Koala-T Assistant (MyKTA)

What a great day… and it’s Valentine’s Day! It is a beautiful day outside and I get to hear the horse carriages trotting around my corner waking me up this morning with an Old World feeling. There are days when it is so amazing to get to wake up in Old Sacramento. All the lovely couples will be down here treating their sweetie to a gorgeous day of interesting shops and restaurants and either sitting alongside the river or sitting on the deck enjoying a cocktail on the Delta King overlooking the river. Old Sacramento really gives you that Old West feeling when women were ladies and men were gentlemen.

In two days, the 16th, it will be my birthday and I feel kind of spoiled today. I usually take the whole week for my birthday because I have Valentine’s Day, President’s Day, and I take the week off from work. Yes, I have this week off. Also, this year starts the 2010 Winter Olympics and the United States is doing pretty good and we’re ranking pretty decently. So grab your cup of coffee because I’ve got something for you. My gift to you. I know it’s my birthday, but I love to share great things.

Goal setting and evaluating my accomplishments and my “stupid” moments really hit me around my birthday. That is why I joined the gym in November and set the goal to weigh 145 by my 45th birthday (I am super duper close) and weigh 125 by the end of May (that’s my daughter’s birthday). Also, big decades are motivators, this being 2010. So my big reflective milestones every 5 years.

I failed to mention this to you at the beginning of the year, but you still have time to catch up. My first gift is for you to check out Darren Hardy’s blog at the Success blog (this is one of the links I share on the sidebar). He is literally giving away his Designing the Best 10 Years of Your Life for FREE. I actually paid for this last year and it is the exact same material, with accompanying worksheets (downloaded PDF), for all who register for their blog feed. What I love about this idea is that it is like joining a massive Mastermind group. You can read and participate in the comments. With the written material, this interaction isn’t available. So how awesome is that?!

If you use Firefox, I do, you can use Add-ons. Here is the second part of my combined gift to you. Grab the add-on called “Read It Later.” I mentioned in an earlier article that I purchased the iTouch for my birthday. I love it and have a technique for utilizing it in your productivity. “Read It Later” can be downloaded as an App to your iTouch or iPhone, and it’s FREE.

I am able to save my Google Reader items that have some length to them and sync to read it later on my computer offline if I choose, but this isn’t where I really need it. If I’m sitting at my computer already, than I can read it. I need it for when I can use it productively away from my computer. Such as, commuting and you are not the driver, waiting in an office, standing in a lengthy line, etc. For me, I use it when I’m on the cycle at the gym.

Yesterday, for my one hour cycle workout, I listened to music in the background for the rhythm intensity to keep my legs pumping me into a sweat and read my Darren Hardy blog. “Read It Later” has you sync for offline. Here is my learning lesson for you after using it yesterday in my workout. You can sync for offline web and/or text viewing. I only had it on web viewing. It’s pretty, but small and on the iTouch you are not able to zoom. So, my suggestion would be to sync the text view for readability.

So with the combination of these various technology items, you can still be productive during your downtime when you don’t have access or it isn’t reasonable to have your computer in front of you. It is a great series and I promise you will get so much information, ideas, and motivation by reading it. You don’t have to sign up to view the blog, but you do to access the worksheets and the worksheets are a great supplement to the program. I highly suggest it. Darren also does videos, which were not a part of the written material purchased last year. So the program has really expanded with how he has incorporated this being a live participation model. Do not leave this site without checking it out.

I promise, you will love what he is doing with this program. Like me, I can’t afford the thousands of dollars it costs to go to week-long seminars, and I don’t have the time. This is like an online education/seminar for everyone who participates for FREE. I know there are some people who don’t tend to value information or things unless they have to pay for it, but I am telling you that it is the same thing and, to be honest, an expanded version of what you had to pay for just a year ago. So I appreciate Darren for offering this to so many people who can use it, but can’t afford to pay for something like this and who need it the most to acquire the skills, techniques, and tips that it takes to be successful.

So, Happy Valentine’s Day to you, Happy Birthday to me, and I wish you all great success.

I would love to hear from you if you decided to join and your thoughts on the program and any other ideas you have that make you productive and encourages your success. I also hope you find information here helpful, so please share with the people who could you positive things in their life. Also let me know how fantastic your Valentine’s Day is. I’m off to see my mom for Valentine’s Day and I texted my daughter to tell her she is my lovely Valentine’s girl. Did you tell your special people how amazing and appreciated they are today? Well… get to it!

With great love and affection to my Sparkle peeps.
-Layne

I am an electronic techie geek.

I actually fell into this by accident. I actually started out as a hairdresser in California. I have always been creative and hair, beauty, and style was always interesting to me. And, it seemed, I was pretty good at it. I always had friends and family who wanted me to do their hair or change their look. Soon after getting my Cosmetology license, I met the man of my dreams, got married and pregnant, and we were soon moving to different states when he decided to leave the Air Force. We moved to Ohio, where he was from; then off to Pennsylvania, for his college to work on airplanes (he used to work on fighter jets); and then to Minnesota where he took a job with one of the big boys (at the time) with Northwest Airlines. The excursions that took us outside of California eliminated my ability to work as a “beauty consultant” as each state requires its own licensing. I was moving around to too many different states to keep up.

