I made a Facebook fanpage.

I am doing a trial run to see if this is a useful way to interact with my friends. I don't have a wares to peddle, but I do often find myself sending links over and over to people, or forwarding sales or juggling the two. I want to funnel a lot of the consumerism through the "fan" page, especially for short blurbs, get more friends interacting, and get more two way traffic going from here to FB and vice versa. So while I put myself in the "products" category, it's because that's what I'll be discussing a lot.

I'll try to be diligent about keeping the content from going too stagnant. I also feel Facebook will help me to keep things more brief. I get so wordy with my blogs and I get so wrapped up I have to drop it to do something else before I finish...

I would ask if you think the page is useful, but it remains to be seen, doesn't it?

Regardless, I do a lot of online shopping, a lot of shop talk with my ladies, and get an obscene amount of sale alerts and it need to be shared!

Plus, if you're reading this with Google reader or similar, I highly suggest you mosey on over to the actual blog and check out the pretty new background.

My Need

In the past 2 days I have received offers from friends for a new cell phone and new headphones.
Have I mentioned that I need an Alexander McQueen knuckle duster clutch??

Seriously, I'm getting new stuff this week, I swear. Starting with the headphones. These pups will not sustain me much longer. Not after listening to Maggie's noise cancelers. Complete with ridicule of my music choice! Balkan brass bands are my thing right now, you can't take THAT away, too.

Muzak

Sometime last spring I wrote about coming to the realization that I need new things around the house, like a new hairbrush and new tennis shoes for my husband. I feel like the time of the season is upon is once again.

I love to shop. I spend too much time perusing the net for new items and sales, and I'm damn good at it, too. I always have some sort of coupon code, point system, miles, cash back or other gimmick working to my advantage. The kicker here is that this is generally for items that I want and not necessarily need, like accessories. I stalk items I want until I find the lowest possible price and save myself hundreds of dollars on really amazing purses. My husband tells me that since the item is not 'needed,' it's not really 'saving.' My answer to this is that if the item is going to show up at my house regardless of need, be glad that I am saving you hundreds of dollars in the process. Think I shouldn't be considering handbags that price in the hundreds? My answer to this is that I can barely (and I mean barely) wear shoes. Most women pride themselves on their footwear. I have to be grateful anything is wearable, let alone matches and also looks good on top of it. Of course, they rarely match or look good...so I have to take this frustration out on something, preferably something that draws the eye up...and is not my rack.

I digress.

I will go to great lengths for a handbag. I will stalk it like a stealthy cheetah on Planet Earth and snipe it on sale, getting bonus miles and free shipping on top of it. So why, why, why is it that when I truly NEED something, I am the last person on earth to realize it? Case in point: my headphones at work.

I bought these beauties at Wal-Mart on Christmas break in 2003. I had just purchased my first iPod that fall and left it in my dorm room over break like an idiot. I had to resort to using my discman. The horror. On top of it, we had no headphones to speak of at my mom's, so off to Wally World I went. One Nelly Furtado "Folklore" CD and a pair of $4 headphones later, I was rockin'...and I still am.
I have gone through many pairs of those crappy iPod ear buds since then, but the Koss (that's their brand name) have outlasted them. The music never crackles and is always playing evenly in both ears. The right earphone is held on to the headband with Scotch tape, which sometimes rips out my hair. The left earphone foam (which has magically not disintegrated) is barely hanging on and is almost just a ring of foam...but they still make sweet music for me!

The Koss are the butt of many jokes around the office. One coworker even brought me an old pair of her headphones (not held together by Scotch tape) but they were a little crackly and I feel that I get more ear coverage/surround sound with the Koss.
I tend to crank my music, especially when everyone leaves the office. Often times, it's just Manicure Maggie and I around here as other coworkers commute and come before 9 to avoid traffic. This side of the office is generally barren, so we can't bother too many people by cranking our Lady Gaga. (OK, so that's probably just my musical choice.) Since I'm a music cranker, I feel that ear buds are not for me, not to mention they're ridiculously uncomfortable. I have been told I need to be in the market for noise-canceling headphones. I'm looking for something that will allow me to blare my music for my listening enjoyment, while not bothering others, and most of all not damage my hearing. So, I'm looking for, as Maggie would say, magical unicorn dust.

So again, the more someone tells me I need to do something, the more I don't do it. Today's drug of choice? Seven year old, $4, Koss headphones from Wal-Mart that are LITERALLY held together by a string. 

Two and a half years after I brought these puppies to the office in this Scotch-taped condition, I'm starting to get the feeling that it might be time to not only let them go, but to upgrade to a better listening experience. 

High on my wish list are the Beats by Dr. Dre headphones...why do I like these? Could it be their 'powered amplification?' Their precision engineering to reveal 'the full sound of today's digital music'? Nope. I like them because the name Dr. Dre is stamped on them. Anything endorsed by a doctor MUST be good, especially a doctor of music that spins beats in a Dr. Pepper commercial. 'Trust me, I'm a doctor.' Because nothing says 'knowledgeable' like a man who goes triple platinum with an album titled 'The Chronic.' 

Am I going to drop $300 on the Beats? If you've been reading, you know I don't take medical advice...so chances are, I will not be enjoying the full sound of today's digital music through these phones anytime soon. Not when there are $300 purses calling my name. (And, to be frank, $3,000 ones, too, but those would be noticed by a certain someone on our bank statement...)

My point on this, the third day of my irritating habits week, is that after 2+ years of jabs at the Koss, I believe I am now ready to upgrade. It takes me years to get on board, people. 




And a note on my cell phone...the plastic of the faceplate is peeling off in a light brown, flaky mess. 

On being inept at cell phones in 2010.

