Monday, June 22, 2009

Tuesdays with Lou

Fathers Day Weekend

I spent Saturday and Friday evening away from my family to attend a good friends wedding in Toledo. Brooke stayed home with Dominic so I went by myself. Brooke is more than just my Wife, she is my best friend and to not have her with me Friday and Saturday night was very different for me. We do everything together. We don’t do guys night or girls night because what’s the point in hanging out with your friends while your best friend is at home or with someone else. We love doing things together so this weekend was very odd for us both. I also cherish every minute I get with Dominic and when you work 40 hours a week that’s time I miss with him. Being away made Fathers Day on Sunday all that much better as I enjoyed being with my family a little more than I already do.

Brooke/Dominic got me a new pair of crocs and a new money clip along with a few other little gifts. Brooke got the money clipped engraved, “I Love You Dad. Love Dominic.” It’s a beautiful reminder every time I buy something to see, “I Love You Dad.” Thanks Brooke and Dom for a great Fathers Day!

Bike Seats = OUCH

I picked up our gently used bikes last week. After my inaugural ride with Dominic I quickly realized we needed new seats. On Sunday we bought two new bigger seats hoping it would make for a more comfortable ride…WRONG. Okay it was better but still it wasn’t painless. I’m debating getting a gel seat cover and putting it overtop of the original seat. If you’re a bike guru or have a tip or seat that would help please let me know so I can return the old ones. I’m hoping with nice comfy seats we can take long family bike rides in the metro parks since Sundays first trip around the Development was a huge success.

Cell Phone Dilemma

I’m eligible for an early upgrade and $100 off a new phone July 26th. I have been with Verizon since 2002 and Brooke joined our family plan when we got married. The majority of my family is on Verizon (free in-network), they have a huge network and we have a good plan. I am still using the Treo 650 which I’ve replaced about 2 times through the insurance. I like the Treo and there isn’t a phone out there I like more for Verizon. We looked at the Blackberry Curve a couple months ago. I’m extremely irritated Verizon won’t let you get a blackberry or internet based phone without paying for internet service ($30 per mo). So if Brooke and I wanted Smart phones but didn’t want to use the internet all the time we’d have to pay an extra $60 a month regardless! I think the other carriers do the same thing but wish there was a way around it.

My dream is for Verizon to sell the I-Phone. I’m on the fence about wanting to go with AT&T just to get the I-Phone. I don’t get a great signal in my Office with Verizon which is a good reason to switch. If I wait until November I’ll be out of my contract so I could leave at that point. AT&T has an exclusive contract with Apple to sell the I-Phone into 2010. Verizon and Apple are discussing the possible development of an iPhone for Verizon, with the goal of introducing it next year. This would be a huge blow to AT&T who signed up 1.6 million iPhone customers during the first quarter 09 — 40% of them new to AT&T. It makes sense Apple would develop an I-Phone for Verizon so they could sell phones to a network with 80 million customers. If you have an I-Phone or AT&T let me know if there is anything bad with it. Either we stick it out with Verizon and wait for our upgrade until sometime next year or upgrade now and then pay extra if the I-Phone is available next year. We could also join AT&T in November and both get I-Phones. It’s a tough decision we’ll have to discuss.

*Running update: Since June 11, 2009 I've ran 31.35 miles. It's not getting any easier to get up a half hour earlier though.

2 comments:

Dawn said...

Hi there,

I ran across your blog through Kelly's Korner! (On Fridays I will generally read random blogs to see peoples rooms..I'm a creeper what can I say! ha ha!)

Anyway I saw this post and I believe that Verizon is coming out with the newest Blackberry Tour which is supposed to be excellent. I know it's a pain in the arse that you have to pay the $30 data plan. Perhaps there is a plan out there that will allow you to have unlimited data like the company I am with now --Bell up in Canada.

I do know, however, that with Bell there are no data-shared plans (or family plans, whatever you want to call them) as my other half and I are on a shared plan ourselves. It's part of the reason I hesitated switching to a smart phone.

Whatever your decision, I just recommend getting a good phone that will not break on you. And I trust Blackberries--they are made in the town I live--Waterloo, Ontario where the head office is for RIM. ;)

Cheers, eh?

Dawn

LetsDoBreakfastAtTiffanys said...

Verizon is waiting for Apple to manufacter the iphone with an external battery. The current models have a non replaceable internal battery which makes technical support very difficult (basically they ship your phone off to fix.) The iphone is also strangly not capable of one of the most basic/staple tasks, sending/receiving pic/video messages.

Regardless, an iphone or a smartphone, you will be charged for data. With that said, have you checked out the Blackberry Storm? It is VERY similar to the iphone.

On a side note Verizon just expanded their network by aquiring Alltel earlier this year.