Dear self: Welcome to the new millennium!

Those of you who know me well, know that the cell phone I have owned and operated for the past, oh, four and a half years or so-is a complete dinosaur, technologically speaking.  It is a (gasp)- FLIP phone. You know, one of those old-school, basic "flip me open, dial the numbers, and press the green phone icon to send the call" thingies. Nothing fancy. No texting. No video. No ring-tones. About 1/4 step up from the one Zack Morris debuted on Saved by the Bell on or around 1992. Basically, a get 'er done and flip 'er shut phone. Period.

Well, over the course of four years, she's definitely seen her day, and then some. She has been:
1). Dropped in a puddle of muddy water in the driveway (on more than one occasion.)
2). Slammed in the trunk of my car, cracking her screen and permanently damaging her leather case. (which has since been rendered useless, although for some odd reason I left it on, clinging for dear life.)
3). Used as a drumstick, drooled on, bitten, chewed on, sucked on, thrown, and lost for several days in the couch cushions, all by my gloriously "spirited" offspring. (also please note that said droolage eventually saturated the earpiece so badly that anyone who calls not only sounds like they are whispering at negative decibels, but doing so from one of Ariel's obscure treasure troves undah- da-sea. Truly, it is quite the fascinating auditory experience.)
4). Running on a 3-minute battery life for the past 2 years. Literally-- even when she charges in my car for hours, I am lucky to have an eight sentence conversation with anyone before she dies, completely unexpectedly. (usually & conveniently mid-juicy story from one of my girlfriends/sisters.)

Having said all of that...it didn't come as a surprise when Jeff recently suggested that we (finally) bite the bullet and embark on the "family plan" mission.  Yes folks, that's right....we've been married 5 years now and have a house a two children together--but separate cell phone accounts. (Although, those of you who know us well are aware of Jeff's sketchy Radio Shack "free phone plan" history which has inhibited any sort of desire to switch providers... but with only like 12 minutes a month on said "plan," and with the amount he now uses his phone for work...it was time to put his big-boy undies on and get a MAN-plan.)

And so, the quest began.

But alas, what were we to do? I had been on Verizon, and Jeff on Sprint, for several years now. Do we draw straws? Pick one? Just go nutty and choose something completely unconventional like AT & T or T-Mobile? Well, leave it to Jeff to do about 17 hours of research on topics such as:  coverage areas, 3G networks, hot spots, cold spots, Luke Wilson commercials, data plans, non-data plans, rollover minutes, unlimited vs. limited text plans, photo texting, 3G coverage maps, and so on. (That is one of the great things about my husband--when he does his homework on something, he does his homework.)

Which is why, a few days and several hours of research later, I didn't even question him for a second when he shut the laptop, stood up in the living room, and proclaimed "AT & T it is!"

Phew.
 
Now, onto phone options. Jeff's decision was relatively simple one, all things considered.  He chose the iPhone for himself, since it had every feature he could possibly need for work and pleasure (insert obligatory "that's what she said" comment here.)  And I was more than content with the slick, black, Samsung something-or-other phone that was the AT & T store's "FREE!" featured phone of the month.

Free? I thought. Sign me up!

And so that's what we did. Except, I turned into "that" massive pain-in-the-a$$ customer who demanded similar (and easy) phone numbers for the both of us... (check!), waived activation fees... (check!), and discounts on chargers & cases (check and check!) Oh, and one more thing? How about a free month of that cute little Navigation package? (check....)

Done.

And so here I sit, shiny new touch screen cell-phone in hand, completely amazed by the prospect of joining this texting revolution! (And yes, I do feel like an 87-year old woman actually admitting to this.)  I even perused ringtones tonight! (Do I go with something ghetto, like Young Money's "Bedrock" for when Jeff calls? Or something a little more adorable & predictable like Jason Mraz's "I'm Yours"??) The possibilities are truly endless...

All I know is that it's so incredibly nice to finally be able to text, and to receive texts....to actually be able to hear people when they call...to have a phone without a crack down the middle of the screen...a phone that is capable of pictures! and videos! and a battery life lasting more than 189 seconds!

2005 Verizon flip-something-or-other, we've had some great times...

But the time has come (and gone...and come and gone again) for me to bid you adieu for a newer, classier, shinier, more feature-full, more dependable, touch-screen, full qwerty keyboard, AT & T upgrade  :-)