I admit it, I'm very spoiled. I've traveled all my life, been well-taken care of and received various expensive gifts. The latter of which includes my new tablet. Now, I know..."You already have various electronic things. Many of them with screens and Internet access! Why on Earth would I need another?" I sort of asked myself that question when my parents proposed the idea last month.

My parent's Kobo eReaders were on their last legs. Not to mention their last, proprietary charger that even the manufacturer refused to sell.  Dad loved his Kobo, he's been an avid reader his whole life. A trained speed reader to boot. I'm a speed reader as well, but no where near his capacity. He can finish a few hundred pages in a few hours. Before ebooks were a thing, we had an entire room in our townhouse devoted to books. Paperbacks and hardcovers were squished together and lined several floor to ceiling bookcases. Then one day, we had to move out of that house and downsize. Mom said the books couldn't come with us. Dad had to pair it down to one bookcase. My father was of course, devastated. But around the time we realized a move was in the cards, both Mom and Dad discovered Kobo. They purchased each other an eReader for Xmas and I have to say, that probably softened the blow of the move for Dad.

However, it's been more than three years since then and their Kobos, which were faulty and poorly designed to begin with, were finally dying. As house techie, I was tasked with the job of finding a replacement. My reward, Dad said, would be a tablet of my own so I had to pick carefully. I didn't really mind and I didn't need a reward; I was pleased to search for something to make my father happy.

I looked at the newest Kobos first, considering Dad wanted to keep his vast digital library. They all looked fancy and had similar features to the other competing ereaders. Unfortunately, they were plagued with similar or worse issues than the first generation models my family already owned. Mom wanted something that would last; she also wanted more capabilities. Also I had heard good things about the Kobo Android app, it functioned quite well and would let my father retain his library.  So I looked at Android tablets.


A year prior to this, I had done the research and helped my mom pick out new phones for all of us, going with the Google Nexus 5 as it was always one of the first to receive Android updates, something our prior smartphones lacked. So currently, my parents were both used to Android 5.0 Lollipop. They knew how to navigate it and make things work the way they liked. I figured a tablet on Lollipop would be the best choice for their comfort level. Eventually, we settled on the 8" Samsung Galaxy Tab A and we went to our local BestBuy to take a look. Mom went all out, after we all agreed it was the right tablet she pointed to the cases and then the styluses. She got the warranties and protective coating for all three tablets. The sales associate was ecstatic. He even gave us a discount for buying so much at once.

So now I have a tablet. I love the look of it and it's functionality. But I'm not quite sure what to do with it. My father said I should try the Kobo app, and I will. But I really think I can do more with it. It's got the power of a small laptop and I have a feeling that with the right Bluetooth keyboard, this could be my best friend for sudden writing inspiration.

Time will tell.

Dana~

My new cellphone came today! It's an Alcatel phone with a QWERTY keyboard. I love proper physical keyboards on phones. I haven't had one in forever. Two of my favourite phones had them: my orange LG Rumor and my HTC Desire Z. Now that I upgraded my Canadian phone last year to a Google Nexus 5, I miss my QWERTY keyboard for typing. So this little pink phone makes me very happy. Texting will be a breeze.

My sim card came in the mail a few days ago. I popped it into my phone right away and activated it online. My pink phone is ALIVE! Muwahahaha. Now I'm off to apply for jobs and continue forward with my plans for living in the UK for the next couple years. Having a cellphone really solidifies it for me. I have a UK number attached to my name... I really am living here.

Dana~

I began my job hunt the other day and realized I was missing one very important thing. A UK phone number. I couldn't exactly give them my boyfriend's cell number, he rarely checks his phone and I don't want to miss an opportunity. So I came to the decision of purchasing a basic cellphone so I could apply for work. It also would come in handy if my partner or friends needed to contact me when I'm out and about. Especially since I find myself wandering through town aimlessly nowadays. It is quite beautiful and I adore the historical buildings.

Anyways, I explained my position to my partner who agreed and said I should look for a good company. He wanted to switch to a new plan since his company was gouging him every month. Thus I set out to visit the phone shops on the High Street the following day. I stopped at all of them and discussed phone plans. They all were really expensive for what I wanted. Also everyone kept trying to sell me on a smartphone when all I needed was a basic phone for texting and phone calls.

 Eventually, I met my partner at his brother's house both tired and frustrated that I had not found a solution to my cellphone problem. My partner corrected my English, reminding me that they were called mobiles here. As I was about to tell him I didn't care, the fiance of my partner's brother spoke up. She told me about her phone plan and how if I purchased a cheap phone from Amazon, I could sign up with giffgaff. Everything was done online and you could order a free sim card right away. They even had a plan which included everything I needed for only a few quid a month.

It sounded too good to be true, but I spent the rest of the afternoon looking it up. She had been right. Even better, once we switched my partner over, texting between us was free! I ordered the sim cards that night and began searching for my new phone on Amazon. Hopefully I'll be hooked up with my new "mobile" number soon!

Dana~