It’s Always SOMETHING…

And today it was my cell phone. The thing has been dying a slow death. I’ve known this for over a month now and have been in denial. Today it pretty much gave up the ghost, going black in the middle of three phone calls. It just quits, no warning, no plaintive beep, no “help me, help me” in a little fly-voice. I suppose I should realize that any device that’s been powered-on for two and a half years straight is going to die sooner rather than later. But still, I’m not pleased. Am I the only guy in the world that expects stuff to last forever? Apparently so.

So, it’s off to Lubbock tomorrow to buy a new phone, and a new rate-plan from Cingular, too. Checked out their web site this evening to get the address of the Cingular store in Lubbock, browse the available phones, and in so doing I found out I have to “upgrade” my plan as I am a former AT&T customer. Cingular bought AT&T a year or so ago, as I remember, probably longer.

I’ll probably swing by the Mazda store while I’m in Lubbock and test-drive a new Miata (there isn’t a Mazda dealer in P-Town or The Big(ger) City^TM). I’m already doing those Zen sales-resistance exercises. I will not buy a new car tomorrow. I will not buy a new car tomorrow. I will NOT buy a… It’s a mantra, ya know.

I’ve been meaning to mention this for a couple of weeks now, but haven’t. A Holiday Inn Express opened up across the street from me a couple of weeks ago and I notice they’re doing some pretty good business. I haven’t noticed the folks in Portales getting any smarter as a result, but rumor has it you have to actually stay in one to get smarter. Just having one in Portales doesn’t raise the collective IQ of the town, apparently. Maybe I’ll book a room over there about once a month and see if I get any wiser. One can always hope. On the other hand, it would be nice just to soak in a hot bath, something I haven’t done in nearly a year. You give up little luxuries when you opt for a mobile life.

Lots of coverage on the Texas Panhandle’s wild fires on the tube today. Both Fox News and The WX Channel had fairly extensive pieces on the fires. The maps seem to show a couple of fires between here and Lubbock. We’ll see tomorrow.

And finally… After all that going-on I did yesterday about watching the sun come up from the “proper” perspective, I turned right around and blew it. I took a nap yesterday afternoon when I got home and slept until 9:00 or so last evening. And then stayed up until 0500 this morning. I’m beginning to wonder if I’ll ever get this sleep thing back to “normal.” Whatever that is.