• Re: Cell phones (was: Re:

    From NANCY BACKUS@1:123/140 to JOE MACKEY on Sun Jan 20 16:02:00 2019
    Quoting Joe Mackey to Nancy Backus on 01-19-19 07:03 <=-

    And cell phones when they first came out, the huge ones.
    I wasn't anywhere near the cutting edge on those

    I didn't get my first one until around '08. And that was simply
    because I could have one cheaper than a landline. I was paying about
    $20 a month and hardly used it. I could get a cell for about $5 a
    month.

    I got my first one so that I'd have something in an emergency on the
    road... now it's for a little more than that, but just basic convenience
    and in case of emergency...

    I pay-as-you-go with TracFone and my cost is still about $5 a
    month with triple (or double) minutes so each one I buy I get two or
    three free and only charged for what I use.

    I've got TracFone, too... with double minutes... I like the
    pay-as-you-go aspect, too... :)

    That first one was a basic flip phone. After a couple of years I
    got better one and finally a smart phone that was used mostly to photograph violators that could say handicap, no parking, etc wasn't marked. This way it showed they were in violation. And it was even
    better when I got one with wifi and a university account so didn't have
    to pay data rates to send the pictures to the office, I could do it for free.

    That's a useful setup... :) And useful for your work...

    I don't really care to call someone just to chat, figuring
    they are busy doing something. Always been that way.

    The nature of my "work" means I do need to call people somewhat just to chat.... but I do that from my landline by and large.... Unless I'm out
    of town, and someone needs my services anyway....

    My minutes roll over and over the years I have racked up 44 hours
    of talk time the last time I checked a few weeks ago. :)
    I have to buy time quarterly to keep the phone active.

    Mine roll over too... but I do use a fair bit of them, well, more than
    you do, anyway... ;) I only have a little over 1000 minutes left on
    mine currently. I buy the year service card, which comes with 400
    minutes, doubled to 800, and often have a bonus code to add another 200
    or 300.... I'm due to renew that early March.... Clearly, I don't need
    to have more minutes, but one does have to keep the phone active... ;)
    It works out to be about $9 a month, including tax.... and I don't have
    to worry about it for a year... :)

    ttyl neb

    ... I have a watch cat! Just break in and he'll watch.

    ___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.20
    --- Platinum Xpress/Win/WINServer v3.0pr5
    * Origin: Fido Since 1991 | QWK by Web | BBS.FIDOSYSOP.ORG (1:123/140)
  • From Kurt Weiske@1:218/700 to NANCY BACKUS on Tue Jan 22 06:40:54 2019
    Re: Re: Cell phones (was: Re:
    By: NANCY BACKUS to JOE MACKEY on Sun Jan 20 2019 04:02 pm

    I got my first one so that I'd have something in an emergency on the road... now it's for a little more than that, but just basic convenience and in case of emergency...

    "I'm on a CELLULAR PHONE! It's only a BUCK a MINUTE, and the battery lasts OVER
    12 HOURS!"

    -- me, circa 1995.
    --- SBBSecho 3.06-Win32
    * Origin: http://realitycheckbbs.org | tomorrow's retro tech (1:218/700)
  • From NANCY BACKUS@1:123/140 to KURT WEISKE on Fri Jan 25 22:59:00 2019
    Quoting Kurt Weiske to Nancy Backus on 01-22-19 06:48 <=-

    Re: Re: Cell phones (was: Re:
    By: NANCY BACKUS to JOE MACKEY on Sun Jan 20 2019 04:02 pm

    I got my first one so that I'd have something in an emergency on
    the road... now it's for a little more than that, but just basic
    convenience and in case of emergency...

    "I'm on a CELLULAR PHONE! It's only a BUCK a MINUTE, and the battery
    lasts OVER 12 HOURS!"
    -- me, circa 1995.

    You went for it earlier than I did.... ;) I tend to hold out on
    technology until I need it for something.... ;) So by the time I gave
    in and got one, it was more like 10 cents a minute... ;) And the
    battery lasted for a week or more.... ;)

    ttyl neb

    ... Illiterate? Me? Hah! I know who *BOTH* my parents are!

