Off the Cliff and Into the Warm, Deep, Blue Waters

I started a blog and got an iPhone in the last two weeks. Who would have thought?!

It took Steve and I about 3 hours to decide to buy an iPhone on Saturday, aside from the months of thinking about it. We knew they were awesome, by sheer testament from many friends. We went to the AT&T store, fiddled around with the phone, got the rundown on costs, fees, etc. from staff, came home, and then stood in the doorway for about 30 minutes, trying to decide whether to go back out and buy the damn thing already. I, for one, needed a new phone. The volume control on my phone was stuck on high, which only actually manifested itself when my mom called - something about our two phones together. So apart from having my mom scream in my ear everyday, my old phone also went blank from time to time, and provided seriously horrible reception in my house and neighborhood. However, the pros about this compact, resistant and practical phone were many - I could take it everywhere in the littlest of pockets; it had 2 years worth of photos, texts, and memories; again oh so resistant - even fell out of my pocket into a toilet once and worked again like a charm within an hour; and so many more wonderful things about this little phone. I fit perfectly into my ski jacket, and never got too cold, never got damaged from the snow, and was extremely light. I love you little old phone, despite your old age and ills!! You stuck with me through thick and thin and toilet water, and you will now live in my nightstand drawer.

As you might have guessed, we bought the new phones. Steve gets a government monthly rate discount, and it's really handy for him to have access to email/news/music on the bus trip to work. We had also wanted to get on a family plan for a while. For me, I like having email access while traveling, needed a more reliable phone, and thought that life would be made a bit easier with an iPhone. There were some downsides. Notably, we'd have to switch networks to AT&T from Verizon, which we weren't thrilled about, because our entire families are on Verizon. We wouldn't be able to call our families with unlimited minutes. Another was cost. Even with the government discount, the initial cost of the phones, AppleCare and start-up fees were high. At the end of the day, we figured that it was worth it. The next best thing would have been to stick with Verizon and buy either Blackberry Storms (any jaunt over to CNET would teach anyone that this is a crappy and misguided phone), or get a cheaper, but worse, phone. Even though there's a certain choice here, I really didn't see much of an opportunity cost. I would rather save the money than get a crappy web- or email-enabled phone. Maybe just one opportunity cost, that of keeping the Verizon service for unlimited calling. Otherwise, the choice was clear.

So we're iPhone enabled. I had a rough first day with the iPhone. Mainly because the AT&T rep couldn't upload my contacts from my old phone (bless its little heart - it kept fighting til the end!), and I had to enter all contacts manually. Carpel tunnel, here I come. We went skiing Sunday and I was a bit paranoid all day that it would crash and burn in my ski jacket pocket due to cold, moisture, or other. It didn't, but I was worried. The phone also did not charge overnight Sat. to Sun. (user error, mea culpa), so I couldn't even use it that much on Sunday, and it died during a crucial iPhone-needed moment, while stuck in traffic in I-70. Also, I got home Sunday night and it crashed and wouldn't start up. I still don't know why, but it was emotionally trying. It was plugged in, but wouldn't cooperate. Steve got it to work, somehow. There's also an emotional aversion to this phone. I miss my old phone. It had been so good to me! And so cute and compact! It sounds superficial, but it represented a part of my life that's now over. It will never get to go on a fun trip with me again! Oh the places that little black phone had been!

My other main issue so far is also user-inflicted. I was so used to my old phone in and out (what a good little bugger!), that I get impatient trying to figure out how to delete something on the iPhone, call someone back, perform simple functions, etc. I am slowly learning, but it's an exciting learning process, in fact. There's always a sense of excitement with this phone because you never know what you'll discover next. And it does indeed make life a lot easier. Here's one of my first pictures taken, of Steve at Copper yesterday.

Anyway, the charging problems are sorted out, and I am working on shelving the emotional attachment. I can now proceed to have fun with the damn thing. I've downloaded some Apps, mostly standard ones. Google Earth, Flixster, Weather Channel, NFL info, NY Times, NPR, MapMyRide. I think this will be good for me. Morgan 2.0!