Have you been trying to reach me? So have other people. For years. My ineptness with the modern device known as the 'mobile' has a long history...

I didn't get my first cell phone until 2001 during my second year of college. It was a Christmas gift I had asked for, which means I didn't join the human race until the post 9/11 world. And it was pre-paid. Commitments are not my thing (though I have a husband.) I spent a lot of time on campus and wanted a way other than a pay phone (what's that??) to reach my mom if I needed to while at class/work or to reach friends while bumming around a huge state-school campus.

Funny thing about cell phones: their batteries need to be charged. Regularly, apparently. They also can be detached from the charger and taken with you wherever you go! They are amazing little devices...if you remember to charge them and put them in your bag, preferably in that order. A lot of people used cell phones as a handy little way to lie to their parents about their whereabouts. My mother never cared where I was while at college, so long as she had a general idea of my plans and a way to reach me if necessary. I was never scolded about being out too late and getting my school work done. I was one of the lucky few that had a generally open and trusting relationship with my mom. Instead, I was chastised for receiving a cell phone that was either never charged, or always in my dorm while I was out. Using too much air time was an issue my mother never had with my phone.

Living in Taiwan was an eye-opening experience. I still say the system they had while I was there in 2002-2003 is better than ours currently. All cell phones have a sim card. You don't need to be committed to any carrier or contracts. You simply buy a phone and a sim card. Minutes are purchased on a pre-paid basis at your local 7/11, which are plentiful in Taipei. I am sure that in 2010 they have thought of more incredible ways to be more logical than we are where telecommunications are involved, but this system was ingenious to me at the time, and frankly still is. Sure, we have pre-paid options here in the states, but they still require that you choose a carrier, possibly even have some sort of contract. Most cell phones in the US are pretty much useless when visiting another country, or exorbitantly expensive. When visiting Hong Kong, my friend simply swapped out his Taiwan sim card for a Hong Kong sim card and purchased minutes. Furthermore, these phones were never charged for incoming calls or texts, only for outgoing.

This is part of the reason I chose TMobile. I am married to the sim card idea. My husband has Sprint. It does not work in our house or his lab, nor does it have a sim card. Getting a new phone is a whole process for him that requires going to a Sprint store for them to program it. I can simply switch out my sim card.

Granted, I realize that I am ranting on an invention that is a decade old, which makes it a dinosaur in the technology world. I also realize I am completely oblivious to any new inventions out there that may have surpassed the sim card in convenience. In my world, cell phones are still used for phone calls...

While in Taiwan, it was quite en vogue then to have the smallest phone possible. This is when I fell in love with the V70. I, too, have fallen prey for the smallest possible devices fashion, which is moving past me even where digital cameras are concerned. (I refuse to carry a huge camera. I travel a lot. The SLRs are not for me.) I kept my V70 dinosaur even though I am 3 cell phones past it. One of those phones was the Dolce Gabanna incarnation of the RAZR. My husband was none too pleased at what I spent on it just to have the D&G logo emblazoned on it. I treat phones as an accessory that sometimes receive calls. Prada has a few phones out...these are the most interesting items I have seen on the cell market as of late...which shows you where my priorities lie.

Pack ratting the V70 paid off. My latest incarnation of the RAZR is lying in pieces at home. Don't ask...just picture the Incredible Hulk, which was incidentally my nickname as a 10 pound newborn. (That didn't lead to poor self esteem...)

So I am currently rocking the V70 again. It's battery is coughing and wheezing, asking to be charged at least every 24 hours, or more if I intend to receive calls. I found out the hard way that I am not receiving text messages at the moment. In fact, as you may already know, I am also not taking calls. The battery has been dead since Saturday. This has prompted people to email me, use my landline, and even in one case actually knock on my door.

If my lack of responsiveness has annoyed you, I assure you that I think I am at the height of cell phone fashion with this phone. It's still got a sleek bod. I ooh and ahh at its blue lights. Black and neon blue! Those are its two colors on the screen. The buttons (OMG, my phone actually has buttons) are so tiny, I can barely press them. When I did receive texts, I read about five words at a time before having to scroll (its screen is probably 1"x1"). Texting back was laborious. The charger is bigger than the phone itself. While it does receive calls when charged, it does not have a camera. In fact, I am wondering if, when I did have a camera phone, the photos were stored on the sim card or the phone itself? Is the card full? Is this the reason for not receiving texts? With no way to delete the photos on this phone? It has come to this, all...

I have been complaining about wanting a smart phone for at least a year now. While I do know what those are, I don't know enough about them to choose which one I want. Decision making is a source of anxiety for me, as is committing to a device I have to pay for up front in order to avoid a contract. Furthermore, most of these phones are ugly. Apparently, what the phone looks like does not matter in 2010. They are large, clunky devices that do entirely too much. Often times, they do not have buttons. They require things like data plans added on to your bill. By the time I choose a device I like, I realize it's not on TMobile. Again, I've been a TMobile customer for 7 years, though I've heard rumblings of a Sprint merger. I have unlimited minutes and no contract under the loyalty plan. I am a happy TMobile customer that has rarely had a dropped call. In a small way, taking my business to a company with foreign roots was my small 'F you' to the American cell phone industry, which I have found to be the most inconvenient on the planet. This is my personal opinion with clearly no scientific or technological evidence. Does a person who wants a phone that is magically always charged and grows legs to follow her have the clout to make this kind of judgment? Probably not...

Is there a resolution to this rant? Not today. I will continue to be irritating with my mobile absence. My phone will be charged intermittently. I may or may not receive your texts. I may or may not soon rip the band-aid and breakdown and get a Blackberry, which even as I typed it almost came out "Burberry." Having a Blackberry may bring me in to at least 2005...and if Burberry makes a phone, I'm there...