{"id":3465,"date":"2013-09-08T23:11:06","date_gmt":"2013-09-08T23:11:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/highplainsblogger.wordpress.com\/?p=3465"},"modified":"2013-09-08T23:11:06","modified_gmt":"2013-09-08T23:11:06","slug":"when-did-phone-buying-get-so-complicated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=3465","title":{"rendered":"When did phone-buying get so complicated?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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I am about to make the most difficult, complex, mind-bending purchase of my life.<\/p>\n

A new home? Nope. Already have one — and it’s paid in full, too.<\/p>\n

A new vehicle? Did that one too recently. It was a piece of cake.<\/p>\n

A recreational vehicle? Hah! Give me a break. It was love at first sight with our new fifth wheel.<\/p>\n

I’m talking about a telephone. It’s the cellular kind, which you stick in your pocket and carry it around with you.<\/p>\n

I know what you’re thinking. What can be so difficult about buying a cellphone? Well, let me tell you something: My wife and I will be able to settle pretty easily on the phone we want. It’s our sons and our daughter-in-law who are going to give us grief if we don’t get the “right” phone with the “right” calling plan and have all the “right” gizmos, gadgets and doo-dads that go with these devices.<\/p>\n

My old-fashioned flip phone croaked this past week while my wife and I were celebrating our 42nd wedding anniversary at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla. I charged the thing up one night. Turned it off, then turned it back the next morning; it was charged fully. Then during the day, it went dead — as in terminally dead. I tried to put it back on the charger at the end of the day. Nothing happened. I played “Taps” in my head.<\/p>\n

So, with that we’ve decided we’re finally going to “upgrade” our phones. We don’t know what we’re going to do. Do we go with a “smart phone,” an “I-phone,” or are they the same thing?<\/p>\n

Which provider do we use? I’m inclined to stay with the one we have used since we purchased these old-time flip phones. <\/p>\n

For the record, let me state that I waged a public campaign over the course of several years to be the last human being on the planet to purchase a cellphone. I declared victory when I acquired one — although a friend of mine and at least one member of my family tell me they’ve never owned a cellphone. <\/p>\n

Neither of them can prove it to my satisfaction … so my claim of victory still stands.<\/p>\n

I remember the old days when my parents had to decide whether to go with a push-button phone or stay with the old rotary-dial device. Heck, I even remember back even further when Mom and Dad purchased a rotary phone with one of those new-fangled twisty stretch cords.<\/p>\n

We’ve entered a new age when phone purchases have become more complicated than what used to be the decision that gave us the most headaches. A new home or motor vehicle? Forget about it.<\/p>\n

I will make one vow at this very moment: I will not be caught walking and looking down at the device while sending a “text message.”<\/em><\/em> Not ever. Period. <\/p>\n

I’ll need some quiet time now to ponder the huge decision that awaits us.<\/p>\n

Pray for us … please.<\/p>\n\n

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I am about to make the most difficult, complex, mind-bending purchase of my life. A new home? Nope. Already have one — and it’s paid in full, too. A new vehicle? Did that one too recently. It was a piece of cake. A recreational vehicle? Hah! Give me a break. It was love at first … Continue reading When did phone-buying get so complicated?<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[899,4547],"class_list":["post-3465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-cellphones","tag-telecommunications"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3465"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3465\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}