* - Lawyer-to-be friend Mike NTPB pointed out that invariably, these phone companies have to make small changes to your contract over the two year period - tax rate changes, fine print type stuff. Those, though, constitute "material changes" to the contract, and according to Miguel, effectively make it a new contract that you didn't *really* sign. Apparently if you stick to that party line, you can successfully dodge those fees. So there ya go.
Beck called T-Mobile back on Wednesday the 24th to make the offer again. Now they were much happier / more scared to talk and offered us the phones, but too late, T-fools! Beck was about to get the iPhones when T-Mobile told her that our contract was still live, so if we tried to change our phone numbers over, we would still be charged the $200 each. ARGH! So Beck said fine, she would do it Friday. Ah, but that would mean our month-to-month plan on T-Mobile would have automatically renewed, so we would owe them for another month of service. Eh? Basically, we had to make the change over to the iPhones and AT&T at the precise minute window or T-Mobile was going to try to screw us. And there was something about virgin's blood and the moon being at the correct degree above the horizon, too. Or something. Basically, this all meant that I had to run to the Apple Store on Thursday, with iPFam on the horizon, to get our phone situation all figured out.
And even that simple act - walking into the store, knowing exactly what I wanted and asking for it, turned into an ordeal with those friggin' koolaid consuming automaton jackasses aka the Apple Store Geniuses. I even told them directly that they could drop the act with me, but this didn't help as apparently their prime directives are just too powerful. So annoying; I just wanted to grab them by their big fat heads and say "LOOK, MAN, NOTHING IS THIS EXCITING,OKAY?!!?!?!" On top of the bizarre and thoroughly inauthentic human interactions, they didn't know how to preserve my number for the phones since I use an out of state area code. The solution was to to have me buy all the iParaphernalia at the Apple Store, assign me random numbers with AT&T with Phoenix area codes, and then trek over to the AT&T store where they would know what to do. Fine, whatever. Done and done (and oh yeah, I celebrated my purchase with a fruity MoJo concoction), so I headed over to AT&T ... where they told me the magic solution was to call a 1-800 number and do it myself. Fantastic. Some two hours later, it was all figured out, and I had me an iPhone, and one for the Beck, taboot!
And yeah, it's completely changed our lives. We don't ask questions any more, we answer them with the brain in our pocket. It's pretty amazing, and I haven't even spent a dime on an app yet. Maybe a topic for another post - I'm not even sure how excited I am about writing the experiential shift that comes with ownership of an iPhone, let alone you reading it - but suffice it, I've joined the masses and now "get it." I definitely achieved a certain sense of iZen while walking to class the other day, listening to Kind of Blue and checking my e-mail in the glorious sunshine. Good times.
More importantly, it's almost as a document has come out that I am secretly Ashkenazi, and now the iPMM and I can finally understand one another. Just kidding - but it was strangely appropriate that the we had the iPJ himself and his trusty, even more addicted partner to teach us in our formative iPhone days. This may seem trivial, but the amount of conversation that was dominated with talk of apps and such was astounding over this phase of Houseguestapalooza. And yes, rightfully so; they're incredible devices that alter your interface with the world. Sometimes, sough cough, make your interface with the world entirely a handheld device. I am terrified of what facebook + iPhone will do to the Beck, but so far so good. Anyways, that's probably enough about that. Just note that we are now officially an iPFam Jr. and are likely to suffer and suffer you all that entails. (Also note that AT&T is hexta-expensive, and we had to give up our cable subscription - that we weren't really using anyways - to make things balance out. We're also on the lowest minutes plan, so only call us on nights and weekends and such, unless you're a fellow AT&T subscriber and all that).
Wow, long intro - the iPFam got in late that Thursday night such that I had already eaten. Friday had fun in store - I got some work done early and headed out at 10 to watch my last Cubs game of the spring. Woohoo! Greg and Meghan had given me a gift certificate to StubHub, so I found some remarkably cheap (very near face) tix directly behind home plate for the Cubs Friday game against the A's. I took my buddy Jim from Sprawl, a fellow tortured Cubs fan soul, and we enjoyed a nicely pitched game by Carlos Z (who won today, incidentally, to make up for his horrific opening day start). Great fun - here was the vantage:
Marmol imploded in the 8th or so in this one, so the Cubs lost, but still, great afternoon and a good cap to the spring season for me personally. I went home and picked up the iPJ (the iPMM had driven to "Tulsa" for the day) and we headed to the Biltmore to catch another Friday evening movie classic, The Philadelphia Story. Got some delicious Slice of Sicily pizza - our routine RULES - and we actually skipped MoJo for once. The movie was quite enjoyable, full of repartee and a stellar cast (Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn, Jimmy Stewart, etc.). Another great evening on the lawn...
Alright, back to the outline:
Saturday - SLUG and a chill day; we ate and ate well at home
Sunday - got up early and crushed a lot of work; more iPChilling; pickup Ulty; hit up Zinburger...
Oh, wait, exit outline. We went to Zinburger, a wine and burger bar adjacent to MoJo. And we were served by one of my bioethics students. More exactly:
Waitress: What will you have?
Nyet: Medium cheeseburger with cheddar and no veggies - basically bun, meat, cheese, bun.
Waitress: Okay. This is a weird question, but do you work at ASU?
Nyet [uh-oh]: Why yes...
W: Are you the bioethics TA?
N: Oh yeah
W: I'm in your class...
N: Hey, right, I didn't recognize you out of context...
W: I got an 80 on the midterm. I stayed up all night. Whatevs. [Walks off]
N: Um, that was above average...
And the jokes flowed. Spit in food was mentioned by more than one person, and is pretty much brought up every time I relay this story. Awesome times. She *did* get a ridiculous tip from the iPJ, so I hope all is right in the universe. Still, I did not enjoy the experience.
Sunday, ctd - followed by MoJo. Ah, all is right in the world, at least.
Monday - Back at school, sadly. Class canceled. Seder w/ the iPFam. Including: matzah ball soup, brisket, and the most ridiculous chocolate covered matzah desert you've ever heard. The iPJ opened the door for Elijah and in walked Wrigley. Who knew? Good meal, even if it was a 30 minute version.
Tuesday - Had to teach very late, and made it home in time to do leftover brisket sandwiches with the iPFam. Beck and I hit up Zinburger for dessert; she had a big as her face slice of pie and I had a ridiculous mint chocolate milkshake.
And the iPFam headed back out on the road on Wednesday. Thus ended Houseguestapalooza. Or did it?
...
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