Happy Friday!
I purchased my first BlackBerry two years ago. I wore it out a month after I got it and it was cheerfully exchanged. It took fourteen months to wear the second unit out, when some of the keys on the keyboard stopped working I upgraded to the BlackBerry Pearl.
These devices are highly addictive. I don’t imagine that I spend more than five minutes a day away from my BlackBerry. I respond to email while I am walking my dog, waiting in the checkout line at the super market, in the car wash, showing houses, in meetings, during classes and at stop lights. During a recent illness I was able to create the illusion that I was working by leaving my BlackBerry on and answering email every few hours.
I respond to every email I receive that is not spam, and the email comes in from four accounts. In the last couple of days I have started responding with a ":)" just to acknowledge that the email was received and read, as an experiment to see if it shortens my work day.
My husband has requested that I not bring the device to the table. He cooks dinner and doesn’t appreciate it when I am on my blackberry. I once turned it off for a day as an experiment. I kept reaching for it an finally had to take the battery out, and put it in a drawer because I was afraid I would not have the discipline to keep it off.
Now I have it in quiet mode so that when the email comes in I don’t hear the little chime any more, but still get a ring when someone calls. Life seems less hectic without that chime 80 times an hour, as each new email message arrives. Each email account has a different chime.
Most of the email is business. If I should ever lose my blackberry I believe I will have a stroke. They probably have a 12 step program for my addiction or maybe some kind of a pill I can take, if I were interested in a cure, I guess I have not yet reached rock bottom.
My thumbs work fine no sign of blackberry thumb syndrome. I can quickly tap out a message using only one hand to hold my pearl and then one thumb to type and send. My eye sight however seems to be suffering. I can’t actually see what I am typing on the screen so sometimes it doesn’t make sense to the reader. I am guessing or counting as I attempt to find the right key. They have a spell check available for it but I have not installed it. Spelling alludes me and I would not notice the worst typo. If you can’t read my response to your email, just reply with a ":(" and I will take another run at it.
Have a great weekend, tell the boss you need some time off and that if you had a BlackBerry you could stay in touch. Keep the email coming. 
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Someday, there will be people living in the woods down by St. Clair Ave who hold up signs that say, “I need to check e-mail”. My guess is that the shelters won’t take addicts like that.
Funny Erik! I think if I were homeless I would go for the caves in the bluff, unless of course the walls mess up my blackberry service.
I just bought the pearl too. when are you going to show me how to setup my email?
Lar, when is as soon as you let me.
Maybe you are better off with out it. 
They don’t call it a “Crack”Berry for nothing!
Hi Teresa:
I just learned about RSS and subscribed to your blog – I laughed so hard with that video! I can totally relate! It’s funny how we get addicted to certain gadgets and can’t live without them – remember life without cell phones?
Hi Teresa:
I just learned about RSS and subscribed to your blog – I laughed so hard with that video! I can totally relate! It’s funny how we get addicted to certain gadgets and can’t live without them – remember life without cell phones?
Ines – I just knew that someone was reading this blog.
Now I know who my reader is. 
The idea behind Friday fun is to have a few laughs. As fun as real estate is there is certianly more to life. about cell phones – - hard to remember a time before we had them, yet we did manage some how and there are times when I think it would be great to be so disconnected that no one could find me. Even my car can be found through on star. There just isn’t any where to hide anymore.
I can’t get over you young kids with all of your fancy new gadgets. I’m an old traditionalist myself. Still doing everything on my laptop. My wife has grown quite used to me bringing it to bed so I can check my email just beofre shutting off the light.
It IS a pain to carry on the golf course but my generation is tough!
Jim – now that is funny. I have a confession to make on that subject. During a recent illness, when I was unable to work I slept with my BlackBerry next to me. I didn’t miss a beat! The only problem was that some of the responses I made to emails didn’t make sense. Now I just refer to it is sleep working.
Flexibility creates pretzels. I have not heard of flexbility creating a Mobius strip.
So now we have Blackberry Whine instead of Blackberry wine.
Are we in a screwtop or cork kind of mode here?
steve
steven.stearns@obeo.com
I totally get the need to be constantly checking the blackberry. However, what scares me is when my husband thinks it is okay to drive and email!!! We finally came to a compromise. If he was going to BB in the car, he at least promised to only read/send emails at red lights. Crackberry at its worst at our house! Do they have 10 step programs for these things yet?