Blackberry storm

August 27, 6:44 PMOrlando Education Technology ExaminerStuart Miller

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After missing in action from the Examiner scene for several months, I am happy to be back with plans to actively share educational technology information with you. But before I dive into new topics of interest in upcoming bits, I must admit something. Yes, I finally gave in and bought a BlackBerry Storm.
Now, mind you, I am truly a technology geek. In the event I need to evacuate my home due to an approaching hurricane, the first items out of my house would be my computers, technology gadgets, then my cockatiel. You get the picture.

Recently I remember joking with my friends and colleagues who have owned BlackBerry’s for some time that I would never need one. After all, I would say to them, I can always access the internet from work or home. I have a nationwide wireless carrier that allows me to get net access from virtually anywhere in the continental U.S., even from the Blue Ridge Mountains where my parents live. Yet my old, cheap free phone was on its last leg- and so I am now the owner of a BlackBerry. I was literally taken by storm.

Getting use to the Storm’s intuitive spelling feature took some time, which for the record drove me crazy for the first week, that is until I figured out how to turn it off. (You know, I never read the manual). The next adventure I had was figuring out why my battery was dead after just six hours of phone-use while at work. A week later I found out that the location of my server room in my place of employment, similar to a nuclear fallout shelter, was causing my phone to constantly roam- and thus was rapidly draining my battery. So I purchased another battery and a portable charger, and solved that issue.

Now I catch myself checking email as soon as I am alerted. As I write this article, I have checked my BlackBerry ten times. Mind you, I am a network administrator. I do get electronically submitted tech repair requests regularly- and my servers are monitored by software that also automatically communicates network issues to me on a regular basis. Convenient, right?

In summary, I love my BlackBerry. Yes, there is a new one on the market, the BlackBerry Tour. It came out right after I bought my Storm for just $100. But hey, I am content with my new toy. And if you are wondering, it too will be high on my list of items to take with me in the event I have to evacuate my home due to an approaching storm.