Staying in Touch

Grandpa and I went shopping over the weekend and got new cell phones for ourselves. Oh yes, we’ve had cell phones for some time, but they WERE getting old and worn out. That was proven not long ago when one of our grand kids, was truly shocked when she found out we didn’t have camera’s on our phones! Ha! That revelation plus the fact that they would no longer hold a charge and were forever unusable, prompted an upgrade.

I can’t begin to describe the choices we had in the store, but thank goodness for a sweet, young clerk who realized our confusion, took pity on us and helped describe what each one did, what might be important to our needs and what wasn’t. Two hours later we walked out of the store with our new cell phones……then home to get them set up.

Every instruction in the 4” thick manual, started with “hit ok, go to menu”. Ok fine! We hit the ok and could NOT find the menu. This literally went on for hours, none of our kids or grandkids were home to help, so we were stuck. Then, only because I believe God took mercy on us, by mistake, Grandpa found the menu……

Now…….we start thru the instruction manual again! First thing we learned how to do and completed (I’m very proud to say) was all the steps needed to set up our “voicemail”. Ok readers, are you setting down? Steady yourselves…..We did not have voice mail on our old phones, and we do not have a message machine on our home phone!. Message machines are at the top of my “pet peeve” list. If I call you and you do not answer, I do not need a recording to tell me you’re not there and to try you later……I will try you again later if I really need to talk to you. I don’t believe anything I have to tell you is so important that I would have to leave you a message about it because if you’re not there, there is nothing you could do about it anyway! I feel the same if you try to call me and I don’t answer. If I had wanted to you to know where I was going and when I might be back, I would have called you before I left! Furthermore, If I am not there when you call there is nothing I can do to help you!

Regardless, we have friends and relatives alike who constantly call our cell phones and leave messages, then the next time they see me they’re all over me for not returning their call! (well, why didn’t you try back later)? I refuse to be tied to a cell phone and in case I walk out of the house and forget to take it with me, I don’t think my world is going to end if I forgot to inform you that I’m not home.

Now, with all of that describing how I feel about voice mail, we did set them up anyway…… (mostly because I think we’re the only ones left in the world who do not have one). What’s so funny is that once we had them running, we both started getting messages that had been left on our phones since 20005! We did have a good time listening to them as it provided two hours of entertainment as we both listened to and deleted each one. It was all really important things like “thank you so much, I really enjoyed my visit, and I’m home now”. Or when we were on vacation with another couple in separate vehicles two years ago, there were several that said “oh aren’t the trees just beautiful”? There were quite a few that I’m surprised I’ve lived this long without hearing, such as “Hi, I just tried to call and you’re not home”. And there were lots of blank hangup’s. How have I lived for years without all that valuable information.

Now that I’ve probably ticked off every friend and relative I have, I’ll probably never have another message on my voicemail, but regardless, I do have one now on my cell phone.

Step two was trying to “download” music for my ringer…… I went into the place they offered to get music. The first place I did not recognize one artist or song on there….. Now really, I’m not THAT old, but whoever heard of Wu tang clag……..????? Finally I found something they called “oldies”, and most of it was what I call “modern music”. Locating “country”, they didn’t show anyone older than Alan Jackson who in my books is a youngster. It was at that point I threw up my hands and decided to use the phone’s built in ringer.

Moving on to “contacts”, the clerk was nice enough to switch my old contacts to the new phone or I’d still be trying to figure out that section! Heaven forbid if anyone ever changes their number.

Then came time to practice with the new built in cameras…… wow! So now I have pictures of grass, the silverware on the table, the tv in my living room, a chair, and the carpet! I haven’t figured out how to get rid of those yet.

Now that I have this new little shiny thing laying here beside me, I hope you’ll call and leave me a message telling me you’ll try back later……. That is, IF I can remember my password and find the right buttons to push.!