SST: BRRRRRINGG!!!

SESAME STREET TUESDAY

Back in August, I blogged about my very first cell phone contract ending. I was eligible to get a new phone for free, but for some reason I never got around to it until one month ago (and only then because I had an hour to kill while my oil was getting changed and there just happened to be a Verizon store right next door). When I got my first phone I went for the most basic phone I could get my hands on (indeed, it was a discontinued model even then), but now that I am a seasoned cell phone veteran of 2 1/2 years, I decided that maybe it was time for a cooler phone.

So I got one of those slick phones with a slide-out full keyboard because I'm still abysmally slow at texting. However, I over the last month I learned that a) I really don't text all that often, and b) I was just as slow using the full keyboard. Plus, I got annoyed with the phone getting its buttons mashed in my pocket, although I don't think I ever "pocket dialed" anyone (I apologize if I did). And even though I always kept it on vibrate and I would lock the keyboard, occasionally my pocket would blurt out, "Please say a command!"

However, one design flaw dwarfed all my other qualms. Homer Simpson once wisely advised his inventor half-brother that "people are afraid of new things. You should have just taken an existing product and put a clock on it or something." When it comes down to it, the function I use most on my cell phone is the clock, and even pulling up the clock on that new phone was a chore.

Yesterday was the last day of my 30-day trial period with the new phone, so I took that slick little phone back and traded it in for a basic, boring flip-phone. But at least it's a boring, basic flip-phone with a killer clock on the front!

Maybe I just don't understand phones at all:



Editor's Note: This clip is dedicated to the Hacking boys, who just couldn't get enough of the Yip Yip Aliens in "Radio."