My Pseudo Cell Phone

by Mary Ann Romans | More from this Blogger

My cell phone-less status is being threatened. Next week I will have a birthday, and my husband is already hinting around for ideas on what to get me. By hinting around I mean that he point blanks asks me, �Do you want a cell phone, an iPod or what? If you want both then what about the iPhone?� I crush his hopes almost immediately when I tell him that I don�t need any of that. After all, I could always use his nano, if I really wanted one, although the last time I tried that for morning walks I would find that he deleted my entire playlist from one day to the next. A guy, apparently, can�t be seen with a playlist that includes �chick music.�

He really wants an iPhone himself, but he can�t justify buying one, since he already has to carry a company-issued cell phone and would feel slightly stupid carrying more than one cell phone at a time. But that doesn�t stop him from wanting to live vicariously through me, a �person in need of a new cell phone.� I admit that having a cell phone could be pretty handy on some days, and may even add a sense of safety and security when I am out alone. But I don�t know that I am ready for one just yet.

Instead, I usually take our wireless home phone outside and use it as a sort of pseudo cell phone. Today, for example, I was halfway out of the neighborhood before I had to hang it up. Most of the time, I just use it in our own yard through, while waiting for the school bus or while supervising the kids. I also have pseudo mobile Internet, when I take my laptop outside and take advantage of our home�s wireless network. I can even play iTunes on it, although the chances of be passing a Starbucks and automatically downloading the selection that is playing is admittedly small, unless the deer and rabbits outside form a franchise in the woods.

Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, technology in the Computing Blog, and creating a home in the Home Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here.

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Learn more about Mary Ann Romans

Mary Ann Romans is a freelance writer, online content manager, wife and mother of three children. She lives in Pennsylvania in the middle of the woods but close enough to Target and Home Depot.

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