Crackhead I Am

I guess it's time to admit the awful truth...I have become a Crackhead. And in a very short amount of time. They're all right, the addiction comes on you in a hurry and takes over every waking (and sometimes sleeping) moment of your life.

A week ago Friday, before I left Orlando on Saturday to return to the Bayou, Cindy and I stopped in at our local AT&T store (where we have our cellphone account) and at her urging (really, that's the only reason I did it) I gave in to my long-held desire to own a Smartphone. If you're not familiar with the term, a Smartphone is a combination cellphone and PDA, allowing you to communicate not only via cell or SMS text messaging, but also using e-mail that you can link to your own already existing e-mail account(s) and giving you access to the web (seeing The Word of Jeff on the 2 x 2 screen was a kick) and various applications like a calendar, task manager, documents, and spreadsheets as well as music and videos.

I ended up choosing the Blackberry (affectionately known by users as the CRACKberry because of it's addictive qualities) Curve 8310. Why did I want a Smartphone? Well, as much as I love my laptop and take it almost everywhere I go, there are some times and some places where firing up a laptop is just not practical. I can't use it at my desk at work,I can't use it in the car without a lot of extra effort and I'm reluctant to use it in restaurants around food and drink, although I have. Plus, you can't always get a wireless signal everywhere you go (unless you want to spring for a PC card and account, which I considered) and sometimes even when you can, it's not worth it. Such as when you're sitting in an airport and you don't want to pay $7 to $20 for the all-day rate when you only have an hour until your flight. See? I'm talking about SAVING money here! Last Saturday, sitting in the Houston airport waiting for my connecting flight, I only had a 45 minute wait and the wireless provider there wanted $7 for an hour of connection. I laughed at their stinkin' "Welcome" screen and used my Curve instead. Hah!

So, I've been having a blast learning all the ins and outs of my new toy and I still have a lot to learn but I've got the e-mail part down and that was one of the biggest reasons for getting the Curve, so that I could have instant access to my personal e-mail accounts. That means I can read and answer e-mails while I'm standing in line somewhere, waiting at a traffic light, eating a meal in a restaurant by myself, or dropping the kids off at the pool. It also means I can end a boring conversation with someone by grabbing the holster on my hip and saying, "I'm sorry, I need to take this."

Heh heh.

I have one disappointment; apparently they don't yet have the "Superman Theme" ringtone available for this model at the online AT&T store. In the meantime I have downloaded "Do You Believe In Magic?" by The Lovin' Spoonful and assigned it to Cindy's number (they didn't have my first choice; "Witchy Woman") and "Stand" by R.E.M. and assigned it to AnnMarie's number. They're just about the only people who ever call me on purpose. Most of the rest are wrong number calls, but that's ok because I prefer e-mail and texting to talking, in most cases.

Anyway, it's a fun, useful toy and I'm loving it. But boy, are my thumbs getting a workout.

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