Yesterday was BlackBerry hell. The funny thing is a week ago I had decided to ditch my BlackBerry. It's almost like I can sense the storm on the horizon before it arrives. You can smell a rain storm approaching, you know. Or maybe I just enjoy good timing. Coincindinky, I dunno. But when you've got complete strangers in the grocery store coming up to you and asking why you're still carting around a BlackBerry when the Droid is available -- implying that you're living in the dinosaur ages -- it's time to think about a new phone.
"What's up with the tomatoes? These aren't grown in Sacramento. Oh, hey, are you demented? I see you've got a BlackBerry."
My BlackBerry has been at my side for as long as I can remember. That's because I can't remember what it was like before cell phones, and I was alive then. It's been my buddy. I've strapped it to my pockets, waistband, jean loops for so long it's a part of me. I can grab it out of his holster faster than a 45. If this was the OK Corral, I'd be the last guy standing.
But I am so tired of receiving documents as attachments to email that I have to enlarge to the point that I can't read a single word and I still can't make out the document. It's hard to type on the keypad with long fingernails. It chips polish. The tag readers work like crap. It does so many things it's hard to make a phone call with it, and that's the main reason for a cell.
However, I had no idea how dependent I was on receiving emails on my smartphone until yesterday. Black Wednesday. It was like I was cut off from the universe. Flat-lined.
RIM Founder and Co-CEO Mike Lazaridis came forward 4 days after the Blackberry outage started in Europe to apologize. He didn't really offer any hope. Didn't have a timeline as to when it would be fixed. In fact, he said they're making progress in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. This means a starving kid in Ethiopia can get email before we can in the states, and who's to say he doesn't deserve it? But it doesn't make me feel any better. In fact, it makes me feel worse. We're not a priority.
It's almost as bad as being stranded on a rooftop in New Orleans without food or water, waiting for FEMA. I wonder what Lazaridis has been doing? Maybe he's been busy reading a book about goats to grade school children?
It doesn't matter. Hello, Droid. Come here often?
Here is a really cool photo of the South Dakota Badlands. Adam Weintraub, October 2011.
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Certified HAFA Specialist
My Sacramento Real Estate Listings
Elizabeth Weintraub is an author, home buying columnist for The New York Times-owned About.com, a Land Park resident, and a Land Park real estate agent who specializes in older, classic homes in Land Park, Curtis Park, Midtown and East Sacramento. Weintraub is also a Sacramento Short Sale agent who lists and successfully sells short sales throughout the four-county Sacramento area. Call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. Put 35 years of real estate experience to work for you. Broker-Associate at Lyon Real Estate. DRE License # 00697006.
The Short Sale Savior, by Elizabeth Weintraub, available at Amazon.com.
Lyon Real Estate is not associated with the government, and our service is not approved by the government or your lender. Even if you accept this offer and use our service, your lender may not agree to change your loan.
Photo: Unless otherwise noted in this blog, the photo is copyrighted by Big Stock Photo and used with permission.
The views expressed herein are Weintraub's personal views and do not reflect the views of Lyon Real Estate.
Disclaimer: If this post contains a listing, information is deemed reliable as of the date it was written. After that date, the listing may be sold, listed by another brokerage, canceled, pending or taken temporarily off the market, and the price could change without notice. It could blow up, explode or vanish. To find out the present status of any listing, please go to elizabethweintraub.com.
