Crack is Back!

A crackberry, that is. Went to the Apple store and it would have cost me $499 for a new iPhone - even with my "service" plan, because I still had 18 months on my contract and wasn't ready for an upgrade. I ended up talking to ATT for two hours by phone - first for an hour in the Apple store and then another hour in the ATT store. It became clear, after conducting a cost-benefit analysis, that closing out my account and paying the early contract termination fee and then starting a new account and getting the $99 iPhone was going to save me about $200. When I went to do it, ATT put me through to various departments until the final customer service representative offered a "deal I couldn't refuse."

So, now I'm back to having a crackberry. I'm actually quite excited for a few of reasons. First, the keyboard is so much better on the crackberry. Second, it is kind of nice to be going backwards a bit and not having the latest hottest technology (is that weird?). Third, as you know I love endless change. Here I've changed again. Oh yes, the camera on the crackberry allows me to take better self-portraits and I can post more easily to my blog. That's why you haven't seen portraits in about six months - very challenging on the iPhone.

Here's a YouTube video comparing an iPhone to the Blackberry Bold.



Never a dull moment in Amyville.

Getting Comfortable

I've turned a corner and am much more comfortable in my place and on my own. Nearly everything has found a home within my home, except for 12 boxes I am taking to charity tomorrow. You can't even imagine how many computer cables I have from so many previous technology iterations. Same with music CDs. Now I'm all about downsizing.

ATT has been a challenge in terms of setting up my DSL. Their outsourced tech support is atrocious. However, their local repair service is extraordinary. They had a guy to my house within two hours of my call. He fixed up the DSL line which had a problem at their box. Some things you just can't solve from overseas.

This new apartment is so quiet. Yes, I'm in a busy neighborhood but it is a lovely mix of urban and nature. Today there were two blue jays frolicking in the trees outside my window and then a curious squirrel watching me from the roof. Very peaceful.

In Pursuit of Wireless

Staying with my sibs in DC I was totally spoiled with continuous internet access. Now that I'm "on my own" accessing the internet has become like a religion - equivalent to needing to pray to the great big electricity god in the sky for laptop power.

Stacey and Stefan's house, in which I'm renting the top floor, has wireless but for some reason their IT guy can't get me to connect. The next best option - cafes with free wifi. I've found two in Alameda that are working well for me Java Rama and Julie's. One is a boy hangout and the other very girlie. Java Rama is dark, cavernous and plays 80s music. Julie's is bright, cute, plays jazzy tunes and serves yummy food. You guess which one is for guys and which for girls.

The fantastic feature of Julie's is that they have scones with clotted cream and homemade strawberry jam. Plus, decaf Chai (although it needs some work on flavor).

I'm going to have to figure out a solution to my internet access challenge because this is costing me some major money and calories living off of free wifi. Maybe I could hide in the alley and access their wireless.

Another option is to get a crackberry or a wireless access doo-hickly thingy from AT&T. Costing it out the wireless doo-hicky thingy actually will be less expansive than buying tea and cookies twice a day. But I do like the social aspects of meandering between the two cafes.

Photos of Julie's and my yum-food-hit.