So off to college I went to attain knowledge in a profession that was more “practical” with my circumstances. So I chose the certificated program, “Legal Secretarial Specialist” at Rasmussen Business College in Minnesota. I chose to take the most difficult administrative program with the thinking that I could work in the administrative field in any industry and any state. This was the time when home computers were starting to take off and my little nomadic tribe of a family decided to get one. The days of DOS.

That is where it all began. Whenever we had problems with the computer, I was the one who was asked to fix it. Most of the time it was about how slow the computer would run. So I picked up books on DOS and learned the various macro systems that would increase the speed, ran the defrag program, and tweaked his games so they seem to run seamlessly as he enjoyed shooting things up.

I got a job with a law firm who represented several cities as the “City Attorneys.” They did a large amount of criminal documentation that was given to the assistant as dictation. Before I came on board, every word was typed in. Most of the information was for the offenses and redundant, used over and over again in most of the Criminal Complaints. This was when WordPerfect was the only choice for word processing and most law firms still use this software today. This is where I honed my skills in creating templates and macros. After that, we were able to get the Complaint done within days instead of weeks. This was also when “reveal codes” was a necessity to examine because you did not always print what you saw onscreen. This was before WYSIWYG. I still use reveal codes to see the details of what is in a document today with Word.

That is the evolution of my electronic techie geekiness. I have since built my own desktop computer, that is still wicked fast today, even though most of the time I work on my laptop.

I am always surprised when I come across administrative assistants who still use the computer and various applications as a glorified typewriter. The programs offer so much functionality and access to creating truly creative and dynamic ways of presenting information. Most have a handle on the more intermediate applications of programs today. You have to in order to keep up with the needs a company has in presenting information.

Today.

I continue to keep up with technology by visiting the various sites you see on my sidebar to learn new skills and applications that the various programs can do. I don’t go out and buy the really big books like I used to, but would like to. I also keep up with the new programs shortly after they are offered. I usually give a little bit of time for the company, usually Microsoft, to work out the bugs. And then I am off and running.

I find the program that I probably live in the most in today’s technology age is the Calendar. I use the “Task” function a LOT and should probably do a write up on that because there is so much you can do with it. The Calendar also houses the email system. Email has become the method of communication. No longer is the boss coming to you with the request of a project or task, it is now being sent via email.

On my quest to seek out technology that simplifies my life, I was greatly interested in the new iTouch with the Apps feature. I had put it off for quite some time as I was hoping they would come out with one that had the same GB as my current one, which they now call the “Classic.” However, I decided to go for it.

There is a bit of a back story to the reason why I ended up getting it before they hit 120 GB. I thought I lost my “Classic” at the gym. I know, God forbid. On my way to Best Buy, I stopped by the gym and, shocking to me, someone had turned it in. YAY! So I began to reassess my purchase. I started thinking, “Well this month is my birthday. You wanted to get this in the past, so what would you get yourself instead for your birthday?” I could get a nice pair of shoes, or maybe go to the bookstore, or maybe something that I needed. I decided on the iTouch.

One of the reasons I actually wanted the iTouch was for the functionality that of a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant). I used to have a Palm, but something went crazy on it. I also had a Palm phone when I was on Verizon. I could carry all my information with me wherever I go. I realize that many of the phones have the various features, but I didn’t find the features to be quick and easy to use on the phone. After all, that isn’t their primary function. The iPhone has all of this, I realize, but I am not with AT&T. However, I am a big fan of Apple and have had the iPod for many years. So getting the iTouch was upgrading, again. I still hope to get a Mac. Maybe next year’s birthday gift.

I downloaded some Apps and am really interested in getting back to you on my impression of a free app called “Intuition: Mom’s Assistant.” I also read about an app called “Siri Assistant,” which I hear is phenomenal, but can only be used on the iPhone. Oh well.

I would love to hear from you what programs, features, and technology you just can’t live without. What makes your job and life easier? What helps you to be more efficient, productive, organized, and sane?

Don’t forget to take a look at the sidebar for websites that offer tutorials and tips on making you the “go to” person in the office when something techie needs to be done.

In goal setting, the method is to make a list of what it is you want. I’ve done this and I have lots of lists. But in order to achieve your goals, you need to break them down, set tasks, research, create a plan that gets you from Point A (where you are now) to Point B (where you want to be).

I am now in my third year returning to California where my family lives. My first year focus was getting work and then, shortly after that, finding a place of my own after helping my mom through surgery. Those were goals that weren’t written down, but came from necessity. Goals that a person takes immediate action on at the moment because it at level-urgency.

My second year consisted of getting settled into the new job, settling into my new place, and setting up my website and blog. Three things that I knew I wanted to create and design, but the individual tasks weren’t necessarily written down. Needless to say, I designed my life on the fly last year. I’m thrilled with the results, pursuing the things I wanted, but it would be interesting to know what would have been different if I had made a plan or mapped it out as a goal.

So this year, with things more settled and my mind space uncluttered with urgencies, and with the beginning of a whole new decade, this is a great time to map out exactly what I would like to achieve and see how it plays out.

Mindmap Tools

Mindmapping is a great technique to use. It’s kind of like throwing spaghetti on the wall to see if it sticks (an old technique that tells you if your spaghetti is done if you have never heard of it). There are several tools you can use that can help you mindmap.

1. Drawing it out on a piece of paper.
2. Visio by Microsoft is a great software.
3. