What Kind Of Engineer

It's common knowledge (ok, maybe not common, but I'm aware of it) that cell phone company engineers actually design cell phones to fail after 1 or 2 years. The phones are then marketed with service plans that require a contract that ends about the time the phone dies. So I wasn't surprised that after 2 years, my cell phone is now on it's last leg.

I'd been getting indications that it was sick over the last several months when I'd dial and get nothing but static, answer and not hear anything, and never mind the whole crappy reception thing in some areas. This weekend it decided to stop working when I answered it, which is rather inconvenient when you're trying to get directions to a friend's house and give said directions to another friend when neither one of you lives in the city. Now that I can only hear when I put it on speaker, so I've realized it's on life support. As much as I don't want to buy a new phone, I know I need to.

In technology life, my phone is probably about 80 years old, so it's probably been time for a new one for a while. Even though I don't mind getting a new one (having one that I can synch with my computer would be great...I could downsize from a phone & pda to one device), I hate having to shop for anything...especially something so crucial in my ability to stay connected with friends and family. In the meantime, I'm limping along with my work cell phone, my home phone, and lots of text messaging. I guess I should plan for this next time. What kind of engineer wouldn't?