I am so relieved there are services out there like this. What would I have done without this Facebook ad?

maybe you got an iPhone today, and maybe you got one last year. maybe you just have some old mobile phones sitting around your house. in any case, why not take a little time to help balance out the gadget refreshing world by donating your old phone to a good cause?

here is one site that will allow you to send in your old phone and select one from a variety of charities to benefit from it.

or

another one to help soldiers overseas

when it does all this. well, almost all this…

[[edit]] i had to take the video out because it kept locking up my blog. but it was funny…sorry.

did you take the plunge? will you ever?

i have written about online corporate reputations before. and i’ve talked about how twitter has helped saved lives.

although there were no real life threats, both mine and chris’ sanity was being tested all night long.

we have had a buffalo airstation for a while which has been pretty solid for DSL wireless, but hasn’t always played well with cable. we decided, after it wouldn’t connect with our new comcast cable internet, to get a new router. off to best buy, chris went, and purchased a netgear super g router, which was even worse trying to set up.

now, i’m not completely clueless when it comes to techy things, and have set up plenty of wireless connections in my day. so, after a couple of hours of set up and nothing was working, i twittered my frustration.

several of my twitter friends responded (one even called) and recommended the airport express. so out chris went to the apple store for purchase number two. we plugged and didn’t play right away, but after some minor tweaking, got it to work.

what really surprised me in this whole ordeal was comcast. after first losing our initial reservation for service installation, and after being on hold for a while via their phone systems, i realized that on twitter, @comcastcares had almost immediately responded to my woes. we walked through a few options, twitter went down for a while (sigh), but soon enough, he was back on trying to help me out.

even better was the personality of @comcastcares. his name is frank. he apologized for a slight delay he had in responding to me…why? he twittered that he was playing wii with his wife. perfectly acceptable in my book!

again, social media has pleasantly surprised me. even gigantic companies like comcast have taken initiative and customer service is being reshaped. why would i spend 10 minutes going through mazes of phone systems when twitter help is right there?

don, who is the senior advisor for pastor osteen, sent me this email this morning:

Anne: What a pleasure it was to read the kind words you posted on your blog. Joel does not use email or surf the net (he’s a bit old fashioned in that respect), but I will print and give your comments to him. He is the sweetest man you’ll ever meet, and I know he will greatly appreciate your words. I also know that he and Victoria would enjoy meeting you and hopefully one day that will happen. God bless. –Don

okay. joel osteen doesn’t use email? that is just amazing.

i replied to don, asking if it was okay to share our conversation with you (considering my previous post) and he said:

Anne: You’ll love this… He only began to use text messaging a few months ago. I think it’s because his kids started sending him text messages and he had to adapt. Now he thinks texting is the coolest thing. Anyway, feel free to blog about it if you wish. Blessings –Don

now that is just too sweet…i don’t care who you are!

so…all this, plus your comments, put the nail in the coffin.

I DID IT!!!!! i no longer have email or internet on my phone. it’s done. that’s it. finito!

please pray for my withdrawals!

maybe it’s time for you to leap, too?

as long as i’ve been able to, i’ve been getting email on my phone. maybe four years or so? i dunno.

i’ve always felt this sense that if i wasn’t in the loop or didn’t know something, the whole world would come crumbling down. what if someone left dirty comments on my blog? i can fix that from my phone. what if a friend emailed me an urgent prayer request? what if….?

chris and i have done a lot of traveling over the last month to see family before we move to nashville. on these trips, i haven’t cracked open my computer. i don’t even keep my phone with me all the time. and you know what? i haven’t missed it.

i have over 20 unread emails in my personal account. and another 44 that came in over the weekend that i read last night and haven’t responded to. and i’m learning that nobody’s died and no wars were started because i haven’t responded.

lately, i’ve been pondering ditching the email and data plan on my phone. sure, i’ll lose some cool things like my GPS/google maps, twitter, and google reader…but it’s been sounding really good lately.

part of me doesn’t like spending the extra 50 bucks a month to get all that i “need.” part of me knows i have low self control and low self esteem to boot so i am always feeling the compulsion to check my phone and see if i’m “needed.” part of me realizes i’m setting an example for people around me of how i respect and honor those i’m with.

most of me has been cherishing the time away from my phone and in front of my husband or friends totally focused on them instead of the “buzzzzz….buzzzz….” chris saying, “can you please put your phone away?” has happened too often and i’m sure for every time he says it, he isn’t saying it the other ten times.

so really…i’m thinking of going back to the basics.

have you ever been tempted?

EDIT: As of lunch time, I took the plunge. I canceled it. Only voice and text (and only a handful of people have my number so I don’t get pinged with texts very often). I’m excited to see what this freedom brings!