i may get rid of my spats and pince-nez also…

December 17th, 2015

I’ve done some exhaustive research, or maybe some deep soul-searching, or possibly I looked at the calendar, and I think it may be time to get rid of my landline phone.

I know what you’re thinking: “Why in the world does he still have a landline phone?” (or, possibly, “What the heck is a landline phone?”)

Well, while my mother was alive, my excuse was that I needed to be in able to reach her, and vice versa, in case of an emergency. And it reassured her that I had it, because she never completely trusted cell phones.

But that no longer applies, and in any case I have not found landlines to be more reliable than cell phones. Certainly less and less effort is going into maintaining and upgrading the copper.

My other excuse was that the phone line is how I get my DSL internet. My slow and occasionally inconsistent and not-possible-to-upgrade (because of the lousy copper) DSL. And there are other ways to get internet access (my phone has faster and more reliable access than my DSL).

So, it may be time. Maybe. It’s possible that I may have to appoint a subcommittee or do some data analysis or something first.

It doesn’t do to be too hasty in these matters…

 
Meanwhile, I like this. An excellent scene in an underrated movie: “Putting Timothy Olyphant in a silly Santa hat only makes him more menacing.” I reviewed Go when it came out, and I’ll post the review here tomorrow.

 
Also, I was very excited to read this news: “Burroughs: The Movie kicked off a short career by studying a long one” For years (decades) now, my only way of seeing the picture was on a VHS tape that a co-worker recorded for me off cable. (Full disclosure: that “Lee” up there, my middle name? That’s in honor of William Burroughs.)

The Criterion Collection comes through again. (My copy arrives tomorrow, 🙂 )

 
And, finally, a little Facebook story. I went on Facebook today and got a notification that So-and-so had a birthday today. I went to her wall, and a bunch of people had posted “Happy birthday!” messages.

The only trouble was that, in the real world, So-and-so died six months ago. A fact which all of her actual friends, as opposed to her Facebook “friends,” are well aware of. Even acquaintances like me know it..

Sometimes Facebook is kind of creepy.

Entry Filed under: Movies,Tech Topics

4 Comments Add your own

  • 1. Maggie  |  December 19th, 2015 at 3:33 pm

    Same here; my parents would hate for me to totally give up the landline. I guess it still feels more “secure” than a cell phone, even though my landline service is terrible.

    And the birthday reminders are another thing I hate about FB… when I was on there, I liked getting birthday wishes, but how many of those same people would remember that it was my birthday if FB didn’t remind them? Probably only 5 out of the 65 “friends” I had… and those 5 would all be family members. 🙂

  • 2. Anthony Lee Collins  |  December 20th, 2015 at 12:08 am

    I’ve never posted my birthday on FB, for exactly that reason.

  • 3. SB Roberts  |  December 21st, 2015 at 9:35 am

    You’re not alone in being one of the last to have a landline of some sort. We live so close to cell towers that we have signal problems sometimes, so it just makes sense. Now that I think about it, though, I don’t think any of my friends or family have one except for my husband’s grandmother, who probably just keeps hers more out of habit than necessity. Funny how things change. 🙂

  • 4. Anthony Lee Collins  |  December 24th, 2015 at 10:36 pm

    When my mother lived at home, she had a rotary phone that had been in that apartment at least since we moved in, around 1970. That thing was three or four times as heavy as a modern rotary phone. Even the handset felt like a small barbell.

    But of course, in those days, before the breakup of the phone company, the phone belonged to them, and it was in their interest to have it pretty much impervious to harm. 🙂

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