Husbands and birthdays

In contrast to the lovely homemade card my first-born son gave me on my birthday, my husband offered a different approach. I'll give him credit. Vic gave me something I really wanted - however, he bought it on my actual birthday and there was no element of surprise. There was no fanfare, no joy attached to the gift.

Here's an excerpted transcript of the IM conversation we had on my birthday:

Vic: I'm looking into the iPhone stuffme: ok

Vic: would you believe that if the battery goes bad and is out of warranty, that we would have to take the phone to an Apple store or send it to Apple for replacement?

which costs 1/2 as much as the phone?

me: i guess i would believe that

i haven't heard of anyone having problems with the battery so far

Vic: i'm not real thrilled with a lot of Apple's business practices

me: i know

Vic: but i guess i can look the other way

if the monthly cost is not too high

i'm going to print out our current deal with AT&T so that we can compare the before and after

me: good idea

Vic: do you prefer black or white?

me: white

they don't have any pretty colors?

weird

Vic: black or white

like a Model T

hey, once you drink the Apple Kool-Aid, you get what they want you to get. And you have to like it.

me: wow

don't be a hater

Vic: otherwise, you're not cool

:-)

Vic: by the way, you are going to have to chain this thing to your wrist so that you don't lose it

me: sigh

Vic: the phone itself costs $300 for the 16 GB

$200 for 8 GB

$200 for 16 GB, refurbished

me: ok

Vic: $5 per month for voice dial

I think not (it's optional)

$2 per month for detailed billing

ridiculous!

(this is AT&T, not Apple)

me: wow, this is quite crazy

Vic: data plan is required

$30 per month

me: that's much less than i expected

does that include all internet access?Vic: Data Plan for iPhone 3G includes unlimited data in the U.S. Access rich HTML email and desktop-level web browsing, as well as Visual Voicemail to listen to voicemail messages in any order you choose.

me: cool

Vic: it is done

At the end, Vic also informed me exactly how much the net extra cost per year would be, as opposed to my old phone with its service plan. So romantic!

Happy birthday to me!