Day 169

I'm having an unusually difficult time trying to decide whether to scrap our aging phone system and upgrade to something better. Ordinarily, I'm all for newer and better solutions to just about anything, but I keep hanging on to these old phones. Many of my friends have abandoned their land line phones entirely and just use cell phones for everything. I'm still skeptical of anything that depends on me remembering to keep the batteries charged, however. Just about any time I've really needed a cell phone, the battery was dead. The same principal applies to cable or IP-based phone systems. The power goes out frequently in our part of town and when there's no electricity, the old wall phone in the kitchen is typically the only thing in the house that still works. That's the great thing about old fashioned telephones: they're self powered. When the fax machine, the answering machine, and even that magic-jack thingie that plugs into your computer all quit quit working due to a power outage, the simple wall phone in the kitchen still works like a charm.

Unfortunately, my reliable kitchen wall phone isn't working anymore either. I think a mouse ate through the wiring in the ceiling last Winter. I've had the AT&T repairman out twice, but apparently it isn't easy to fix phone lines in a flat roof house. The only way to check the wiring would be to rip the sheet rock out in the living room. I'm faced with a choice of ugly looking replacement wiring stapled to the wall, or something completely different. Would Vonage be a good solution? Should I just get an iPhone?  I don't know. I really just want the old kitchen wall phone back.

Dash was so good in obedience class tonight that I had to check and make sure I didn't have Dot on the end of the leash. It isn't that he's doing anything better, but I can tell that he's becoming much more consistent lately. Slowly but surely, I'm beginning to feel I can depend on him. We even did some of the training exercises off-leash tonight. I guess it's about time he's finally become dependable. We've been going to these classes almost four years now. Jeez, I certainly hope it doesn't take me four years to find a dependable phone.

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