passion...schmassion

day 10553: scummed…

As a rule, I don’t like spending money buying things unless it’s absolutely necessary and would much rather suck it up and spend money on going out with friends or doing something else instead. That’s why my snowboard boots for the past three years have been hand-me-downs from beloved cousin Bo, my winter jacket fits XL and I’m still fiddling around with my minidisk player from a pre-Ipod era (yeah, yeah… I know… woe is me… I’ve gotten over it, so should you.).

The great thing about bonus week is that all the little necessities that need replacing can finally be replaced without so much a glint of guilt. I finally bought a pair of great Solomon Ivy boots for only $150 (no more black toes… yay!) and yesterday I finally, finally replaced my 21 month old cell phone with a brighter and better model.

Now, before you go off on a tangent thinking “what the heck is that girl thinking? It’s less than 2 years old… Spending $350 on a cell phone… she must be made of money… why didn’t she just get a free phone from *service provider not to be named*!! Ai-ya… such a waste of money,” think about this instead: my Panasonic G52 (which I absolutely loved, btw… so small… so compact… so girlie-girl cute) was about a month shy of death’s door. A month. At most. The connection between the screen and whatever the heck it was supposed to be connected to was not connecting properly. Fuzzy lines, hazy screens, no backlight… and to top it off… the phone was possessed by a demon that would turn it off in the MIDDLE of calls. Fantastic. I put it off as much as humanly possible (note self-justification going on here). It was time to retire the old girl.

Now think about this…

My key criteria with phones is that they be small and have good battery life… reception quality notwithstanding, of course. Of all the phones that *sucky service provider* actually offer, only one really matches the criteria and it isn’t cheap… $349 with a $100 rebate IF I sign a THREE year commitment and then they charge me a $35 administration fee to “process my hardware upgrade.” Yeah right. Do the math. I really get only a $65 discount for a three year contract. No way. For an additional $23 dollars, I bought a PacMall unlocked phone; free and clear of any weird and wonderful red tape commitments. Of course this phone might only last 21months, but at the rate I’m going, hey who knows what I’ll be doing in two years time… maybe I’ll move to Hawaii and be a burger flipper somewhere.

I’m a wee bit commitment phobic… can you tell?

Oh, and the new phone. It’s black. I couldn't wait for the pink one.