Much Ado About Nothing

Upgrades are cool. It doesn't matter what you upgrade. New car, new shoes, even a new pen is a bit of a joy to use the first couple times. I just got a sweet new monitor on my computer at work. I was so impressed with the upgrade, I set a macro image of a cylinder I took looking for a part number as my desktop image.

Not so long ago, cell phones were just phones. The extra fancy ones had cameras. I got my first cell phone about 5 years ago when I started working where I am now. It was an LCD display Nokia that would call and text. My next work phone was a Razr. At the time, that was the phone to have. When I first brought it home, Tina and Jon were green with envy. Since that time, they have had a couple phone upgrades. Tina's last upgrade was the qwerty/internet route. If it weren't pink, I would have been envious. She can check sports scores when we go camping. Through all these changes, I've stayed with the Razr. It's a tough, reliable mule that works just fine for calling and texting. It's a work phone after all, it's my tether to the job. I'm always available. I get calls in the middle of the night from the alarm company. I get calls on the weekend when something goes wrong. I get calls when I'm sick and calls when I'm celebrating. My number is available to everyone at any time. That is the price you pay for a "free" phone. It also comes with the turf in some professions. Mine is one of them.

I just got a phone upgrade. I got me one of them Android smart phones. Going from a Razr to that carries a pretty significant gee whiz. The free apps are sort of overwhelming. I played Angry Birds a bit and found a way to use my $300 phone as a $35 compass. I did find one that gives me a pretty neat alarm clock. It also does all that multimedia/internet/facebook stuff. Lots of people have this kind of phone now. Some people try to claim their phone is a valuable tool that boosts productivity... blah blah blah bullshit. It's a neat shiny toy that hypnotizes us with a steady flow of brain pollution. I like it. I like checking the sports ticker while waiting for an appointment. I like being able to find out who won the 1952 Kentucky Derby while I wait for a table. I like being able to hand my phone to Anny when I want to ignore her for a while. I like it because it's easy. It's easy to look down at a 4" screen and tune out the other people in the waiting room or restaurant or dinner table. I like it so I can't resist. A friend commented on this a while back and I caught myself doing it too. Look around and you'll see people sitting together, looking at their lap and ignoring each other. We'll have to text each other across the table to have a dinner conversation. Ahhh the evolution of the species.

Here's an example of me screwing around with my phone