As you can imagine, there is a lot happening very quickly around the Morgan household in preparation for our move south. Here are some highlights from recent days:
- I’ve been in the process of getting bids from moving companies to pack up all our belongings and get us to Anderson, SC. I contacted four companies. Allied sent out a guy who took an inventory of our house and calculated the guaranteed maximum price using a PDA. He printed out the estimate on his portable printer for me to review. It was a slick process. And the bid was pretty good as well. (Someone must have told Jim the way to Tony’s heart is with small technology gadgets.)
- We are officially residents of an apartment complex in Anderson. Audrey called with our new address yesterday. That’s pretty exciting. Feels like we finally have a place to land. We also have a place to call home until we find our way around Anderson and purchase a house.
- I’ve also decided we’re going to go without a landline. Feels like a huge tech milestone for the Morgans. It was cheaper to add another phone to our Cingular family plan than to set up a landline. Feels almost unAmerican, though, not to have a landline. In addition to saving money on monthly bills, I had an ulterior motive. I’ve had my eye on a new phone…
- I’m the proud new owner of a Samsung Blackjack. It’s my very first smartphone. In the past, I’ve just been a cell phone owner. Now I have something that can push my calendar, contacts and email to my phone without having to sync it to my computer. Already have Gmail rolling. It’s pretty slick.
- Emily is in the process of enrolling our kids in their new schools. You may be intrigued to know that there’s a connection between the Anderson schools and Hollywood. Remember "Radio" (played by Cuba Gooding, Jr.) from the movie that was released a few years ago. That story takes place at T.L. Hanna High School in Anderson. That’s the high school our kids will attend.
Tony,
No landline is the way to go! I have been without one for two years! You get a lot wierd looks from people who ask for you home number as a reference number, but hey we are in a wireless time! And now there are a ton of companies starting to offer naked dsl because they realize not everyone wants a home phone! Another huge bonus is, NO TELEMARKETERS!!!!!!!!!!
How’s the Blackjack? I’m thinking about picking one up to hold me over until the iPhone. Oh yeah. I’m stoked!!!
Once again congrats on moving. Great job with going with a moving company that comes to your house. I moved a year and a half ago and went with a company that didn’t come to my house instead of the one that did and got messed over big time. If you haven’t done so already, make sure there is a maximum that they can charge you since they have been to your house. It should be 10% more than the quote.
On the BlackJack… I too am in the smart phone club but went with T-Mobile’s MDA instead of the BlackJack. For me it came down to having a full version of Windows Mobile 5 instead of a half version. I get to use Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and view PDF’s. It also has a touch screen. The big downside is that I am now with T-Mobile and not Cingular. I hope this doesn’t read like I am trying to knock you, because I am not, but just thought I would give your readers another option.
Lastly, I hope your transition goes smoothly. God Bless.
Tony–In April we packed up and moved from Minnesota (I was at Eagle Brook) to Portland, OR. Sunset is great, but the move was a killer! I’m praying for you and your family during this time. May the LORD give safety and reassurance. Safe moving! dt http://www.davetilma.com
You don’t need no stinkin’ landline!
I also have not had a home phone for probably 2 1/2 years and it is nice.
Something we have done is get a Skype-In number, it costs less than $40/yr and then we can give that number out when you need to give a number but don’t want to give up your cell number, such as signing up at a website for something. Skype-In does have voicemail, so you can get messages there. Doing Skype-in along with having no land line makes you that much more geeky.
It’s what all the cool people are doing.
I am jealous of the Blackjack, I’ve got a Samsung Blade, which is a Razr wannabe. It’s everything that the Blackjack is except without all of the smartphone stuff. Gmail on the phone is excellent, I love having that.
Not only was “Radio” based on the guy from TL Hanna, the actual dude nicknamed “Radio” is still there. He’s at all the football games.
Makes small time Anderson feel kinda “big time”
Nathan
http://www.nathanrice.org/
Congratulations Tony on the new job! I know that Newspring will love you and your family. I have to say I am a sad to see you guys go and will miss my weekly chats with Emily at Meijer. Thanks for being the leader that you are and for helping Daryl realize a dream. Your family will be greatly missed.
I just got the T-Mobile Dash and made the leap into deeper mobile information. I love everything this phone does for me and the best option I discovered today: how to access the EDGE (GPRS) service through USB from phone to laptop. I’m leaving this comment from Falling Waters, WV, a retreat location, using my phone as a modem to connect to the net using my PC. Very cool. (Of course, the handset can browse too.) It’s been possible for awhile, but I’ve yet to have this capability and now I’m loving the option to connect from just about anywhere.
We’re sans-landline as well. Like Jim, we have SkypeIn number plus our cell phones. SkypeIn works quite well and they actually had such a good selection of numbers here (DC) that I got the last four digits to read DAVE (3283). Yes. Really.
Grab a good headset for Skype (Plantronics 550) and you’re set.