So, as my cellphone finds itself a little more disoriented than normal and also has decided to deliver calls without the clarity of its usual, younger self, I have reached the point of perhaps (and not for a little while, at least), getting a new cellphone. Really, for most people this is a simple task which does not require philosophical waxing, but that is most people, and this is me.

My problem is: I find the Blackberry pearl inexplicably attractive and the functions of the Blackberry 8800 incredibly attractive while at the same time abhoring the corporate whore cachet of both of them. I do not "want" a Blackberry. I want *some* of the things it can do, but none of the things it stands for, namely being leashed to the office which provided you with it. I do not want a Blackberry in the way most people around here want one. I want a way to check my email when I can't get to it (and ONLY when I can't get to it and SHOULD be getting to it): not in the middle of dinner, not in the middle of meetings, not while I should be doing things like spending quality time with friends and such. I want a way to program the odd alert into my phone so I don't forget to do something without obsessively checking my overflowing agenda. I maybe even want a way to send text messages on my cellphone with a little more ease than hacking away at teensy numbers with my thumbs (so instead I can hack away at teensy letter buttons with my thumbs...). I still want a phone that I can turn off during work hours (because it's illegal, where I am, and no, I don't drive a taxi), and one that I can talk normally on without looking like I'm holding a phonebook up to my head. In short, I want sort of a blackberry somewhat, without wanting the "I'm a real banker's bitch" look.

And then I remember the days when I used to cart the Nokia brick around and then I realize that maybe a phone doesn't need to do anything but phone people.