CondoMe, Part 2 (now with extra ranting)

Saw six more places today, plus drove past a few more. One was seriously nasty, plus in a seriously unpleasant neighborhood, plus there were air mattresses around, suggesting to me that people had been crashing there; scratch THAT fucker off the list. A second one was a "garden" apartment, which, no. I lived in one of those, and they suck, plus, in the neighborhood in which I'm looking, I absolutely would not live in a place that's that accessible to the street. A third one was quite stunning--really, really beautiful, plus it had several of the features that I desire greatly (washer and dryer; southern exposure; sun room; nice kitchen)--but it, too, was sort of on the first floor; it's one of those buildings where the real first floor is sort of half above ground and half below, and the actual apartment is a flight of stairs up. In the winter, it's really bright, but the big trees outside mean that it's going to be pretty dark in the summer (and it's only a block south of where I live now, so I know whereof I speak). Still, if it had been on the third, or maybe even second, floor of the building, I probably would have pulled out the checkbook.

The fourth one was in the same set of buildings as number three, and was actually on the third floor, but was in crappy shape, plus no washer and dryer (you had to go down three flights of stairs to the basement) and one could not be added. The layout wasn't exactly the same as the first-floor unit, and, in fact, was kind of cramped. The fifth one was really nice--lots of nice light, well-laid-out, etc.--but had an electric stove (one of those flat-top models, so not as bad as it could have been) and the walls were painted these incredibly dark colors. The main living room had chocolate brown and dark turquoise walls; the kitchen had dark red walls; the bedrooms had intensely green walls. Yes, I know you can paint, but this would have been a major job, in every room--and, really, if it hadn't been for the stove, I would have overlooked the paint. The sixth place was quite nice--third floor, lots of floor-to-ceiling windows, nice kitchen and baths, washer/dryer, good condo association--but it only had eastern and western exposures. Still, I wasn't ready to cross that one off the list just yet; that one was probably the keeper from today's adventures.

All in all, we're getting closer, I think, which is encouraging, given that we've only gone out twice.

But that's not what I wanted to bitch write about.

While trying to find out about yesterday's earthquake (I didn't feel it), I stumbled across a CNN story about cell phones and the plans that companies are selling. Apparently, if I understood it correctly, voice plans are getting extremely cheap. Data plans--e.g., for "smart" phones like the iPod and Blackberries and other suchlike devices--range from cheap to notso. Most phones are "web-enabled," i.e., some kind of internet service is (at least theoretically) available, but not all consumers actually use those services, and it seems to be those people that the cell phone companies want to target.

It began with Verizon Wireless. Last month, that company began requiring certain non-smartphone customers to subscribe to a data plan that costs at least $10 per month. Mobile experts believe Verizon's move marks the first step in a larger trend to make up for carriers' lost revenue from voice. . . . Verizon said it began to require new customers who purchase so-called "3G multimedia" phones to subscribe to a data plan in part so that they could get the full functionality out of their phones. . . . It's not just about increasing revenue, say analysts. [Hah! says Narya.] Carriers are banking on the consumer-friendly aspect: phones are more fun and useful with the Internet.
"The 'naked aggression' reason is to boost revenue to offset declining voice revenue," said Charles Golvin, mobile analyst with Forrester Research. "But carriers also realize consumers won't get the enjoyment out of their devices without data."

In other words, if I get a phone that has internet capability, but I don't actually want to use that capability, I may get charged a fee anyway and be required to purchase that capability--because, according to the cell phone companies, I "won't get enjoyment" out of my phone without it. And, oh!, my phone will be "more fun and useful" if I have a data plan.

To which I say: Bite me.

It's true that I have a device--my iTouch--that has wireless capability, and I use that aspect sometimes, when I'm in a location where I can get free wireless. My phone at least theoretically has that capability, but I've never purchased the service. I get the occasional text, but I think I've received fewer than 10 in the last two years, and that is fine with me. I don't tell people to text me, and I think my company charges 40¢ or so per text I receive.

The thing is, I don't want that service, by and large. The main reason is that I am so. fucking. tired. of sitting with someone and having him or her checking the blackberry, checking the phone, texting away, scrolling around, whateverthefuck. I've been in meetings where a quarter to a third of the people are texting, reading email, sneaking peeks at their phones, etc., and I think it is incredibly rude. I don't bring a novel to read during the boring parts of the meetings (though I may start doing that, to make a point). And the people at these meetings are not dealing with life-and-death matters.

The first person I ever knew who had a cell phone--and it was the size of a brick--was a doctor who did organ transplants, and that made sense to me. For situations like that, time is most certainly of the essence, and being able to reach everyone involved at a moment's notice is really lifesaving.

And admittedly I like having a cell phone; I think of it as a more-convenient (and more-expensive) combination of phone booth and portable answering machine, and it's very handy, especially given the number of hours I'm away from my house. It makes certain kinds of navigation easier and enables connecting on the fly. For example when Friend (who resisted getting a phone until about six months ago, when he succumbed and got an iPhone) is coming back from cheeseland, if I'm going to go to his house, he'll call me when he's an hour or so away so I can begin my trek to his 'hood, i.e., we're traveling simultaneously, rather than in sequence. (He used to have to wait until he got home to call me.)

But I see so many people tied to their devices--tethered to them, obsessed with them, constantly checking them. I almost got run over the other night because some guy was checking a phone in his lap at the intersection instead of looking to see if anyone might be crossing the street. (I wish they'd really start fining people for this shit instead of passing laws and then not actually enforcing them.) Really, people; what's that fucking important? It's as though people are constantly checking to see if there's something going on that's better than the person or event in front of them--which, if you ask me, is a way to breed permanent dissatisfaction.

I also think these technologies are further eroding the ability of people to read or write longer documents. I realize I'm wordier than many or most people, and I find that depressing. Some things can and should be brief, but some things benefit from a more extended discussion, and people who are used to communicating in spurts of fewer than a couple hundred characters seem to lose the will to follow along. Not everything can be communicated in a splash.

I also do not like the notion of being constantly available, particularly with regard to my job--even when I'm at my job. If I'm in the middle of something complicated and detailed, I am not going to drop everything just because you have a question, especially if it's something that you could have looked up for yourself. That's always a balance, of course, because all of us have things that are pressing sometimes, but I think that the texting crap merely promulgates the notion that one is always available for any question.

Anyway, the point is, I do not want those services. I don't need my phone to be "fun." And I get all of the "enjoyment" from my phone that I want or need, especially if I set it to vibrate and put it in my pocket.