Out Of Touch

Within the last two weeks, I have had issues with pretty much every single communications device I own.

First, it was my blackberry. I never saw it coming. We had just celebrated our first anniversary in June, and I thought everything was fine.

Oh, sure, we'd been having some problems lately. The battery wasn't holding a charge quite like it should, the wheel was a little slow to respond at times, and, okay, so maybe I wasn't getting my messages in a timely fashion any more. But, hey, nobody's perfect.

I tried to overlook these things. After all, we'd been around the world together and had shared so many memories. Our first trip to London and the search for a phone store after the sales woman had put the SYM card in backwards. Our trip to China where it did double duty as both my alarm clock and my only link to Tim who was in India. Our many, many hours of playing BrickBreaker while Tim was busy talking to everyone in the world besides me while we were at dinner/the beach/the pool, in a car/plane/boat. Ahhh. Good times.

But alas, all good things must come to an end, and ours finally came two weeks ago when I dropped my beloved blackberry and watched in horror as the rollarball bounced across the floor after the wheel cracked in two.

Numbly, I gathered up the pieces with trembling fingers while I tried to stifle the wail of despair that had gathered in my throat. Devastated at the thought of losing my dear companion, I sought immediate medical attention with someone who has been through more blackberries in a year than pairs of socks in a lifetime...Tim.

With bated breath, I watched as he managed to snap the pieces back on, but I knew it was only a temporary reprieve. A week later, I had to bow to the inevitable and replace my blackberry...which was easier said than done.

The first three stores did not carry the same model, and, since I have a contract, they could only replace my model with the exact same one...unless I wanted to pay $300. Uh, gee, no thanks.

The fourth store didn't have my model either, but if I waited two months, I could get the newest model which they heard was gonna be real cool. Just like the iphone, only better because it was made by them. Oh, sure, wait two months? No problem. Just give me your phone in the meantime. No? You don't want to be without a phone for two months? Wow. Imagine that!

Finally, I drove downtown (which I really, really, really hate to do) and got a replacement. Without any of my information able to be transferred. Without the ability to send text messages. Which I did not discover until I left the store and was on my way to Pennsylvania.

And so, the following week, I had to go back downtown (did I mention that I really, really, really hate to go there?) and have them fix my new blackberry, which also has a slow wheel and can't hold a decent charge. We were not off to a good start.

While this was going on, I was also having my little "issue" with Verizon (and no, we still don't have service).

And, as if all this wasn't bad enough, my computer is also in critical condition. Even my sister couldn't patch it up, although she spent most of one weekend trying.

The screen has a blue/green line running down the center, the CD drive won't work anymore, every time I use it, I get an error message and, even though I've clicked "report error" until my finger is ready to fall off, microsoft doesn't really care ( I actually think this is just a placebo message, and the only place a message is sent is to the recycle bin). Oh, and it is slower than dial-up. As a matter of fact, I believe pony express would be a faster way to deliver and receive information.

I don't want to do it, especially not so soon after losing my blackberry, but I know I'm going to have to put it out of it's misery. After all, it is over five years old, which is like one thousand in computer years. It has been my good and faithful companion as I learned to surf the net, do a power point presentation and download music for my itunes library. It is keeper of all my information...names, addresses, phone numbers, pictures, videos and documents.

Two dear friends in as many weeks. I may never recover. (Sob!)

And did I mention, I still don't have service for our house phone?