I am a total Apple fan. I made the Big Switch a couple of years ago when I qualified (for a very short period of time) for a massive education discount off of new Apple computers and Adobe Creative Suite 3. I had drooled over iMacs and Macbooks for months, and shortly after becoming a teacher, it hit me one day that I could actually maybe afford one with the discount. Long story short, I did. One of each, in fact, before my teaching contract ended. Holding the box itself to the first one was like love at first sight. Have you ever felt the packaging from Apple? Pure heaven.
So when the iPhone first came out, I immediately went online to reserve my own. Then they asked that dreaded question: my Zip code. Now I’ve never been one to get too hung up on Zip codes, but let me tell you. I got hung up on them that day. See, Altus only has one Zip code. I think it’s the only one Apple doesn’t know about. 3G service for all mankind? 4G even? Not here, folks. Out here in our neck of the woods, er, um, plains, we’re lucky to get cellular service at all. In fact, the very first time we drove through here, I was actually surprised to find a cell phone store on the corner of downtown. And if you’ve seen our coverage maps, you’d be surprised too.
While all the world has ranted and raved and synced and played and generally become addicted to the iPhone, us folks out here in no man’s land have been stuck beating our chests and using smoke signals. The time finally came that I needed to upgrade my cell phone, and despite my valiant attempts to fool the Apple Zip Code iPhone checker-outer system, I realized I would have to actually go down to that cellular store on the corner and pick out something they have to offer here in Altus. For a freelance web designer like myself to waltz into a cell phone store and walk out with anything but an iPhone is sheer humiliation. I could practically write an app for the iPhone, for gosh sakes.
For the past little while I’ve been accustomed to using a Blackberry, which was a hand-me-up from my little sis several years ago. It’s so ancient by now that I’ve actually been embarrassed to pull it out in public. Yes, I do have a vain streak. I figured I would just upgrade to a new Curve or Pearl or whatnot. And then I saw something curious. An iPhone-looking thing that you can touch and surf and qwerty-type and everything. It was practically glowing at me in the case. Now, I had to swallow my pride to even consider the {gasp!} LG version of a touch phone. But let’s face it. There’s no iPhone within miles of here. It’s either go for the gusto and enjoy the substandard toucheroo, or stick with the everybody’s-got-one Blackberry. I went with the LG Tritan, because once I started touching and swiping and typing, I couldn’t keep my hands off of it. It’s soooo…Appleish. Now that my brain has been doing Mac logic for the past couple of years, the Tritan seems to follow that same intuition, rather than the typical PC vibes I get from the Blackberry.
So it’s not an iPhone. And I’m not pretending that it is. Well, most of the time I’m not. Unless I’m in the doctor’s office and the drug reps might not realize that Altus doesn’t do iPhones. But when I’m out there surfing the net or catching up on my blog feeds, I’m painfully aware that my phone did not come from the Apple store. Yeah, it’s got a few 3rd party apps to purchase, but really. What’s the point?
I usually name my Mac hardware, because I like it in the sort of way that some people like their cats and dogs. If you own a Mac, you know what I mean. It’s like part of the family. I’ll refrain from sharing all of my Mac device names here, but as I held my new Tritan, I thought, this thing needs a name. I like it, and it needs a name. All my favorite electronic devices have names. But after I thought for a moment, I sort of felt like a traitor trying to name something that wasn’t Apple. Crazy, I know, but I did. I thought that. So I didn’t name it. It’s just my phone. Sometimes I think I’m funny when I call it my aPhone. You know, A for Altus? But that’s really not funny. I like my phone. I like to touch it. But it’s just a phone. A data phone, yes, that browses and emails and navigates, but it’s just a phone.
Howevah…this just-a-phone has the cutest dang cover anywhere!! I searched the internet far and wide for knitting patterns for iPhone cozies, and I couldn’t find what I wanted. So I made up my own. I made two, actually, and hated the first one, which was a sock. It was cool, and I learned a new knitting skill–magic cast on–, but I couldn’t use the phone in the sock, nor get it out in a hurry. The new and improved version is a SLIPPER instead–a hot pink slipper with a cute little black bow at the top. Now that’s one sexy aPhone. It sort of takes the sting out.
