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12:02:2003 Entry: "Ann : Shelly"

Shelly

This fall Stan and I noticed a noticable difference in our cellphone's ability to keep its battery charge, especially while we were travelling. We said we should inquire about getting a new battery from our phone company. We never did. We spent our days off going to greenhouses instead. (yeah, addicts) But the final straw happened this weekend while it was charging...Lucifer Sam ran into the bedroom, knocking the cellphone to the floor. The phone itself was allright, but the little thingy that you plug into it to charge it broke, so yesterday we went to get not only a new battery, but a new charger as well. They brought up our account and said we were eligible for a "free upgrade" which entitled us to a new phone. Of course they wanted to sell us a new expensive phone with "new" technology which didn't even have half the coverage that our current phone has. !?!?!?! (yeah, that's real practical when travelling) So we opted for the "free" phone ($18 processing charge, of course...nothing is really free) with the old technology and same coverage. It's just so weird to think that it would've cost us about $60-70 or so to get a new charger and new battery for our former "Baby Phone" whereas we just got a "replacement" phone for a fraction of the price.

Doesn't that seem wrong? Or backward? My mom's parents didn't get a telephone until the 50s...I think around the time my mom went to college. But my grandmother had that same black rotary phone forever until she moved out of her house in the early 1980s. My parents had this ugly beige (ew...the beige era) rotary phone since the time they bought their house in the early 70s (I think it came with the house! And who knows how long the previous owners had it...that was the time when telephones weren't YOUR property...it was the phone company's property) until sometime in the early 90s. When Stan and I moved in together we bought this cheap plastic hot pink phone that we still have in storage in the basement. It's just strange that a whole new item is cheaper than getting replacement parts. It's a different mindset. And I'm afraid it may have a negative effect on those who are completely immersed in and accustomed to it (as opposed to luddites like me that are befuddled by it) as far as their interactions with people, animals, society and the environment. But of course...they don't care. And that's my point.

But less seriously...

We didn't hand over our old phone...I know that they recycle these things, but the phone still has all our phone numbers and info in it...I don't want to have those get into the hands of who knows who. So we kept it...a dead phone...dead Baby Phone. We joked and said we had it euthanized, that we had parental rights taken away because we let its battery get defective and we dropped it on its head and left it alone with the dog who bit it. But we got a new phone. And as I was leaving the cell store, I said to it, "I can't call you Baby Phone, Baby Phone's gone. I'll call you Shelly." Strange cactus humour. Go watch Kalifornia.

By Ann @ 09:38 AM CST:12:02:03 ..::Link::..