re going back a few years here. Time passed and AOL grew to be perceived as part of the evil empire, but still, I’d had that email address since 1995 and didn’t see a huge need for change.
But after a while, I wanted to break away, be one of the cool kids with a cooler email address (or five - why does everyone have a million email addresses - me included - and how do I know which to use??). So, I formulated a plan. Wireless Philadelphia had a greater coverage area than previous and was cheap, so I signed up with them and at the same time got myself a universal forwarding address from Bryn Mawr. After I was sure it would work, AOL would be out. Good thing I waited.
After being very specific with Wireless Philly/Earthlink representatives on the phone that I lived in a first floor rear apartment with no natural light and no direct access to the outside world, and after being assured that my personal signal was very strong, when I got the equipment and set it up, no dice (This took 45 minutes on the phone and a huge amount of connecting and reconnecting the modem. My favorite set-up had me and the modem and the laptop outside in the courtyard. I still couldn’t get a signal and the person on the phone just brushed passed the idea that I wouldn’t be able to use the equipment outside in the rain, snow, cold.).
Speedy connection, or lack thereof aside, a couple of years ago, I got myself a gmail address, and learned how to use that system, which I still do and love. But the spectre of AOL still looms (including those friends and contacts who persist in using the AOL address for me, despite numerous reminders...). My work forwards all of our emails to a personal email account (because the email interface for work is horrific and only to be used as absolutely necessary, in my humble opinion). This is still the AOL address for me, as I don’t want the gmail account to be in any way connected with work. Nor do I want the forwarding address from Bryn Mawr (which forwards to gmail) to be it because I don’t even want to see those work emails in that inbox. But finally, a new solution is ahead.
A few months ago, I finally gave in and purchased a high(er) speed internet connection for home. With this came a bright, shiny new email address! This one can become the work forwarding address. And with this new connection at home, I no longer need the AOL software to act as my ISP. So the plan is that by the end of the month, be rid of AOL.
One of the lingering things about AOL that I used was my list of bookmarks that I've amassed these many years, including my list of blogs. I've saved that list so I can reconstruct it someplace else, but I knew I needed a plan for the blogs. And sure enough, google has one for me: Google Reader. (Yes, I know all of you knew about this already, and are savvy about RSS feeds, etc., but bear with me while I continue my crawl into the 21st century). Last week I put all of my sites with feeds into the Reader and so far, love using it. It's not cumbersome. It cuts down on the ads without minmizing content. And I'm logged in already any time I'm using gmail.
Go, technology! I'm getting there.
But after a while, I wanted to break away, be one of the cool kids with a cooler email address (or five - why does everyone have a million email addresses - me included - and how do I know which to use??). So, I formulated a plan. Wireless Philadelphia had a greater coverage area than previous and was cheap, so I signed up with them and at the same time got myself a universal forwarding address from Bryn Mawr. After I was sure it would work, AOL would be out. Good thing I waited.
After being very specific with Wireless Philly/Earthlink representatives on the phone that I lived in a first floor rear apartment with no natural light and no direct access to the outside world, and after being assured that my personal signal was very strong, when I got the equipment and set it up, no dice (This took 45 minutes on the phone and a huge amount of connecting and reconnecting the modem. My favorite set-up had me and the modem and the laptop outside in the courtyard. I still couldn’t get a signal and the person on the phone just brushed passed the idea that I wouldn’t be able to use the equipment outside in the rain, snow, cold.).
Speedy connection, or lack thereof aside, a couple of years ago, I got myself a gmail address, and learned how to use that system, which I still do and love. But the spectre of AOL still looms (including those friends and contacts who persist in using the AOL address for me, despite numerous reminders...). My work forwards all of our emails to a personal email account (because the email interface for work is horrific and only to be used as absolutely necessary, in my humble opinion). This is still the AOL address for me, as I don’t want the gmail account to be in any way connected with work. Nor do I want the forwarding address from Bryn Mawr (which forwards to gmail) to be it because I don’t even want to see those work emails in that inbox. But finally, a new solution is ahead.
A few months ago, I finally gave in and purchased a high(er) speed internet connection for home. With this came a bright, shiny new email address! This one can become the work forwarding address. And with this new connection at home, I no longer need the AOL software to act as my ISP. So the plan is that by the end of the month, be rid of AOL.
One of the lingering things about AOL that I used was my list of bookmarks that I've amassed these many years, including my list of blogs. I've saved that list so I can reconstruct it someplace else, but I knew I needed a plan for the blogs. And sure enough, google has one for me: Google Reader. (Yes, I know all of you knew about this already, and are savvy about RSS feeds, etc., but bear with me while I continue my crawl into the 21st century). Last week I put all of my sites with feeds into the Reader and so far, love using it. It's not cumbersome. It cuts down on the ads without minmizing content. And I'm logged in already any time I'm using gmail.
Go, technology! I'm getting there.
7/22/2008
One less blog to follow...
I will admit that I've gotten into reading some blogs - house blogs, design blogs, blogs about pandas, tableware, stationary - and the list grows... This is a direct outcropping of my hours sitting in Borders, reading magazines and books, taking notes, and rarely buying anything. Now I can just print a page that strikes my fancy.
Over the weekend, one of my (formerly) favorite blogs, Bluelines, came to an end.
First there was Blueprint, brought to us by the folks at Martha Stewart, a magazine meant to fall somewhere inbetween MSL, Real Simple and Domino, aimed at ayounger demographic. This was a magazine I almost subscribed to, and looked forward to quite eagerly. Along side the print edition was the website, and then the blog, Bluelines. Then the print version went bust, but they said that the electronic blog presences would continue. And it did, albeit in a meager, less well-written kind of way, as if the heart had gone out of the project. Updates were not even daily, and as the end drew near, I think the writers stopped trying.
I think I'll still miss the magazine more, and the hours spent poring over glossy pages, coffee in hand, pen at the ready to jot down ideas, but if the folks in power at MSL are listening, there's a small gaping hole in the empire.
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