What a day.  It started out okay.  I got to sleep in a little.  I got to finish breakfast, uninterrupted.  I even got to watch a little tv after.  And then it started going downhill, but gradually.

  Part of one job was in bright, hot sun, though relatively briefly.  On an upside, we finished the outside part and went inside moments before the sky let down a deluge.

  We stopped by the house to find that out new Verizon phones had arrived, which you'd think was a good thing, but I'll go further into that later.

  After another job, we went to eat at my favorite Chinese buffet, which we do almost every weekday, but today the employees seemed a little down, like they were having a bit of a bad day as well.  Nothing serious.  Just some bummedness.

  Later that night, I wrote an entry about what I will later get into, and like three seconds after getting it HTMLed up for posting on OKCupid, none of it saved, my computer decides to shut itself off, for some reason.  There was no power blink.  I don't know why it did it.  It just shut off and lost everything I just spent at least an hour writing.

  I was decidedly displeased.  That was pretty much the topper.

  Now, I'm going to try to redo what I had done last night.  Because there's a good side to even the worst situation, I will now be providing a little more detailed information than was originally written, because it was late and I was tired.

  We've been trying different wireless cell service providers.  We were originally with Cellular One, but we would often find that we could not get calls to go through.  Since our two year contract was coming to a close, we decided to explore other providers.

  But first, let me tell you a little about the phones we had.  A Sony Ericsson Z500a.

http://www.sonyericsson.com/spg.jsp?cc=global&lc=en&ver=4001&template=pp1_1_1&zone=pp&lm=pp1&pid=10138

http://www.phonescoop.com/phones/phone.php?phone=497

  Keep in mind that this was the first cell phone that any of us had ever had.  It's a relative piece of crap, but it served us well.

  What I liked about the phone was that I could hook it up to the computer and transfer pictures and music between the two.  I created my own ringtones.  It had 8 levels of volume, which is very important, and I could set it to both ring and vibrate simultaneously.  Sure the phone had its flaws, but they were nothing so serious that I disliked the phone.

  The ability to put my own pictures and sounds onto the phone and use them is very important to me.  This phone did not leave me wanting, in that regard.  I was also able to delete almost every unwanted file that came with the phone, thereby freeing up space for stuff I actually did want on it.

  Understand that this freedom was largely due to the year in which we got them.  That's a freedom you're just not likely to get these days.

  The first service provider we tried was T-Mobile.  Someone my niece works with said he had great service in an area pretty notorious to having bad reception.  It was kind of bad timing for us, because the some towers they use went down, due to bad weather, and the service sucked.

  Since we did not want to get stuck with an early termination fee, we could not wait for them to have their problem fixed, so we did not stay with them.  It's a little disappointing, looking back, because they have excellent customer service.  You can talk to polite humans who have english as a first language and who actually want to help you.

  The phone I got from them was a Samsung t619.

http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/phones/Detail.aspx?device=2193b84e-8051-484e-9f9c-0c6af54a4c95

http://www.phonescoop.com/phones/phone.php?phone=1021

  This phone was not too bad.  The volume had only 5 levels, plus the only vibrate/ring combo was vibrate a few times, then start ringing, which was bad.  I want both from the start.

  I honestly don't recall if I had my own personal rintones set.  A review said you could do it, so maybe I did.  The phone is pretty forgettable.  Took excellent photos, though.

  After we canceled with T-Mobile, we attempted to try Sprint.  Let me say this: Unless to can speak Spanish, don't care what phone you get, and you enjoy being put on hold for five minutes every 1 minute, then don't bother trying to do anything with Sprint.

  The first time we tried to order, they got the order wrong, and we later found out that they told us we were getting a personal contract, which is what we wanted, but they had us down for a business one.

  When my niece discovered that the phone order was wrong, she had them cancel it all together, because she didn't want to deal with anymore of their crap.  Plus she was rude to my niece.  "Oh, you poor Yankee."  We're in Texas.

  Let's see, Yankees are the people up north, and Texas is north of....

  She had me call later to try to place the order.  I could barely understand the operator not only because of her thick, Mexican accent, but also because the phone quality was poor (not exactly encouraging in a prospective wireless service), and I was calling from a land line.

  The woman kept asking me for information without giving any indication of what the information was going to be used for, so she kept using the wrong information for things.  She told me that the phones we wanted were no longer in stock, even though we were told they were in stock the day before AND later that the same day I called her.

