Can you hear me now? Not really.

I can't decide if I'm shocked, amused, outraged, or a combination of all three. My cell phone broke today. All I was doing was closing it (rather gently, actually) and somehow the hinge just suddenly broke. (By the way, the phone is almost two years old.) It's quite a pathetic looking piece of electronics now, but it still works. A coworker told me he had the same phone and the same thing happened to him, and he was able to use it for over a month like that. I have to say, this never happened with my Motorola, which is still perfectly usable. If it didn't involve transferring all my new numbers, I'd probably switch back, but I think I'll just limp along.

Thankfully I'm up for Verizon's "new every two" program only a couple weeks from now. Of course, that's assuming I stay with Verizon. I've contemplated switching to a different provider. Although I've heard Verizon is the best overall in terms of coverage, they don't cover my apartment so well. For a while Alltel's "My Circle" promotion intrigued me (pick 10 numbers, any network, or even landlines, and get unlimited calls to them), but when I checked it out, it was a bit disappointing. "My Circle" is only available with certain plans, the cheapest of which is $20 more than I currently pay and includes 900 anytime minutes--double what I have now. If I doubled my minutes, I wouldn't need "My Circle"! I'll probably stick with Verizon, because I won't be living in this apartment forever, and it does have good coverage in the Triangle and has proven reliable throughout my travels. Crossing the country, only Oklahoma City was inhospitable to Verizon. The only thing is picking out the phone. So many to choose from! And from what I've heard, certain phones have better reception than others...so if I pick right, reception might improve in my apartment. That would be awesome! Does anyone have any opinions on Nokia vs. LG vs. Samsung vs. Motorola?

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While I have you, a movie recommendation: Go rent The Lake House! It is a wonderful film.

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Oh, and one more thing: if you like Parmesan cheese, try Kraft's new Grate It Fresh. It is so cool. It actually works really well, and the taste of the cheese is entirely different than the powdered stuff.