Cell Phone Shopping

Coker, Alabama

Weather: low 70 degrees, high 87 degrees, showers

We had scattered showers today and they were welcomed with open arms. Terri's yard got some much needed rain, and you could almost see it turning green. By Monday, it'll probably be time to mow again.

When I went for my morning walk, it was cloudy but not really threatening rain. No, it had to wait until I was too far from shelter to help before it started raining. I got soaked, and cut my walk short. I don't mind getting wet, but I really hate that squeaking sound my shoes make when they're wet.

We bought our current cell phone about 3 1/2 years ago, and have been keeping it limping along for the last year. The battery went bad, and we bought a new one for it that did not do the job. In order to keep the phone working, we have to leave it plugged into the charger when it's not being used. We have to keep a close eye on it to make sure it's ready when we need to make a call. Finally, I got tired of working around the problems with the old phone, and we went back to the phone store today in an attempt to find a phone that we liked. Now, keep in mind that we don't need all the fancy gadgets that most of the phones have, such as a camera, Internet access, texting, music downloads. Also keep in mind that this was the third time we have looked for another phone, without finding what we wanted. So, we were a little skeptical that we would find what we wanted, but we knew we needed to do our best to find a phone that met our needs.

We walked into the ATT store, and were greeted by a lady who asked if she could help us. My immediate thought was that this was different - no waiting. Not so fast, I found out. All she was doing was acting as an intermediary. We still had to wait about 15 minutes before we could talk to a salesperson. While waiting, we looked at phones that were available. We were not impressed because they all included the bells and whistles that we did not want or need. By the time the salesperson came to wait on us, I was of the opinion that we should go on down the road. Again, not so fast. We explained what we were looking for, and she agreed that ATT did not have what we needed for sale in their store. However, (BIG However!) she explained that ATT had an Internet special that included a phone just like what we were looking for. And to top it off, she had one in the store that she could let us look at. We looked the phone over, and made sure that all the bells and whistles were not present, and asked her to write the web address down so we could order online. When we got home, I went online and looked at the phone to ensure that it was what we wanted. Everything was perfect and the phone was free if we renewed our contract. So, we renewed, and we will be getting the new phone through the mail next week. If it doesn't work out, we have 30 days to return the phone and cancel the contract. Here's hoping everything is what we expect.

Because of the rain, today was a day of much needed rest. We could stand a few more of these rainy days.

More later, be safe.

Today's Town - Double Springs, Alabama: Gateway To Sipsey Wilderness

Not all who wander are lost.