The Thundering Herd spent the holiday at the beach. The human dad enjoyed the scenery and Cheoah immersed herself in other things.
I think of Cheoah as a kindred spirit. Scenery is fine as long as it doesn’t keep me from immersing myself in my projects. Well, truth to tell, my projects don’t usually involve my butt in the air and my head in the ground, but immersion it is nonetheless.
And I spend a lot of time digging for information. As I’m writing this I’m also chatting online with a Verizon representative to see if we can get Andy a cell phone that works up on the land. His old one can’t get reception there, and the workmen had problems with their phones too. We’re checking to see if a new one would be more powerful.
I also spent the morning doing research on satellite internet plans, and they all seem to suck be less than satisfactory. So at the moment we don’t have either cell phone service or internet up there. As a consequence I’ve spent the past few days planning how to set up my study so it will work for occasional visits at least. On a nice day the scenery up there is beautiful, so it’s well worth some effort.
Are you a project person too? What are your favorite ways of spending your time?
Cell phone reception is a funny thing. We were on AT&T (which had bought out Cingular, our original provider) and our cell service sucked at our house, even though, at night we can see the beacon on the newest cell tower in the area down in the valley less than two miles away. In 2010, we switched to Verizon (which had bought out Alltel and was now available in Arkansas) and our cell service improved to the point that we got rid of our land-line and went totally wireless. (We’re back to being wired, but just for internet.)
Cell phone reception is a funny thing (part deax) — two miles east of us, our cell phone reception goes to nothing…. It’s a dead-zone for cell service.
Funny you should be writing about possibly getting a new phone. I had been researching cell phones for a while and had pretty much settled on an iPhone. We were in Walmart on Friday for prescriptions and I suggested we stop by electronics to see if they had any iPhone 5s in service, since they were on sale there for $70 off each (with a 2 year plan) — and they did — so we did, get new phones that is. Since we started getting a cell phone for each of us, we’ve always gone with the same model — that way we can share learning. So far, they’ve been fun gadgets — did a blog post earlier using a new ap on mine, BlogPress, most of which was verbally dictated to the ap instead of typing.
What time?
one of my blog friend’s husband was just up on the roof of their huge barn. he fell and broke his foot. it’s winter and cold!
she didn’t say if he had his phone with him. but i would think
a cell phone might make the difference in hypothermia setting in before help could come. he broke his foot and would have had to hop or crawl a long distance otherwise. he’s okay.
a cell phone might be a life saver if you’re somewhere remote.
so i’d say worth it to keep checking til one works!
it’s so pretty up there. i bet montana and sammy loved it!!!
I tend to see my life as a series of projects. Though I do have daily routines (email, first coffee and so on).
Mike,
Thanks for the information–I can use all of it I can get! What kind of plan do you have? As I understand you have free calls to one another and to all Verizon mobile users? With a smart phone you need to sign up for so much data a month? I’m still doing research at this point.
Rummuser,
You seem to be immersed in catching up socializing. That counts. 🙂
tammy,
If Andy fell and hurt himself his phone would probably in the house, so it wouldn’t do any good. If he took it on a hike it might help us find him if he had it on and if he was in a place with good reception.
In fact, thanks to the gal I was chatting with online yesterday, he did make a call today from the living room up there to down here. She had mentioned typing in *228 to update the phone. It turns out he had turned off the roaming feature years ago, so I turned it back on. He’ll try again to see if it works consistently. We’re keeping our fingers crossed. I’m still looking at new phones that would be easier for him to use, and at options for some internet up there. Just one more adventure.
Evan,
Me too!
Verizon has really simplified their smartphone plans — Share Everything for unlimited voice and text with options on the amount of data usage. We’re starting with 4 gbytes shared and we’ll adjust from there. Other options are available for basic phones.
I decided to go with either iPhone or Android because of the experience of our last phones not being mainstream. In the just under 3 years since we went with the Palm Pre, the company was bought by HP and a number of aps we used stopped being supported. I figured that the best applications would be readily available on the two most popular operating systems. I decided on the iPhone 5 after reading a number of “geek media” reviews and talking with several co-workers.
Part of the reason we’re staying with smartphones — besides essentially having a mini-computer, calculator, e-reader, news stand, gps device, etc. — is for the personal wifi hotspot when we’re traveling. That’s the capability of using our laptops wirelessly linked to the internet through the phones. We just have to be able to get a phone signal, though, the better the phone signal, the better we’re able to connect with our computer.
Did you enquire about the price of the roaming feature? With Australian plans the price of roaming can be extortionate.
How did mankind survive BC (Before Cellphone)?
I still don’t carry one.
