I'm A Smart-Phone Virgin

Sunday afternoon, I went to Verizon and came home with this:

Exciting, right? 

I was like a kid trying to choose a piece of candy as hubby and I browsed all the techy gadgets. Since neither of us have upgraded our phones since 2003--(We both had flip phones which we both loved.) I figured they should have given us 5 free phones, but let's not get into that. We decided to be frugal and choose a model that was free to upgrade. The Droid Mini. It's not really 'mini,' but it's smaller than the 'Ultra.' Whatever.  

Choosing from the 'Free phone' counter is almost like an arranged marriage. Verizon is like a matchmaker who chooses a model for you. You either learn to love it, pay the cancellation fee (which is cheaper than a real divorce,) or you live in misery until the two years are over. In any case, hubby and I are still in the wedding-night stage with our phones. 

Anywho, I immediately downloaded VZ Navigation (for a $4.99/month charge, of course.) because when I'm driving alone, I can't find my way out of a wet paper bag. I like the turn-by-turn directions, and that my phone will talk to me as I drive. When I got home, my daughter informed me that Google Maps does the same thing. Oh well.

Then, I learned how to take photos. This phone takes really good photos, which will be great for my e-baying, sending Tweetpics and Facebook statuses. 

I downloaded Facebook and Twitter and set my morning alarm. I plugged my phone into the charger and plugged the charger into an electric strip by my nightstand. Unfortunately, I don't know how to shut off the alarm, because this morning, just as the song that took me about 10 minutes to choose, started playing, the phone shut down. Apparently, I had forgotten to turn the strip on. Not apparently--I just forgot. I should probably stay away from electronics.

Anyway, all day at work, the phone buzzed, booped, beeped, and vibrated, letting me know I had an e-mail, a Facebook notification, a Twitter mention, and texts. It drove me crazy. I tried to figure out how to turn off notification sounds. I'm still trying. 

In the meantime, I removed Facebook and Twitter until I can decipher it. Besides, I stumbled across all the things I was permitting Facebook to do with my phone. I wasn't too happy. Have you ever read those permissions on your phone? You should. I would've shared that with you, if I could have found it again. Sorry.

There's a long road ahead of me, figuring out this phone. It will probably take me another 11 years to love it. Do you think it'll last until 2025?


If not, I still have this one:

 just in case.

What kind of smart phone do you have? Are you in love or eagerly awaiting your next upgrade?

Rest in Peace, Robin Williams

I was all ready to go with an already scheduled blog post, but I was so saddened by the news of Robin Williams' death that I had to write a new post.

The first time I saw Robin Williams was on Mork & Mindy.

Even though the show was goofy, he captured my heart.

He was a very talented actor, with or without his beard, and I enjoyed almost all of his movies. Some of my favorites were What Dreams May Come, The Birdcage, Awakenings, and of course, Mrs. Doubtfire.

His death is such a tragedy, and I don't know what else to say except that I hope his family can find peace.

Thank you, Robin Williams, for bringing me both laughter and tears, and for sharing your gift with us all. May you rest in peace.

100 Years, 100 Films, 100 Nights I Won't Write.

Recently, I stumbled across one of those time-sucking Facebook quizzes that asked a few irrelevant questions and then calculated how many more cats you should own. Or something like that. Anyway, one of the questions asked whether or not you watched every movie on the American Film Institute's 100 Years, 100 Movies. I had watched almost more than half of them, but most of them I'd seen more than 20 years ago. I thought it would be fun to watch them in order, starting with #100.

My daughter, Amanda, was on board with me and suggested we should write something about each movie. We entered the movies on my Netflix queue.
I rustled up an unused journal, (We have a few in my house.) and decorated the cover.

After watching the movie, we take turns jotting our thoughts into the journal--keeping the year of production in mind, we write a paragraph or two about how the movie made us feel, what we thought about the story, the acting, or the cinematography. Of course we each use different color pens, because that's how we roll.

So far, life has gotten in the way, along with SYTYCD and the new Starz Outlander series, so we've only watched 2-1/2 movies. I'm hoping to set aside 2 nights a week to catch up, which means that will be 100 nights that I'm not writing. But hey, I need to look at it as quality time with my daughter, right? We'll see how that goes...