    ___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.20
    --- Platinum Xpress/Win/WINServer v3.0pr5
    * Origin: Fido Since 1991 | QWK by Web | BBS.FIDOSYSOP.ORG (1:123/140)
  • From Kurt Weiske@1:218/700 to NANCY BACKUS on Sun Jan 27 08:48:00 2019
    NANCY BACKUS wrote to KURT WEISKE <=-

    You went for it earlier than I did.... ;) I tend to hold out on technology until I need it for something.... ;) So by the time I gave
    in and got one, it was more like 10 cents a minute... ;) And the
    battery lasted for a week or more.... ;)

    I was on-call, 24/7 with a pager. I do miss those times before cell phones,
    as pay phones were common and pagers were a communications device for a
    more civilized age. You paged someone, and you had to be engaged in the
    issue. They'd call you back, you'd have a discussion, capture whatever information was needed, and set an expectation of when something could be fixed/resolved/etc.

    Now, people send an email and assume the clock is ticking as soon as they
    hit send, and they have their own expectation of how long it should take.




    ... Do you ever see inconsistencies in your world?
    --- MultiMail/XT v0.51
    * Origin: http://realitycheckbbs.org | tomorrow's retro tech (1:218/700)
  • From NANCY BACKUS@1:123/140 to KURT WEISKE on Thu Jan 31 19:09:00 2019
    Quoting Kurt Weiske to Nancy Backus on 01-27-19 08:56 <=-

    You went for it earlier than I did.... ;) I tend to hold out on
    technology until I need it for something.... ;) So by the time I
    gave in and got one, it was more like 10 cents a minute... ;) And
    the battery lasted for a week or more.... ;)

    I was on-call, 24/7 with a pager. I do miss those times before cell phones, as pay phones were common and pagers were a communications
    device for a more civilized age. You paged someone, and you had to be engaged in the issue. They'd call you back, you'd have a discussion, capture whatever information was needed, and set an expectation of when something could be fixed/resolved/etc.

    Yup... that indeed was more civilized... and likely informative in a
    timely fashion... :)

    Now, people send an email and assume the clock is ticking as soon as
    they hit send, and they have their own expectation of how long it
    should take.

    Exactly.... and there isn't really any assurance that the email actually arrived at its destination, although one might reasonably presume that
    it did.... Similar with text messages, as well... Last summer, I had an instance where my brother and I were both traveling, and relatively
    close to each other, so were trying to connect via texts.... He sent me
    a text, which I didn't receive until after we finally connected by
    voice... just a bit bizarre... ;) We did finally figure out how to
    meet up while both in the area... ;)

    ... Do you ever see inconsistencies in your world?

    Do you....? <G>

    ttyl neb

    ... Logic merely enables one to be wrong with authority. - Dr. Who

    ___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.20
    --- Platinum Xpress/Win/WINServer v3.0pr5
    * Origin: Fido Since 1991 | QWK by Web | BBS.FIDOSYSOP.ORG (1:123/140)
  • From JOE MACKEY@1:123/140 to KURT WEISKE on Fri Feb 1 06:26:20 2019
    Kurt wrote --

    Now, people send an email and assume the clock is ticking as soon as they
    hit send, and they have their own expectation of how long it should take.

    A lot of times I prefer to text someone with a quick msg.
    I always think whomever I am calling is busy doing any number of
    things and interrupting them. With a text they can glance at it and see
    if something that needs their immediate attention or can wait till later.
    Joe

    --- Platinum Xpress/Win/WINServer v3.0pr5
    * Origin: Fido Since 1991 | QWK by Web | BBS.FIDOSYSOP.ORG (1:123/140)
  • From NANCY BACKUS@1:123/140 to JOE MACKEY on Tue Feb 5 20:31:00 2019
    Quoting Joe Mackey to Kurt Weiske on 02-01-19 06:26 <=-

    Now, people send an email and assume the clock is ticking as soon as they hit send, and they have their own expectation of how long it should take.

    A lot of times I prefer to text someone with a quick msg.
    I always think whomever I am calling is busy doing any number of
    things and interrupting them. With a text they can glance at it and
    see if something that needs their immediate attention or can wait till later.

    I'd do that for my sister.... partly because she usually was texting
    me... and because, when we were taking care of our mother when she was
    in the hospital, one never did know what might be happening in the
    room... or if Mommy was trying to sleep... Or we might want to say
    something that she didn't need to hear.....

    ttyl neb

    ... "Show me a sane man, and I will cure him for you." - Carl Jung

    ___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.20
    --- Platinum Xpress/Win/WINServer v3.0pr5
    * Origin: Fido Since 1991 | QWK by Web | BBS.FIDOSYSOP.ORG (1:123/140)