Cell phones, clocks and Alzheimer's

I’m having a bit of a love hate thing going on right now with cell phones. In the past the hate thing was typically reserved for my former service provider, Sprint. (Don’t even get me started on what a horrible, no good, rotten company they are. I could go on for ever!) Today my issues are related to four things:

My phone is showing the wrong time. It’s off by about 8 minutes. It’s slow. Now I don’t spend a lot of time looking at the clock on my phone, in fact I spend very little because I can’t see it without putting my glasses on. (It’s hell getting older!) Most of the time I refer to clocks on the wall or across the room that I can see without glasses. Here’s my problem, when I need to set one of these other clocks, I’ve been setting them by my phone. This morning, when the person on the radio mentioned the time I happen to be looking at my alarm clock, set to my phone’s clock, and realized why I have been running late for the past week.

Now, I had to reset the time on my phone. I spent 10 minutes trying to figure out how to do it and could never figure it out. So, of course today I was even later getting to work. Apparently I can set the alarm for the clock on my phone, but not the clock itself. Technology, don’t you just love it!

Periodically, like every 3-4 months the ability of my phone to receive email just goes away. You have to reset it. I’m assuming this is some kind of security function, and I’ve asked to have it remove. Apparently they can’t. Now, most people don’t have a problem resetting their email function. It is a very simple thing to do that really takes only a few seconds. They are smart enough to remember how to do this for themselves. Not me. I’m still going in every time to ask one of the very nice people in the AT&T store to reset mine. I should be able to do this! I feel so defeated!

Just about everyone I work with on a construction project has a cell phone. So, why is it that every time I absolutely need to talk to one of them right away, I can’t get them? Of course this is the same thing that happens when I need to talk to individuals not related at all to work. It’s like a universal constant, if it’s imperative that you talk to someone right away, there is no way in hell you can get a hold of them. Why is that?

As frustrating as these things are I still love my Blackberry and I’m still glad that the people I work with are generally accessible. I think cell phones are great. I even read this morning that a scientific study has shown that cell phone use by Alzheimer’s prone mice cut the occurrence of that disease by 68%. I have no idea who the mice were calling, if their phone kept better time than mine, or if they could reset their email functions, but I’m feeling a lot better about my mental health in old age.

Mail attack!!

Help, I’m being attached by unwanted mail!!

When I opened my work email this morning I had over a 100 new messages. I have over 70 in my personal email account and 7 in the neighborhood account. About a quarter to a third of it was junk. I mean really, who opens an email titled, “make more pleasure for your loving one”? I really have no interest in making my body parts larger; they’re all large enough thank you very much.

At home it is just a bad with the regular mail. I don’t need anymore insurance, storm windows or satellite TV. I don’t need or want another credit card, and I really, really, really don’t want another piece of mail offering me one. I don’t care what the rate is, or what bank it comes from. Unless it’s completely free money, get out of my mailbox!

I’m sick of being a target for mass mailing!! I’m also sick of being the target of targeted mailing I haven’t specifically asked for. I read the other day where the post office is running out of money. We should change the mailing policies so that there is no bulk rate; it all has to go first class. In addition, any piece of mail unwanted by the recipient can be returned at the expense of the sender. The post office make money both ways and I get the satisfaction of returning all that mail to the sender and have them recycle it. Now if I could just figure out something as sensible for email.