Here's the 10th Anniversary list of AFI's 100 Years, 100 Movies:

#	MOVIE	YEAR
1	CITIZEN KANE	1941
2	THE GODFATHER	1972
3	CASABLANCA	1942
4	RAGING BULL	1980
5	SINGIN' IN THE RAIN	1952
6	GONE WITH THE WIND	1939
7	LAWRENCE OF ARABIA	1962
8	SCHINDLER'S LIST	1993
9	VERTIGO	1958
10	THE WIZARD OF OZ	1939
11	CITY LIGHTS	1931
12	THE SEARCHERS	1956
13	STAR WARS	1977
14	PSYCHO	1960
15	2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY	1968
16	SUNSET BLVD.	1950
17	THE GRADUATE	1967
18	THE GENERAL	1927
19	ON THE WATERFRONT	1954
20	IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE	1946
21	CHINATOWN	1974
22	SOME LIKE IT HOT	1959
23	THE GRAPES OF WRATH	1940
24	E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL	1982
25	TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD	1962
26	MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON	1939
27	HIGH NOON	1952
28	ALL ABOUT EVE	1950
29	DOUBLE INDEMNITY	1944
30	APOCALYPSE NOW	1979
31	THE MALTESE FALCON	1941
32	THE GODFATHER PART II	1974
33	ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST	1975
34	SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS	1937
35	ANNIE HALL	1977
36	THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI	1957
37	THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES	1946
38	THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE	1948
39	DR. STRANGELOVE	1964
40	THE SOUND OF MUSIC	1965
41	KING KONG	1933
42	BONNIE AND CLYDE	1967
43	MIDNIGHT COWBOY	1969
44	THE PHILADELPHIA STORY	1940
45	SHANE	1953
46	IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT	1934
47	A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE	1951
48	REAR WINDOW	1954
49	INTOLERANCE	1916
50	THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING	2001
51	WEST SIDE STORY	1961
52	TAXI DRIVER	1976
53	THE DEER HUNTER	1978
54	M*A*S*H	1970
55	NORTH BY NORTHWEST	1959
56	JAWS	1975
57	ROCKY	1976
58	THE GOLD RUSH	1925
59	NASHVILLE	1975
60	DUCK SOUP	1933
61	SULLIVAN'S TRAVELS	1941
62	AMERICAN GRAFFITI	1973
63	CABARET	1972
64	NETWORK	1976
65	THE AFRICAN QUEEN	1951
66	RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK	1981
67	WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?	1966
68	UNFORGIVEN	1992
69	TOOTSIE	1982
70	A CLOCKWORK ORANGE	1971
71	SAVING PRIVATE RYAN	1998
72	THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION	1994
73	BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID	1969
74	THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS	1991
75	IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT	1967
76	FORREST GUMP	1994
77	ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN	1976
78	MODERN TIMES	1936
79	THE WILD BUNCH	1969
80	THE APARTMENT	1960
81	SPARTACUS	1960
82	SUNRISE	1927
83	TITANIC	1997
84	EASY RIDER	1969
85	A NIGHT AT THE OPERA	1935
86	PLATOON	1986
87	12 ANGRY MEN	1957
88	BRINGING UP BABY	1938
89	THE SIXTH SENSE	1999
90	SWING TIME	1936
91	SOPHIE'S CHOICE	1982
92	GOODFELLAS	1990
93	THE FRENCH CONNECTION	1971
94	PULP FICTION	1994
95	THE LAST PICTURE SHOW	1971
96	DO THE RIGHT THING	1989
97	BLADE RUNNER	1982
98	YANKEE DOODLE DANDY	1942
99	TOY STORY	1995
100	BEN-HUR	1959

How many have you seen?

Just For Laughs

Happy Friday! Here are a few giggles I found around the interwebs. Enjoy!


If Moses were alive today he’d come down from the mountain with the Ten Commandments and spend the next five years trying to get them published.
- Anonymous

The dubious privilege of a freelance writer is he’s given the freedom to starve anywhere. 
- S.J. Perelman

As far as I'm concerned, "whom" is a word that was invented to make everyone sound like a butler.
- Calvin Trillin

Writing is a socially acceptable form of getting naked in public.
- Paulo Coelho

How many mystery writers does it take to change a light bulb? 
Two. One to screw the bulb almost all the way in, and one to give a surprising twist at the end.