To Smart Phone or Not To Smart Phone

Sometimes I just don't understand my husband. Okay, so maybe it's most of the time, but still. He seems to think I should own a smart phone.

Now, if it would save us money, I probably wouldn't have an issue with it. Well, I would have an issue with it because those touch screens do not like me (apparently my fingers are too cold most of the time – which is a problem I also have with my Nook). He gets mad at me when he wants me to do something on his phone, yet it's his stupid phone that won't work with me. Do I want that kind of frustration all the time? I don't think so.

Besides, I'm home all day, on my laptop with my e-mail account open. Tell me why I should go the extra expense.

He's thinking it's not an extra expense, though. That's because he was able to get his company to pay for his phone (they wanted access to him and that was his price). I kind of like the fact we're saving money on the phone and see no reason to upgrade.

However, I told him I would probably get one (but not an iPhone; probably one of those smart phones that has a real keyboard) if I ever got another job and needed access to my e-mails. Frankly, I hope it never comes to that.

And no, this is not just a phone issue. He was like this before I got my laptop, too.

He kept saying I needed one. I hadn't discovered my love of writing at the time, and rarely used the computer, so I saw no sense in getting one. Then the writing bug hit and I decided that maybe I could write if I had my own laptop. Man, he was all over that. You'd think he won the lottery!

But don't you think it's strange he WANTS to spend money? I know, you think it's strange I DON'T!! J

*****

Now on to sports!

Football – I'm finished! Every team I rooted for lost. I refuse to watch a Super Bowl game with the two teams I despise the MOST! Not even for the commercials. I'm sure it'll be on our TV, though. My husband probably can't NOT watch it!

Hockey – Yay! It's back! And the Penguins have won their first two games. They won't be playing in Columbus this year (they were before the lockout), and I can't really afford to go there to see them play, but hopefully I'll see them on TV a lot. If not, there's always cbssports.com! Don't you just love the Internet? I do!

 

Another Rant on Technology

Well, I've been bad! Last night I forgot to write today's blog. Guess I got so caught up in watching the rest of Season 4 of Torchwood (which was good, by the way) and editing (while I'm getting closer to the end, I'm also at the point where more work is needed since the ending is changing), and then talking to my hubby (he had to go to KY on business – without me this time), that it completely slipped my mind!

Not that what I have today is all that interesting. Just a rant. And is it any surprise it has to do with technology? Probably not!

I hate those self-check lines at the store. No, I mean really HATE. So much so, I will purposely wait in a line of 10 people for a regular register than wait in a line of 2 for one of those self-checkouts. I avoid them like the plague.

But then there comes a time where I don't have any choice. Like at Kroger at 6:30 in the morning, when they don't have any regular registers open. Yes, I should be thankful the store is open that early (although if it wasn't I could have easily waited). Instead, I inwardly groaned.

I didn't have much (thank goodness), but it still took longer than it should have. I started with the easy stuff first. An apple pie and a box of cookies (my husband wanted these to take down to KY as gifts – yes he likes to wait until the last minute to tell me these things). Then I got to the items I knew would cause me problems. Why? Because they don't weigh anything.

And that's the problem with those stupid self-check lines.

Don't you think the computer should know that a gift card doesn't weigh anything and if you stick it in the bag, as it says, there's no way in HELL it will register? Yet, the computer will keep telling you to put the item in the bag and won't let you scan the next one until you do. I had four of these suckers!

And it's not just gift cards. I've had the same thing happen when I've bought tweezers, or chapstick, or anything that is small and lightweight. Anything that won't hit the bottom of that plastic bag. And what if I didn't want to use their bag? What if I brought my own?

I know, I'm probably the only one around here who complains about technology. And for the most part, I guess I do like things simple, but not at the expense of making me feel miserable. And that's what those self-check lines do to me. Every. Time.

So, what kind of technology stuff sets you off?

 

Times Have Changed (For Me)

Sunday night my husband and I were watching "The Amazing Race" on our DVR. We record the show and watch it later so we can zip through the commercials. However, when we finished the show, I noticed the DVR said 0% full. The last I saw, it said 50% full. I chose a show to watch and got a black screen.

Hmmm. Not looking good.

I rebooted the system. It starting this countdown, something it had never done before. I almost wish I had just turned it off and then back on first, to see if that was the problem, but now it was too late. My husband suspected it was reformatting the hard drive. He was right.

We lost everything. 50 hours worth. There were series I was in the middle of watching and some series we hadn't even started yet. At least it kept track of the series we want to record, although at this point, some of them are kind of useless.

There was a time when this would have really pissed me off. Not so much now. I know why, too. It's a time waster and I don't have time to waste like I used to (you know, because of that writing thing I do). But I do enjoy watching some shows with my husband, and he still loves to watch TV.

He's in the process of seeing how many shows he can download on the internet, especially since most of the ones that were lost were his. The ones I watch without him are available to me easy enough – I just have to find the time to watch them before they go away!

Technology promises so much, but can crash and burn like everything else!

Another reason I buy actual CDs of my music – and email my manuscript to myself after every day I touch it. You just never know.