TOTALLY off-topic.

We have a basic phone and when our last one died I went online to see what they had for free.  All we want to be able to do is dial out and answer.  After I saw what I could get for free I went to the local AT&T store to look at them.  The salesman kept trying to talk me into buying righ then.  Their phones were about $50-$60 more than online so why would I pay $50 for something I can get in a week for free.  My stepdaughter and her husband were with us and she kept trying to talk me into getting an iPhone.  Whey pay for things I won’t use.  We do have a camera on the phone as that seems to come standard on them all anymore.   I took a photo of our puppies and that’s our wallpaper on the phone but I don’t send email them to people.

We had texting turned off on the phone because I DON’T TEXT and my niece kept texting me and if I accidently read it I had to pay. Yeah, only 25 cents a text but still I had to pay for something I don’t want.  The phone is only turned on if we’re using it. I will turn it on if I go out alone incase Don has to call me but he only turns it on if he’s going to call me which annoys the heck out of me as there are times he goes to the store and I think of something else for him to pick up and it goes right to voicemail.

The other day he went out and kept hearing a beeping.  When he looked at the phone it was turned on and asked if he wanted to keep the web browser on.  We’re now wondering if it accidently got into that mode and stayed there which would mean a very high bill.  I also have times when I’ll be going to the calculator (yes I do use that) and it starts to go into internet and I have to quickly shut it down.   I’m wondering if they could turn off the internet also since it’s something we DON’T use.  

When I was working a phone was a must as I did home care and would get calls from the office about a patient, I’d have to call patients and doctors and a few times I’d have to call for an ambulance.  When I was off work the phone went off.  I hate being out with someone and they keep answering their phone.  Their teenage or 20 something kids keep texting or calling them.  Their phone is annoying me.  

I’d read an article several years ago that cell phones which were suppose to give people peace of mind are adding to stress.   Use to be you’d go out for dinner and be able to relax and enjoy yourself but now your office and friends can find you wherever you are so you’re always ON and never able to get away.  If people would turn their cell phones off once in a while we’d be a happier society. 

My SIL doesn’t drive and stays home all the time. She usually stays in bed and watched TV or plays video games.   She’s got her cell phone on her bed right next to her cordless phone.  She’ll be talking to you on the land phone and she’ll have to take a call on the cell phone.  It’s very annoying, worse than call waiting as now you can hear her side of the entire conversation.

over the past five years or so, I never used them that much…in fact, currently I don’t have a "cell phone" provider now (I can hear the shocked screams of horror right now)…it’s not the money or cost – it’s the privacy and peace principle. 

If I wanted to talk a lot on the phone all the time, I’d "unretire" or go pick up the home phone.   A lot of my friends berate (or cajole) me into having a cell – under the guise of "every one, especially a woman, needs a cell phone for emergencies". 

Yes, they are nice to have.  Yes, there’s been one or two times that I wished I’d had one due to the circumstances.  However, I know folks that you might as well glue (and use the super cement kind), to their ear or implant the phone in their head – (that’s coming in the future I’m sure)!   They reach for their phone first thing before even turning off their alarm clock in the am to see if they missed a text or a phone call in the night…Ahhhhhhhhh, NO thank you.   

Baby Boomers there is!)

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant.

They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can and didn’t get tested for diabetes.

Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered

with bright colored lead-base paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, locks on doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had baseball caps not helmets on our heads..

As infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, no booster seats, no seat belts, no air bags, bald tires and sometimes no brakes.

Riding in the back of a pick- up truck on a warm day was always a special treat.

We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle.

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and no one actually died from this.

We ate cupcakes, white bread, real butter and bacon. We drank Kool-Aid made with real white sugar. And, we weren’t overweight.. WHY?

Because we were always outside playing…that’s why!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on..

No one was able to reach us all day. And, we were OKAY.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride them down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem

We did not have Play stations, Nintendo’s and X-boxes. There were no video games, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVD’s, no surround-sound or CD’s, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet and no chat rooms.

WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.

We would get spankings with wooden spoons, switches, ping pong paddles, or just a bare hand and no one would call child services to report abuse.

We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did not poke out very many eyes.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend’s house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them.

Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn’t had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!

These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever. The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all.

If YOU are one of them, CONGRATULATIONS!

Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn’t it ?

I have the old-fashioned call waiting:  If you call me and get a busy signal, wait a bit and call me back.

 EOM…

back to when the phones were carried around in a shoulder bag.  When I look at what I carry now, I’m amazed at how inconvenient those early models were.  We farm almost 1,000 acres and cell phones are a very efficient manner in which to communicate.  For that purpose, they are invaluable.  Also, my Mom will be 88 later this month and it is peace of mind for her to know she can reach any of us in an emergency.  In fact, she just bought a track phone because she lost power during a tornado on June 5 that came very close to her home and we didn’t know if she was okay.  Our son lives a mile away from her and it did go through his back yard doing a lot of damage.  However, he was able to let us know his family was okay; but, needed us to come ASAP.  We don’t have all the bells and whistles and don’t need them.  Just give us a quick means of communication and we’re good to go.