You know I have a cell phone, since I use it to call you. ^_~ It's very convenient to not have to pay long distance charges when so many of my friends are out of state. However, when I am out with other people, I'm with *those* other people. My cell phone is on private. People who call can leave messages that I can reply to later.

I do like to call you or Tex when I go to the grocery store (or suspect I will fall into the glazed shoppers' coma in Walmart, or something), just to break the tedium of it all since there's no one to physically go shopping with me. When I get to the check out, I'll either end the call and ring you back when I get out to my car, or let you know I'm going silent (and putting my phone in my pocket) so I can give my attention to the cashier. Because...

I *hate* it when people come into the doctor's office where I work chatting on the cell phones. I *loathe* it when they won't discontinue their calls in order to pay attention to their transactions with me (they'll mouth that they are picking up contact lenses or glasses and vaguely wave a credit card my way) and I *loathe it with the fiery passion of a thousand exploding supernovas* when they present the "hand" to me (as in 'talk to the hand') when I ask how I can help them when they first walk in. >.< I've gotten to the point of ignoring people who come into my work talking on the cell phone until they can be troubled to pay attention to me.

And I agree with everyone that the convenience of being able to talk to others wherever you go has its limits. Emotional conversations should be held in private places, like one's home. I don't want to be forced to hear unpleasant, intimate details about anyone else's drama.