  I realized her errors when she called back later to verify information.  Since she got almost everything wrong, I had to cancel the order.

  I was willing to give them a third try, but we moved on to a different company.  I was going to get a Katana in black.  I never got it, so I have no opinion apart from, it looks cool.

http://nextelonline.nextel.com/NASApp/onlinestore/en/Action/SubmitRegionAction

http://www.phonescoop.com/phones/phone.php?p=983

  Sprint can kiss my ass.

  Next was AT&T.  Coverage is decent.  We had no problems ordering.  I never used customer service, but my niece did, and she had no complaints.  The phone I got is an LG CU400

http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone-service/cell-phone-details/?device=LG+CU400&q_sku=sku950085

http://www.phonescoop.com/phones/phone.php?p=1038

  I'm not ashamed to say that I want to have hot monkey sex with this phone.

  I'm not saying this phone is perfect, mind you, but let me lay it out for you... and then climb on top of- I mean, here's the pros and cons.

  For the size of the phone, it has a large screen with excellent picture quality.  There are 7 levels of volume.  I can transfer personal files between the phone and my computer, although the interfacing leaves a bit to be desired.  I can use my music files as ringers, although there is a size limit.  The phone has its own animated GIF maker program.

  The phone physically handles well and feels comfortable.  The organization of the menus and stuff is relatively simple, clear and attractive.  When I have the phone setting on a flat surface and I'm pushing buttons, the phone stays stabile.  The buttons don't give me any real trouble.  Long battery life.

  I can set it for silmutaneous vibrate and ring, although the ring starts quiet and increases in volume.  I'm not sure if I actually like that or not.

  The cons: You're stuck with every single file that comes with it, except a short video.  Five or so trial versions of games that you can't get rid of.  A poor selection of ringtones.  Basically, I have a bunch of crap I don't want on the phone, taking up precious space, and I can't do a thing about it.

  Also, if you set a music file as a ringtone, it's not as loud as the standard choices.  I had to up the volume of the files on the computer before putting them on the phone.

  Over-all, it's the best cell phone I've ever had, but woe is me.

  Along comes Verizon.  Stupid Verizon with their excellent coverage and sound quality.

  My niece and some other family members drove around to some of the towns we often visit and tested that coverage and quality compared to AT&T.  AT&T was decent, but they broke up and little, while Verizon was impeccable.

  My niece's boyfriend got a Motorola RAZR from Sprint.  Yesterday, I found out that the Motorola RAZR from Verizon is a little different.

  Let me start off by telling you what about his phone made me decide to shell out $50 for a RAZR.  Big screen.  Loud volume.  Simultaneous ring/vibrate.  The ability to upload, via cable and Bluetooth, my own images and music to use as wallpapers and ringtones respectively.

  The phone itself is a little boxy, but otherwise pretty much everything I ever wanted in a phone.

  Now, let's talk about what I got.  I got a Motorola RAZR V3m.

http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/store/controller?item=phoneFirst&action=viewPhoneDetail&selectedPhoneId=2365

http://www.phonescoop.com/phones/phone.php?p=953

  Let's start with the unchangable differences.  It's not, in any way, going to both ring and vibrate when someone calls.  Actually, I guess that pretty much covers the unchangable stuff.

  Now, let's talk about what Verizon took away.  The only thing you can do with Bluetooth is pair the phone to a headset.  I haven't tried using a cable to upload files, but my niece talked to customer service and was told that the only way to have you own music as a ringtone was to hold the phone to a speaker while you record.  I tried that.  I can barely hear the music.

  Oh, and that 30MB built-in flash drive?  Forget it.

  Apart from the volume and the fact that it's not a tiny phone, every feature I wanted is absent or rendered moot.

  But that's not all.  The menus and organization are both annoying and confusing.  And just because things didn't suck enough, the Verizon website adds a whole nother level of suction.

  My final word?  If you're all about good wireless service, and nothing else, then Verizon is for you.  If you actually care about having a personalizable phone as well as good wireless service, go with AT&T.

  Unfortunately, wireless service is the only factor in play, so I will have to send back my lovely, beautiful, wonderful LG CU400 and keep this RAZR that I'd rather smash with a HAMR.

  So, that is the bulk of why yesterday sucked monkey butt.

Added later.

  We did some more call testing, and it seems AT&T had better quality, this time.  With Verizon, there was some breaking up and some periodic static.  AT&T did not have either.

  For the record, I never heard the calls of the first test.