I dare not complain too loudly concerning my recent cell phone upgrade. If you all remember correctly, it was me who was complaining a few months ago about the pitiful service that our previous provided had. Well, that little problem has been solved, but now there is a new one in its place...this "Smart Phone" is apparently smarter than I am!
Robby changed our cell phone provider this week and our new i-phones arrived as well. With the kids spread out all over the country, we had each person's shipped to their home and that left everybody to fend for themselves concerning the activation process. This would not be a problem for the kids, because these younger people were raised on computers and technology, therefore, it is second nature to them. Robby and me....now THAT'S another story. Actually, Robby and I each know enough bits and pieces about technology that if we were so inclined to combine that information, we MIGHT know about one-third of what the children do. However, when the phones were delivered late that evening, Robby opened them and began the activation process immediately. At one point, he asked me how many contacts I had on my phone and I told him not many and that I could definitely put mine in manually. He replied that he could not since he had hundreds on his phone. And THAT was the only question I was asked during the entire process. As I glanced his way every now and then, I noticed that he was concentrating fiercely on this technological project. He had computers and i-pads and phones and cords strewn all out on the kitchen counter top and as I eventually prepared for bed, he was still sitting there with his hair standing on end, looking a bit like Lyle Lovett. I warily glanced his way, thought better of commenting on what he was attempting and turned in for the night.
Upon awaking the next morning and making my way to the coffee pot, I noticed that our i-phones were each plugged into our chargers; Robby must have completed his project. Entering the room, he affirmed that he had indeed successfully activated our phones... there was just one little problem that had occurred. Now, THOSE are NOT words I like to hear. "Hmmm...what's that?", I asked. "Well, those contact I mentioned last night..." "Yea...", I cautiously I replied. "Something happened when I hooked the phones up to the computer and you got all of MY contacts." I slowly turned around and bit my tongue while thinking, WELL THAT'S JUST PEACHY! HUNDREDS of phones numbers. Problem number 1: Ask Justin how to get those numbers off of my phone. With a quick kiss and hug good-bye, he headed out the door without further instruction of how to use this new piece of equipment; SURELY I could figure out how to make a phone call. I would soon discover that apparently I COULD NOT.
Rushing out of the house that morning, I threw the phone in my purse, jumped into my car and headed toward the gym. The first thing I quickly became aware of was that my blue tooth had not been hooked up. Reaching for the phone, itself, I attempted to call Robby. Finding the keypad icon, I touched it and...it said I needed to set up a voicemail. WHAT?! CRAP! I just needed to make a phone call; I couldn't do all of that driving down the road. I knew what I could do; I would just hit my "contacts" icon and call him. UGH!!! He wasn't on his own contacts list and my contacts weren't on the new phone yet. What to do, what to do...I went back to the contact list, hit Justin's name, talked to him and told him to call his dad and have him call me; I would THEN have his number on the phone if I needed to call him again. I may be technologically challenged, but I DO possess some critical thinking skills!
Arriving at the gym, I headed straight to my trainer, told him my "cell-phone plight" and he said, "Hand it to me." He showed me where the settings were and began to assist me with my obviously "Smarter Than A Person Smart Phone"; YES! FINALLY someone who had the time to give me a quick tutorial. He asked if I wanted a new ring tone set and I definitely did; the one that was currently set sounded like a very soft version of a child's xylophone playing...I would NEVER hear that sound ringing inside my purse. After the short instructional session on the usage of the new cell phone, it was time to work out...Heaven KNOWS I was beginning to feel a little bit of stress. After lifting weights and completing my cardio, I found myself still fidgeting with my phone. I was about to go into a yoga class and wanted to make sure my phone did not ring. Hurriedly I ran over to my trainer again (boy, he was really earning his money this morning) and asked him how to put my phone on silent. He told me to just turn the volume down on the side. I said, "Well, if it goes off during class, I'm going to tell them it's YOUR fault." It didn't actually ring, but when a message would come through, it made a little trilling sound (blip...blip...blip...). I looked at it (and the woman on the mat behind me that also heard that little blipping sound), picked it up, walked out of the room and directly over to my trainer again...where I placed it in his hand and asked him to please just put it on his desk because I simply couldn't deal with it right now. I NEEDED yoga more than ever this morning now.
As the day wore on, I continued to work with my new phone, learning more about it with each icon I touched. I needed to reach Justin at work, so I pulled up my (very extensive) contact list, hit "ACE" and waited for someone to answer on the other end. When they did, I did not recognize the voice as I asked to speak to Justin. The individual on the other end seemed as confused as I was. She continued to inquire as to what Justin's last name was and as I gave her that information. She then asked what department he was in...WHAT?! He's the store manager. How does she not know who her boss is? And THAT'S when it hit me...I was speaking to the corporate office in CHICAGO! Ugh...Note to self: Get that contact list removed from my phone ASAP.
Well, as the weekend continued, I became more familiar with my new phone. I learned how to text, hooked up my blue tooth and added quite a few apps to it. I still have all of those hundreds of Robby's contacts on there; finding someone with the knowledge of how to remove those, is a task I will tackle this week. And I could definitely still use my "Own Personal Computer Geek" to assist me, because I'm pretty sure that there are things this phone does that I have absolutely no knowledge of. I have come to the conclusion that these "Smart Phones" are definitely smarter than the average person!
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