Do your belongings talk to you?

I am fairly confident that my level of sanity has not changed. Note: I never claimed full sanity - merely that the level I have, has remained constant.

It began in June when my cell phone's keyboard slide started to say 'I don't really feel like making the letters f and r when you touch us'. I took that as a personal challenge. I can create sentences without f and r in them. It's brain exercise. Pick up your brother after school becomes - pick up you bro  at 3:30. Kinda makes me hip? n'est ce pas? lol

Then in mid June, when I pulled the slide out to text, as soon as I pressed the first letter, the phone completely shut off. Not all the time. Just sometimes *Jolie smiles brightly*.

I am a positive person. I can handle a phone that needs naps.

Then towards the end of June, anytime I opened the slide, it shut off.

Sigh... not good. I could still attempt to text using the dreaded T9. I have students who can whip off a dozen texts like rapid fire using T9 - looking at the phone whilst texting, optional. I floundered for awhile but it was like an elephant trying to play the flute....while wearing oven mitts. Mostly just very, very sad.

My phone is almost 4 years old. Contract expired after 3 years. A new phone was in the works, but what to get???

In SK we have Sask Tel for a phone provider. There is also Rogers but their coverage in the rural areas of SK is not yet perfected and the per month fees are higher than Sk Tel. I live in rural SK. I NEED coverage!

So off to SK Tel I go. I face the tough question ' Do I want a data phone?" I don't have one currently and I have to admit that more and more in the past year, I have wanted it. A need? Well a few times at conferences and such when I couldn't GET to documents that were asked for, it was a need. An ongoing need? probably not.  I'm not sure. A want? definitely.

The options out there are mostly data phones (crackberry and iphones, the latter of which is new to the SK Tel network). What are my needs? Well I need a keyboard/slide. I just can't function effectively without one. Ok. So that eliminated a few phones off the choosing board.

Here we can purchase the phone outright, or pay anywhere from $0 to $100+ for a 1 year, 2 year or 3 year contract. Probably not much different than other parts of the planet. Obviously it costs more for the phone for a 1 year contract than for a 3 year. My first 2 phones were $0. My last one with the slide was $25 plus a 3 year contract.

Here are some of the options I had - though some were not necessarily available locally at our store. The price you see comes with a mandatory 3 year contract. There were a few that were $0 and also had a full keyboard...and some with those options that cost more than $0.

Ok so then I had to decide if I wanted/needed a touch screen. It was a want for sure.

I needed a full keyboard. The LG Rumour is like my old phone. The models there were $25 plus a 3 year contract. The LG Optimus was a slide with a $0. I had 3 students with that phone and all of them had had it in and out for repairs. sigh, I guess that is what $0 gets you?

OK so chances were good I would be paying SOMETHING plus the contract. I wrapped my brain around that for a couple days then accepted it.

Then I had to decide if I was ready to go (pay for) data plans.  For anything with a touch screen or a crackberry, there was no choice. You have to purchase a data plan. Data plans run about $25 to $30 a month.

So that cut my choices down dramatically if I did not wish data. I wonder, in three years, if there will even BE options that do not include data???

So I ran that over my brain for a couple more days, and talked to a lot of my co workers and....data I went....and I continued to surf. I tried out a few keyboards to see if my fingers could work the teeny weeny keys. The blackberry curve caught my eye. So did the Iphone 4, for $159 plus 3 years. I laughed heartily at that.

I did a quick survey at school - of the 15 staff I talked to, 6 had I phones and the rest had a form of crackberry.   I have to admit, I started to covet an Iphone. I was seeing all the things they were doing with them. I'm also realistic that $159 is ridiculous.

I convinced myself to choose a crackberry with the best keyboard. I talked with my students about what they have, what their parents have, etc. I mean honestly, my students have better phones/electronics than I do and they know a whole lot more. I was, though, angry with myself for covetting a more expensive phone. I thought I had gotten much better at that.

Then came the last day of school. Lots of hugs and goodbyes as my students move on to the High School. I get gifts sometimes. Realistically, teaching junior high, one doesn't get the same adulation as a Grade 2 teacher and I am quite ok with that :-) I often feel incredibly awkward when I am gifted. Usual gifts are mugs, gift cards, a bouquet of flowers....all wonderfully thoughtful and welcome and appreciated. A gaggle of students approached my desk together with a wonderfully decorated gift. I opened the gift and found it only the first layer. Oh goodie, they had wrapped the entire thing in tape AND hidden all my scissors. They took great joy in watching me try to hack at the tape with my keys, or gnaw on it :-)  What was inside? A gift card. Several of the families had gone in together and gifted me with a total of $150 gift card......for my phone provider!! It was very very generous and sweet of them. They reasoned that together they had spent less money than they would have as individuals. The card was for 'product'.  and they all knew what kind of product I should get. And I allowed myself to get very excited.

I scooted home at lunch that day and checked my piggy bank that holds my loonies and toonies. Jackpot!!!

So happily I skipped over to the mobility store and picked out my new Iphone! What a wonderful and unexpected treat. How blessed I am. 

I got the white Iphone 4 - 16gb. There was NO way I was paying $269 plus 3 years for the 32gb.

So here are the costs to me.

• Phone plus taxes was $175 (phone, tax, enviro etc). I paid $25 out of pocket from a roll of loonies. 
• Activation Fee - $25. This will go on my first bill.  Activation Fee would be for ANY new phone, regardless of the kind I got. (2 rolls of quarters and 1 roll of dimes)
• Data Plan - will be about $25 to $30 a month. I will know better at the end of August as that will be the first full month of the plan.

On July 5th, I posted about being done paying for my computer and having an additional $48 on each paycheck. The Witch asked how I would repurpose that money into my budget. There is my answer. I will put it towards the data plan. That will leave me a balance $18 to $23 to place elsewhere, once I know how much the monthly cell costs will be.

I also realize that there is NO way I could justify spending that full $159 straight out of pocket. It was a very interesting self exploration lesson.

I am having a great time exploring what this phone can offer me. While Angry Birds IS great fun, I need to fully embrace how this can be an additional to my professional and personal life.