It's ALIVE!!! or Adventures in Craigslist
OK - for those that know my G1 took a dive into some water (ummmm, yeah - that water) D tried to give me his but I wouldn't deprive him. He uses the text and internet alot and it would definitely not be easy for him. So I was back on my Blackberry Curve, updated the OS, got a few extra things I didn't have before and thought that was OK.
After a few weeks I wasn't sure if I could live with slow EDGE and a small screen again, but I was NOT going to pay another $400.00 for the friggin phone, my mistake, I'll live with it.
After some net trolling and coming to realize TMobile was not going to get the Blackberry Bold and Verizon had an exclusive lock on the Blackberry Storm - I started wondering what I could do. I was locked out of any other 3G phone I felt was viable for what I wanted.
I turned to Craigslist.
Now I had gone into CL before - but to be honest - it was fun (and sometimes tragic) to browse the personal ads with pics, you might see something good to ogle. And yes, it was really funny to take a look at the "Erotic Services" and in there find a person here or there that I know (should I tell the guy he used to date??)
I did a search and sure enough there were local people unloading their G1s.
My suspiciously over 40 yo mind immediatly goes to "How do I know they are telling the truth when they say 'Mint Condition' or that the phone was not stolen?" Well, last night while eating dinner I sent an email to one that sounded appropriately sincere, she emailed me back and by the time I got home I had a date to pick up her little used G1 that she got as a gift but was moving to an area that didn't have 3G.
So how do we coordinate this? I'm sure she doesn't want some stranger coming to her house, if she does, I should be wary. So I suggested a public place, the sandwich shop in Tempe owned by my brother in law. She, thinking like me, suggested Tempe Marketplace in front of Best Buy. I said yes.
The exchange was to go down at 9AM - I was running late after getting D and I some coffee from Dunkin. I had my cash and thinking, "I should have had D come with me, just to be sure" I pulled into the parking lot - she was there with a guy (her boyfriend? - I could take him if I had to I guess, or get a shot in) - the store wasn't open yet. There were two workers out front talking and a big Mall Security SUV in the middle of the parking lot. I walk up, she let me see the phone, I take it out of the box, turn it on and inspect it, I say it's good and hand her the money, she counted it. We said "Good-bye" and she and her boyfriend went one way and I walked back to my car. I was well aware that the Best Buy workers were watching me walk back to my car, probably wondering what just went down. The Mall security van stayed there while I sat in my SUV getting the phone set up with my sim card and memory. I realized I better not raise anymore suspicions and drove out of the lot and went home.
I'm not sure how these things off CL are usually done, but that was kinda fun in that in a way it felt illicit and yet it wasn't. I think next time, if there is one, and it's in Tempe again, I will use the sandwich shop. The reason? - he know LOTS of Tempe police and at least one is usually there.
Oh well, that was the highlight of my day - after that it was several hours getting the apps installed to the phone, setting things up the way I had them. I'm missing one app that I loved that is no longer in the Marketplace. Oh well. But I'm back on 3G, I have a full browser and net at work so I don't have to worry about the internet monitoring which is going into full force soon.
Have a good weekend all - and oh - for those in Arizona - GO STEELERS!!!!!!!!!!!
After a few weeks I wasn't sure if I could live with slow EDGE and a small screen again, but I was NOT going to pay another $400.00 for the friggin phone, my mistake, I'll live with it.
After some net trolling and coming to realize TMobile was not going to get the Blackberry Bold and Verizon had an exclusive lock on the Blackberry Storm - I started wondering what I could do. I was locked out of any other 3G phone I felt was viable for what I wanted.
I turned to Craigslist.
Now I had gone into CL before - but to be honest - it was fun (and sometimes tragic) to browse the personal ads with pics, you might see something good to ogle. And yes, it was really funny to take a look at the "Erotic Services" and in there find a person here or there that I know (should I tell the guy he used to date??)
I did a search and sure enough there were local people unloading their G1s.
My suspiciously over 40 yo mind immediatly goes to "How do I know they are telling the truth when they say 'Mint Condition' or that the phone was not stolen?" Well, last night while eating dinner I sent an email to one that sounded appropriately sincere, she emailed me back and by the time I got home I had a date to pick up her little used G1 that she got as a gift but was moving to an area that didn't have 3G.
So how do we coordinate this? I'm sure she doesn't want some stranger coming to her house, if she does, I should be wary. So I suggested a public place, the sandwich shop in Tempe owned by my brother in law. She, thinking like me, suggested Tempe Marketplace in front of Best Buy. I said yes.
The exchange was to go down at 9AM - I was running late after getting D and I some coffee from Dunkin. I had my cash and thinking, "I should have had D come with me, just to be sure" I pulled into the parking lot - she was there with a guy (her boyfriend? - I could take him if I had to I guess, or get a shot in) - the store wasn't open yet. There were two workers out front talking and a big Mall Security SUV in the middle of the parking lot. I walk up, she let me see the phone, I take it out of the box, turn it on and inspect it, I say it's good and hand her the money, she counted it. We said "Good-bye" and she and her boyfriend went one way and I walked back to my car. I was well aware that the Best Buy workers were watching me walk back to my car, probably wondering what just went down. The Mall security van stayed there while I sat in my SUV getting the phone set up with my sim card and memory. I realized I better not raise anymore suspicions and drove out of the lot and went home.
I'm not sure how these things off CL are usually done, but that was kinda fun in that in a way it felt illicit and yet it wasn't. I think next time, if there is one, and it's in Tempe again, I will use the sandwich shop. The reason? - he know LOTS of Tempe police and at least one is usually there.
Oh well, that was the highlight of my day - after that it was several hours getting the apps installed to the phone, setting things up the way I had them. I'm missing one app that I loved that is no longer in the Marketplace. Oh well. But I'm back on 3G, I have a full browser and net at work so I don't have to worry about the internet monitoring which is going into full force soon.
Have a good weekend all - and oh - for those in Arizona - GO STEELERS!!!!!!!!!!!