Saturday,
September 8, 2001

Jaime Lee Curtis would be so proud

Heh. Heh, heh, heh.

I have a cell phone. It's a tiny little thing, and I keep flipping it open and ordering Scotty to beam me up. Heh.

See, we went out to the mall today because Lyndon needed some new jeans, and somehow I wound up mentioning how I wanted to get a cell phone sometime next year when I had a credit rating firmly established again (my reasoning being, they would check my rating before issuing me a phone, and since I'd been gone for seven years I didn't HAVE a credit rating any more so I figured waiting until I'd been here a full year would be a good idea to make sure said credit rating was firmly established).

My beloved had other ideas. "Why now get one today?" he wondered. "Besides, it would be nice to be able to stay in touch with you when you're out wandering around at cons and such. And if you're worried about not having a credit rating yet, you can just get one of those "pay as you talk" phones."

"But I want a real phone when I do get one," I explained. "And besides, even if I wanted one now, I don't have the money to buy one."

"I'll pay for it."

Never turn down a free phone, my granny always said. So we wandered around until we found a Voicestream kiosk, and since they use GSM networks which is the new worldwide standard, a Voicestream phone was my choice. Turns out my credit rating is quite established and A-OK, so I now have a cute little Ericsson T28 World phone, complete with mini-keyboard that jacks into the base of the phone for sending SMS, pager and email messages, a car and office recharger, and a hands-free set with the niftiest clear plastic earphone that makes me feel like Uhura when it's plugged in. And since there's a $50 rebate on the phone, it's essentially free -- all I have to pay is the $40/month plan plus any over-plan calls I make (which aren't going to be a lot -- even when I was in Sweden I didn't use my mobile that much, and considering that I've gone nine months quite happily without one here, I figure I don't have a crushing need to call people on my mobile).

So I am once again connected to the outside world, which is muy cool. Now I just have to figure out how to program in the "Star Trek: The Next Generation" theme in as my personal ring (although apparently I have four personal rings -- I'm leaning towards something Dave Matthews Band-ish for at least one of them, and the Barenaked Ladies' "One Week" as another). Fun, fun, fun.

'Cause They're Tripping Babies

OH! And while we're on the subject of DMB, apparently Mr. Matthews and his lovely wife Ashley have just become mom and dad to twin girls, Stella and Grace. Congratulations to the new parents, and let's hope Dave finds a way to juggle Life as Dad with his touring schedule.