"Crack"berry...a sign of the times.

So, this is my new best friend, a little device I affectionately call the "Crack"berry (the new Blackberry Storm). It is hard to believe that just 10 years ago I don't think I even owned a cell phone. If I did it was my first and it was a large and heavy analog model.

My photos were printed out from canisters of film I would always forget to take for developing. When I got them back they were printed versions I could hold in my hand. I filed them away in their little envelopes until I could scrapbook them (yes, even 10 years ago I was a scrapper).

Music was on CD's (a recent development from cassette tapes) and it was played on a home stereo. My stereo had a cassette deck too because many of my old favorites were still in that format. My car only had the cassette deck so I dilligently made mix tapes of the CD's on my home stereo that could be played in the car for road trip enjoyment.

I had one email address I shared with my daughter (I still use that address to this day), and I had a desktop computer that accessed AOL with a dial up modem. I used an actual address book and I actually knew people's phones numbers (they usually only had one).

These days so much has changed. Technology is a huge part of my life and while sometimes I feel guilty for always being connected I am also thankful for it.

Today my new "crack"berry allows me tons of technological wonders all in one hand held device. I can call anyone and I don't need to know their number because it conveniently holds my contacts and captures new ones. It holds photos so I can carry my friends and family with me. It even shows me their pictures when they call. It has a 3.2 mexapixel camera (more than my first digital camera that used 3.5 inch floppy disks) so I can take pictures wherever I go. It is so nice to be able to prove the things you see and yet no one would believe :).

It holds as much music as my iPod (another technological wonder) and allows me to pick the songs that are played when someone calls. My Girl for Ashleigh, Hogwarts Theme for Janie, Bella's Lullaby for my Twilight friends, etc. I can hook it up to speakers and listen in stereo, just like the old days.

Today I have 4 email addresses I use for different purposes and if I choose I can have them all sent to my "crack"berry. For now it gets my work email and my original AOL address as well as unlimited text messages and Im conversations. I can surf the internet, watch episodes of my favorite TV shows (Grey's Anatomy anyone?) and download more music in seconds.

This came through on my "crack"berry the other day;

YOU KNOW YOU ARE LIVING IN 2009 when...

1. You accidentally enter your password on the microwave.

2. You haven't played solitaire with real cards in years.

3. You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach your family of 3.

4. You e-mail the person who works at the desk next to you.

5. Your reason for not staying in touch with friends and family is thatthey don't have e-mail addresses. Myspace or facebook

6. You pull up in your own driveway and use your cell phone to see ifanyone is home to help you carry in the groceries.

7. Every commercial on television has a web site at the bottom of thescreen.

8. Leaving the house without your cell phone, which you didn't have thefirst 20 or 30 (or 60) years of your life, is now a cause for panic andyou turn around to go get it.

10. You get up in the morning and go on line before getting your coffee.11. You start tilting your head sideways to smile. : )

12. You're reading this and nodding and laughing.

13. Even worse, you know exactly to whom you are going to forward this message.

14. You are too busy to notice there was no #9 on this list.

15. You actually scrolled back up to check that there wasn't a #9 on this list.

AND NOW U R LAUGHING AT YOURSELF

What a difference a decade makes. My name is LeAnne, and I am addicted to my "crack"berry.