Bowing to Reality
So I've never been willing to get a cell phone. I didn't care for the expense, the temptation to use it, the invasion of privacy, the rudeness people with cell phones often demonstrate unknowingly...
Yesterday I was at a conference in Copley all day. The plan was to take the T out to Brookline after my work day was over, meet Phillip for my son's first-ever Parent-Teacher Conference, and drive back home with him.
While I was at the conference hall, it began to snow. I thought nothing of it, as it wasn't terribly significant. I left the conference a little early, wandered the mall for a few moments (world's most boring mall, I don't know what it's there for--but then I don't like shopping so there have to be some pretty special stores to make a mall worthwhile for me), got out, slipped and slid my way to the T station, took the T, struggled uphill to the school... and found out the conferences had been cancelled and everyone had been trying to reach me for hours. They'd sent emails, called my office, my officemates had called my boss's cell... His cell was off due to the conference, and we didn't have a computer with us.
So I slipped and slid back to the T, back downtown, and out home. I should have been home by 5:30--a world record--due to the location of the conference. It was 7:20 when I arrived. And my legs ached all night from that funny way one has to walk in light snow to keep from flying down the hills.
I think the time has come to get my own cell phone, strictly for urgent calls. Does anyone have a recommendations for simple, cheap, pay-by-the-minute telephones with no bells or whistles? (Obviously, aside from the one that tells me someone's calling.) I still don't want anything that will tempt me or anyone else to use it regularly. Also, it needs to have push buttons rather than touch-sensitive, because touch-sensitive doesn't work with my hands during the winter. Much to Phillip's amusement--and occasional frustration when he's driving and asks me to take a call for him.
Yesterday I was at a conference in Copley all day. The plan was to take the T out to Brookline after my work day was over, meet Phillip for my son's first-ever Parent-Teacher Conference, and drive back home with him.
While I was at the conference hall, it began to snow. I thought nothing of it, as it wasn't terribly significant. I left the conference a little early, wandered the mall for a few moments (world's most boring mall, I don't know what it's there for--but then I don't like shopping so there have to be some pretty special stores to make a mall worthwhile for me), got out, slipped and slid my way to the T station, took the T, struggled uphill to the school... and found out the conferences had been cancelled and everyone had been trying to reach me for hours. They'd sent emails, called my office, my officemates had called my boss's cell... His cell was off due to the conference, and we didn't have a computer with us.
So I slipped and slid back to the T, back downtown, and out home. I should have been home by 5:30--a world record--due to the location of the conference. It was 7:20 when I arrived. And my legs ached all night from that funny way one has to walk in light snow to keep from flying down the hills.
I think the time has come to get my own cell phone, strictly for urgent calls. Does anyone have a recommendations for simple, cheap, pay-by-the-minute telephones with no bells or whistles? (Obviously, aside from the one that tells me someone's calling.) I still don't want anything that will tempt me or anyone else to use it regularly. Also, it needs to have push buttons rather than touch-sensitive, because touch-sensitive doesn't work with my hands during the winter. Much to Phillip's amusement--and occasional frustration when he's driving and asks me to take a call for him.