Not So Fast

I bet if somebody used a drill to remove some screws from a board and then, five or ten minute later, used the same drill to drill a hole without changing the reverse setting, it would probably feel very weird. It would still drill the hole even in reverse. It would just feel unusual and strange and make someone wonder why the drill felt so weird. You wouldn't do that yourself, of course. Somebody else might. Even if you accidentally did that, later on you wouldn't admit it. It would be someone else. Like a friend or acquaintance. Have I told you what my friend did with his drill?

Last week I mentioned my new cell phone. I was excited about it, since it's the best phone I've ever had. It's usually $449, but Amazon put it on sale for $189. That was too good to pass up. I'd been looking for a decent cell phone for a while.

Alas, the other shoe dropped. I got the phone and tried to activate it but had some trouble. I didn't think much of it. It can take a while to port a phone number between carriers, which is what I was doing. To be on the safe side, I called tech support. At one point I had to go out in the yard to make sure I had the best signal. Bingo! It finally worked. Yay! I went back inside to verify it. They made sure I still had a signal. I had two bars. That's not great, but it's perfectly fine for me. It would turn out those two bars were deceptive. Woe is me. I basically have no service indoors. Occasionally, I'll get a bar or two, but as soon as I swipe the unlock screen, they go away.

The new phone I bought is GSM. My old phone is CDMA. GSM used to work here. Apparently, enough trees have matured since then to interfere with the signal. It probably would work in the winter. I bought a dirt cheap piece of junk phone and swapped the SIM card to test if maybe the new phone was the problem and not the signal strength. It's definitely the signal.

Now the number I've had for years is on a carrier I can't use at home. The options aren't good. I can return the phone. However, if I still wanted to have Amazon prime, I'd have to re-purchase it, which would leave me $100 to buy a new phone. I would have to port to a CDMA carrier to use it. It appears that I can't just buy any CDMA phone. It might have to be one that's already been used on a network for six months. I don't want a used phone. Another option is to buy a signal booster that I would have to get permission from AT&T to use. However, I'm on one of their MVNOs. I don't know if they would grant permission. That would be an added expense.

I could keep the phone until I move. I kind of expect to do that in a year or two possibly. For a phone better than an iPhone, I wouldn't mind a short wait. Of course, moving depends on factors outside my control right now.
I could eat the $100 and give the phone to my niece as a present. Best uncle ever!
I almost title this post Rage Against the Machine. There aren't any good options.

In other news look what I found! Alice ua Pays des Merveilles. I used to watch that on CBC out of Canada in the old days when I was trying to learn French. Now that I'm back at it, I thought of it. It's a cartoon, but you have to start with simple things. Besides, I like the theme song. lol It's on YouTube, but I might eventually buy it. There's more bad news, of course. I don't have a multi-region DVD player. And if I was going to buy one, I may as well buy a Blu Ray/DVD player combo, right? I guess. I generally don't watch secular movies and haven't needed a Blu Ray player. The only reason I'd "need" one would be for French and Hebrew content. Why do they have to have separate regions for this stuff? Rage against the machine!

And that brings me to some good news. Over a number of days, I spent hours at www.amazon.fr looking for something like a cheap tv series that I could buy on DVD. I saw a ton of American shows. It took me a while to figure out that what I really need to do is find some shows I like at amazon.com that are dubbed in French. :)

I have until the end of the month to return the phone. We'll see.