The cellphone debacle.

We've sent men to the moon. We have seen trillions of lightyears away from our galaxy with the Hubble telescope. We can perform brain surgery in a matter of hours. Trans-continental flights are a snap. Banks can convert your money from dollars to Yen in a moment at many ATMs. We can video chat in the middle of the Sahara Desert.

WHY ARE INTERNATIONAL PHONE PLANS LITERALLY MORE COMPLICATED AND EXPENSIVE THAN ROCKET SCIENCE?

If I want to text from Spain: 55 cents. If I receive a text: 5 cents. To make a call: 99 cents PER MINUTE. I cannot use a phone card on my cellphone, only a landline. Great. I don't even know where I'll be living, let alone if it has a hard phone line!

So my next year will consist of a ton of Skype (hint to my family and friends to get a free Skype screen name) through which I can video chat or even just talk (via computer) for free. If you have a Blackberry, I can BBM you for free. If you have AIM or MSN Messenger on your phone, I can IM you phone to phone for free. OR if you have either chatter on your computer, you can IM me from your computer to mine or to my cellphone. We're all going to email A LOT. And last but not least: you should be following my blog!

On another technological note, my phone DID come with an adapter for the European, British and another (mysterious) socket! But I already purchased two converters and one WHOPPING $70 adapter so as to not FRY my computer, etc. I guess $70 is better than a fried MacBook? Let's hope.


Thanks a mil, RadioShack of Palos Verdes.