Midnight Blue

     Last week, I finally broke down and got my first ever smartphone.  Yes, I have finally joined the twenty-first century fully.  Okay, so smartphones haven't been around all that time, but long enough to become ubiquitous.   As I have mentioned previously, the university that I am technically taking graduate school courses online (just not this current semester) is transitioning to multi-factor identification to access sensitive sites.  This would involve getting a message on a second device, like a smartphone, before being allowed further access.  While online graduate students don't have to follow this protocol, yet, my mother was getting extremely anxious about it.  Too much if you ask me.  She almost forced me to be one immediately after I told her about the situation, even though we really couldn't afford it.  Still, we started researching the possibilities.  Because I already have a MacBook, I would have an easier time to connect everything if I got an iPhone.  Apple connectivity and all.  Well, Apple debuts new models this time of year, with the previous models usually getting discounted.  My mother wasn't satisfied with some plans she was finding, although I kept telling her that the plan she was most enthusiastic about wasn't as good as it looked.  Last week, she all but forced me to look for myself at this one location of a supplier, because she liked the response she got there compared to another location.  As soon as she started the conversation, I knew she would be going all ahead with this that day if at all possible.  Well, the employee, who had just transferred to that location, suggested that the store was having problems getting the older models in, and that they were going to have even more problems with getting and using the new model, as it was using technology that they weren't really equipped for.  However, that location had accidentally gotten in an iPhone 13 that was originally tagged for a different outlet.  My mother all but forced me to get it, since she was so afraid I would be in trouble with the university without it.  This was only supposed to be a research visit.  However, once I realized that the phone would be in the color I would most want (Midnight Blue, 😉), I felt that it was destiny that I would get a new phone that day.  The next fifteen minutes or more would be dealt with choosing the best plan and setting it up.  After some awkwardness in getting things squared away, including me forgetting a few ID numbers along the way, the SIM card was installed, and I walked out with my new phone in its box.  Because I already have a MacBook, I didn't need another charger.  My current one will work for both, or I can just link my phone to my laptop and charge while using it.  The phone was so old that it had barely 14% charge when I started it up.  I waited until it was fully charged before completing the setup.  I don't know why, but I was having a problem synching up my Apple account with my new phone.  I basically had to come up with a new password to get things settled.  Once that was done, I tried to download an app, just for a test and not the one I would need for school. I couldn't get it to download, as the business I went through to get the phone didn't seem to have a great data service at the store.  I had to wait until I got home, and the following morning, to try it out.  Somehow, my router wasn't able to connect with my computer that morning.  The internet wasn't out, as I still had cable and that was coming over the same line now.  I had to unplug the router, wait, and plug it back in for it to restart. After that, I keyed my phone to use the very strong signal from it, and the download proceeded perfectly.  Now, I have Facebook on my phone, but I haven't used it yet as I don't have the phone connected to my primary account yet. Yeah, I now have to connect the phone to each of my online accounts where necessary.  Big hassle there, especially when I forget where I put the new phone number.  I'm not a big phone guy after all.  Of course, there are some benefits.  Since I have purchased a new Apple device, I have free trials to various Apple services just begging to begin.  This includes the free Apple News newsletter that mysteriously stopped a few months ago for no reason that had been around for a few years.  The one downside so far is that I don't have a strong enough wifi signal at work to use my device fully.  At home, I'll be forced to use the router for all of the extra features and apps.  At least the phone portion seems to be working the way it should, but that is the one feature of my new phone that I might be using the least.