So far a lovely weekend. For starters, I left work Friday afternoon several hours early so Mark and I could go by a couple of cell phone stores to try and decide what new phones we want to get. Bottom line -- we've decided to switch from AT&T to Verizon with Droid X phones. But since Verizon has a 30-day return policy, we plan to wait until Mark gets home next time to order. He'll be headed back to work on Tuesday and with Christmas and all, I'm not sure whether the phones, ordered online from Amazon Wireless, would get here in time for him to take his with him to work, and he definitely needs to find out if the thing works offshore in order to know if he wants to keep it. Verizon DOES have a number of floating cell towers out there in the Gulf, so it SHOULD work, but we want to be sure. We COULD go ahead and get them at the local store now, but it would cost us $300 more than buying them online from Amazon Wireless, even with the local store contract discount!! I don't THINK so!
We did look at iPhones as well, but even though there are WAY more apps available for them, none of their screens are nearly as large as the Droid X, and given Mark's vision (or lack thereof) and the size of his fingers, that 4.3" screen on the Droid was a key factor in our decision. The large size of the touch-screen keys, particularly when turned sideways, combined with the Swype word entry app, will work really well for Mark.
As for me, I liked the sound of the new Google Nexus phone that's coming out January 5, but at the moment it will only be available through T-Mobile and there is NO WAY I will ever, ever, EVER deal with them again. We tried them a few years back, only to find that there was absolutely NO offshore reception, but they still refused to take back Mark's phone. So it cost us about $500 to cancel the contract. Hope they appreciated all that extra money because it's definitely the last money they will EVER see from us!
So now that we know what we want, we'll just wait a couple weeks to get them. If any of you are planning to upgrade, DO check out Amazon Wireless. I didn't realize until yesterday that there was a separate cell phone business there, in addition to the phones you can buy on their regular web site. And their prices are REALLY good. The Droid X that costs $199 EACH at the Verizon store, even with a double 2-year contract, is only $49.99 on Amazon Wireless.
Then Saturday morning I got up at 6 AM and finished cleaning up the house. (Thank goodness for yearly Christmas visitors. If it weren't for them, this place would eventually be condemned!)
We had planned to go down to Sacs Western Store with Janet and Mike later in the afternoon to pick up a new saddle for her horse, Sammy, then go out to eat. But their rescue Thoroughbred, Pat, who is always harrassing the other horses to get them to run and play with him apparently harassed one of them a little too much -- he got the crap kicked out of him by someone and started having a few problems that required a vet visit. So the Sacs visit got put off for now. They did come over later in the afternoon, though, and we went by the barn for them to check out the HayHut, then over to Roberto's down the road for dinner. Worked out well -- we got to Roberto's early -- before 6 -- so it didn't start getting as horrendously noisy as it usually is in there until we were ready to leave. Nice. Their food is terrific, but we don't eat there very often because it's so noisy that Mark can't hear to have a decent conversation. So now we know what to do -- just go eat early!
Then we headed back to the house to have coffee and dessert and wait for Vickie and John to arrive from DC. They flew into New Orleans and rented a car, got here around 8. Idgy, one of their three Westies, got to come with them this time. They WERE going to have her stay with some orthodox Jewish friends of theirs, but they didn't get her over there in time and apparently orthodox Jews cannot accept anything from anyone between sunset on Friday and sunset on Saturday. So that meant they couldn't even just put her in their yard. So . . . that meant a last-minute plane ticket for the pup. But she is the sweetest, and quietest of their three dogs so we're very happy she's here. And Boo seems to enjoy her company, as well!
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