Classic Rant #1,076 (November 4, 2013): Phone Daze

I took off on Friday to attend to some personal family business.

Nothing that extraordinary, but sometimes, you just need to take the day off to attend to such things.

When Friday ended, we moved onto Saturday, and my family did our normal things:

Do the garbage.

Do the dishes.

Go food shopping.

Take our son to his bowling league.

Etc.

But my wife and I--given the chance to do this together, since she is starting to work on the weekends beginning this coming Saturday--did a lot of our holiday shopping.

And yes, we did it together.

Sure, there are always surprises when we buy each other things for the holidays.

But with the holidays all on top of each other this year--and with my wife's birthday just a few days away on November 10--it was just better to do what we had to do, and do it together.

In addition to some other minor gifts that she doesn't know about, I bought her a winter jacket.

Let me tell you, this is some nice jacket, if I do say so myself. It will keep her warm while, at the same time, keep her sexy and stylish.

We bought some other things, but then, in the afternoon, the ultimate happened.

We went to the local Verizon store, and she bought me a cellphone.

Yes, I am probably the last holdout. Sure, I have had cellphones before, but they were pay as you use them devices. They were pretty much phones, and that was it.

Now, she decided that it was a necessity to get me a phone, as we are getting older, and she wants me to have a direct line to her--and she to me--in case of anything that may happen.

So we went to the store, and me, knowing nothing about cellphones--other than I don't really like them, and I don't like what it does to people who use them--looked around, and saw one that I thought was a nice one.

It was a Samsung Galaxy. The one thing I did know is that I did not want anything to do with Apple. Apple wants to rule the world, and they do it, at least partly, through their phones.

When I bought my wife her phone many months ago, I could see that once you use an Apple phone, you are tied into them, especially with iTunes.

I did not want that, and that is probably the only thing I knew at the time, so I went with the Samsung.

After what seemed like a whole afternoon at the place--my wife also upgraded her iPad, don't ask--I left the store with my first real cellphone, my first smartphone.

To say that I am a little afraid of it is an understatement.

I basically put it away for the day when we got home, and helped my wife fiddle with her new iPad--and my son with her old iPad, since he is now the proud owner of her old model that is just less than a year old.

My mind had closed down, and I had had enough. I fell asleep real early on Saturday night.

On Sunday, my wife helped me a little more with the phone. I programmed her phone number into it, and I actually went on the Internet with it. The first thing I went on was a site where I wrote a reply to a column a little while back, so I can say the first thing I ever saw on the Internet on my phone was something I wrote.

Anyway, we programmed in a few other things, and I guess I am good to go.

As you probably know, I am one of those people who have no need to be connected to anybody like some people are. I speak on the phone at work when necessary, but I have never been much of a phone person.

Now, I have a connection to the world at my fingertips, and I don't know whether to feel glad--which I do, I appreciate the gift from my wife--or to feel overwhelmed.

Probably both.

But one thing you can bet on is that you will NEVER see me talking on the phone while driving or texting on the phone while behind the wheel.

I hate it when I see people doing that, have almost had a few accidents because of people doing this, and it is a waste of my valuable time.

Heck, I don't even know how to text yet.

That lesson will come at a later time, I guess.