U
Mike,
Thanks for the information! Your system sounds great for you because of your traveling. We don’t travel much, and Andy’s cell phone is just for emergencies, so we have one of the simplest plans right now. I’m mainly looking into internet access for when I go up there. I’m just in the first stages of looking and was looking at their jet packs/mobile hotspots until I read user reviews. The consensus is even with good reception they’re fast–fast at burning up money! The users complained they were charged for a lot more data than they had used. The system didn’t work right. And as far as I can tell right now the prepaid data plans don’t include roaming, which wouldn’t do for us up there.
Even though it wouldn’t work for us I’m interested how one can use your smartphone as a mobile hotspot. Torben managed to do some texting with his new ATT iPhone up there once, so presumably if that became reliable in the future he could have connected to the Internet with his computer or iPad. That’s impressive. Things are always changing so if reception ever improves….
Evan,
Thanks for the warning. That’s a real danger if one doesn’t know about it.
U,
I have no need of a cell phone down here because I’m a homebody, but phone booths are getting harder and harder to find. I had to use one in Chicago a couple of years ago because Andy couldn’t remember how to use his cell phone. I’m buying a simpler model before we go traveling again. 🙂
You’ll just have to go back to smoke signals.
Sorry, I’m not a techie so I have nothing more useful to say.
me again. i just had to stop back by and see those two happy dogs in the picture. one laughing while the other sniffs head deep in a hole. LOLOL! love it.
and ursula ~
i might as well not carry one either.
i never remember to charge it!
Just this last week, 2 people lost in bush/high country of NZ. One found quickly because of technical equipment, the other not found for 3 days. However, they both lived…the one without technology said “I’ll be better equipped next time” – they have their merits even if some people believe that they aren’t useful.
Projects I adore, and I have many
I have 3 pieces of thick paper with other bits of paper glued on to it – waiting for it to be dry enough to send to next process…whatever that is 🙂
Nick,
Do they still have pay phones where you are?
tammy,
I love that picture too. The Thundering Herd has a lot more good ones, as well as some great stories.
Cathy,
Of course, the reception has to be good in order for the technology to work. And as tammy says, the battery has to be charged–that’s nontrivial if one seldom uses the phone. 🙂 Andy tried to phone home today and couldn’t make contact. He succeeded Monday and will try again tomorrow.
Yes, I know you’re a project person too. That’s neat!
How very interesting, Jean, that you should mention phone booths. Here too they are increasingly difficult to come by.
But don’t you have land lines at home as do I? I dimly remember another American friend saying they are a bit thin on the ground in the States, if at all available.
Please don’t misunderstand: I think cellphones are a gift from heaven. Not least when your offspring is in the North of France phoning me in the middle of the night asking me to find out which number motorway he should take. He was HITCHhiking. Dear dog in heaven. I tell you: My hair stood on end. Not that I could let on, obviously. Worry is best kept to oneself. And yes, he did make it back home. And his mobile (as we call it here) just as useful when he phones me on his way back home from work to inquire whether I want him to pick up something by way of shopping. Or be late or change of plans or whatever.
Nevertheless, technology as developed over the last few decades sometimes makes me wonder at life before instantly connecting. I remember a time when it caused quite some excitement for my grandparents to call their son (one of my uncles) who lived in South Africa. Now I call overseas with no thought to the (negligible) cost and your voice as clear as if you were sitting right next to me.
Let’s just hope we can keep up with changing times. Myself sometimes limping.
Happy New Year.
U
I never have problems with charging now that I have started using it as an alarm clock! And I have the charger all set up by the bed and it will do it overnight if necessary…
U: I was talking with an elderly friend of mine the other week and we were talking about inventions and whether there will be much more to invent or innovate and he decided that only the technological world would – whereas I felt that the medical world would be there as well…
We then started on about the communications and reminisced on the demise of the dial-phone realising how quickly it had gone and replaced by press-buttons.
In NZ it is probably harder to find a telephone box and often when you do you are faced with one that needs a credit card to operate them; we do have landlines and most homes need them to connect to an internet server, although I think wi-fi is available in lots of places including public transport…
Ursula,
Yes, we have a land line here at home. We’re hoping to get Andy a cell phone that works reliably up in the mountains so he can phone if something goes wrong. They can be invaluable— when they work!
Cathy,
That’s neat the public transport has wi-fi. It would make commuting a lot more interesting and productive. I do think it’s a shame that cell phones are gradually reducing the number of telephone boxes.
By the way—we still have a dial phone on the wall of the living room. How archaic can we get!
I agree with you that there will continue to be a lot of medical/drug innovation. Unfortunately that drives up the cost of health care. We’ll just have to see what happens.