My Phone: A Thank You Post

This is all about my phone.  I am not a highly tech-y person.  D is.  When I needed a  phone to use during the never ending home sale in WA state I thought we would just get a cheap little flip phone from a department store.  D had to go with the latest technology which was a smartphone (the iPhone though this isn't an ad or sponsored by them in any way).  When I first got the phone I thought it was a bit much: what was I going to do with all those buttons and apps and things.  I thought so much of it would be wasted on me.  This list of ways I use my phone is sort of a thank you to D for pushing me into new technology.

• email, so nice to check it quickly.
• phone.  With all our moves recently it has been nice to know that when I don't have emergency contacts in a new town I have an emergency number in my phone.
• news online and through apps.  Love checking the headlines while waiting in the grocery line.
• games: have saved my sanity during many a doctor/dentist appointment with the munchkins.  Games have also saved a few family outings when one child was not interested in the activity and there was no chance we were leaving it early. OK, I play the games too.  Scrabble Free, Angry Birds... I play.  I admit it.
• music.  I have all my purchased tunes loaded.  I just installed the I Heart Radio app.  I use the internet to stream my favorite station from Seattle everyday.  There is no station like my favorite Seattle station.
• Weather.  With one desperately scared of thunderstorms it is nice to have some warning.  In our new tornado prone state I should look into getting a weather warning app as well. Also helpful in looking ahead in the forecast with a click.
• Camera.  Not as good as my real camera and there are things I haven't been motivated to figure out like how to get pics from the phone to the blog, but that camera has been so handy.  I can email my dad a picture to ask a  gardening question.  When we were separated by a continent we could easily send D pics of what we were up to. I have taken quick pictures of patterns as I try to lay out a quilt or hang framed picture arrangements on the walls.  I have taken video of school concerts D missed and E's batting swing to show him that it is so low he looks like he is golfing.  Remembering parking places in large lots is not so stressful when you take a pic of the nearest sign/landmark with the phone camera.  Furniture shopping was a bit easier because I took pictures of items I liked to review and compare them later.
• Contacts.  So nice to have everyone close though I live in fear that this data will somehow disappear into the universe for no reason never to be found again.
• Texting.  I didn't know how to text until we built the last house in Virginia.  The only way to get my site supervisor to respond was texting.  Now I text with all my sisters and D and neighbors.  Fun!
• The Map.  It is like carrying a GPS around with you because it is carrying a GPS around with you.  It has gotten me out of more than a few messes where I was totally lost.  A scary part of Atlanta after a ball game and being completely turned around on the way to a new library come to mind.  I have learned before we go on a trip to enter our hotel address into it so no matter how lost we are we can have that as a centering place.  Finding my was around in a new city has been made much easier by this feature.

So this is a techie thank you to D for my phone. A little late as I got the phone almost 3 years ago.  It is time to upgrade and again I hesitate--- I hate to give up my longtime helper--- but I know that there is a new helper waiting for me who can teach me all sorts of new things and that I can find so many creative uses for.
love and hugs, B