Digress or Progress? - - That Is The Question...

  I have always considered myself a 'techy' kind of guy, but not extremely so.  I mean,  I like gadgets but not to the point of obsession.  Granted, I have five computers networked in my house, but they are necessities!  Really! *  Anyway, I don't have to have the fastest and best PC's.  I am content with my older PC's that still chug along with Windows XP, no matter how much I beat on them when I get a 'Not Responding' message.

Actually, there is one 'hi-tech' device that I am not fond of, and that is my cell phone.  As I may have mentioned before, this is a list of what I like from my cell phone:

1.  Make phone calls.

Pretty short list, eh?  However, to prove that my mind isn't closed to progress, I conceded to upgrading my phone to a 'smartphone'.  My justification was that I would be able to data stream music via Pandora and close my satellite radio account.  In theory, my plan seemed sound, however, I did not take into account that I travel a wide area and my cellular provider does not do a stellar job in providing coverage.  Hence, I couldn't always make a phone call, never mind trying to download music.  My Android phone was an interesting toy when I was able to wi-fi at home or in a restaurant, but I could not justify the cost for what I got in return.  So I did a lot of number crunching and even with paying an early termination penalty, I could close my account, and come out ahead of the game.  Not only that, I was able to get a good price for the phone on eBay.  Even better, I don't have to carry around two phones anymore, I set up my work phone to be used for a personal phone as well.  Do you think my technology digression ends there?  Non, non, Mon Ami!  We had two satellite radio accounts for our cars for about five years and have become less and less enchanted with it over time.  When we first got it, they touted "Commercial Free Radio!" which was exactly what I wanted.  However, in no time at all, commercials started popping up on different channels.  Not good.  Now their line was "Mostly Commercial Free Radio."  On top of that, my favourite channel, 'the 60's', had an annoying DJ in the morning always yammering on and, even worse, had people calling in as well (I'm sure they were calling from asylums).  Also, all the channels were always 'plugging' their upcoming programs.  I found myself constantly hitting the preset buttons to find music, just like I use to do with regular FM radio.  So I'm thinking, "Heck, if I have to keep station jumping, I might as well be doing it on free radio, not paid radio.  I cancelled both satellite subscriptions.  On the other hand, I love Pandora radio and listen to it all the time at home and wish I could get it in the cars.  Maybe someday.

  You know, this blogging stuff is very therapeutic!  I feel much better now, thanks!

* PC for me. / PC for my wife. / PC for the living room [in case I need to look up something on the IMDB (Internet Movie Data Base)]. / PC for the workshop. / PC for the guest room.