They got a call from Sandra (Bro’s officer) Mom had to call the phone company and take off the special features, they can have DSL and answering, but the phone needs to be set to answer on 3rd ring. Bro has to work with Wilton and can not leave the house even to go to the pool clubhouse or laundry room. He is only allowed 4 hrs a week for special needs,haircut,dr appt,laundry,etc. no beach,movies,etc, but I can visit him whenever I like… He should be released by noon, M & W are on call to pick him up.

Well, little brain’s internal battery finally wouldn’t hold a charge, so it was time to either spend the entire pda’s value replacing the battery, or to upgrade. I opted for upgrading, because I’ve had a hankering for some features my little device didn’t have. I picked up a Clie’ TH-55, because it was inexpensive, has wifi capacity, and will run all of my old palm software (including stuff I’ve developed for myself. WinCE lives up to the name it spells out. “Wince.”

In addition to wifi, there’s some other goodies built in… the package I got included a 256 meg memory stick, which will hold a **lot** of e-books, or a decent amount of mp3s (I figure 4 hours of regular cd music, up to 24 hours of old-time radio / audio books, depending on the recording quality. Room for more pictures, too. I still have a gallery in there that I’ve built over time. Pictures of Hala, Newtie, and other assorted goodness. I’m also glad I can still doodle, and that this one has a built in camera…camera wasn’t a real selling point, but if it’s good enough, I’ll use it.. if not, I’ll stick with my chunky, junky Olympus… big in my pocket, but takes decent photos.

The device is much sleeker than my old visor, though I still didn’t opt for the cell phone/pda combo because I have an irrational dislike for cell phones, and have a work-related cell I have to carry with me everywhere, anyway.

Side note… are public pay phones becoming scarcer, now that such a large chunk of the population has personal devices? I wonder if they’ll vanish completely over then next decade or two.

In other news, I haven’t seen my landlord for a long time. I was supposed to give him my rent on the last day of the month, and he still hasn’t been around. I’ve been taking in the front house’s mail, and noticed that there are two envelopes from the gas company. I hope he hasn’t gone on vacation or something, and that my hot water will be turned off as a result. I’d also like to pay my bills on time. The check’s made out, just waiting for him to claim it. I never did get a contact phone number for him, and he’s not listed in the book. We’ll see what the future brings… I’m still continuing on my quest for a condo.

Well, I’ve got to get rolling. Until later, dear journal.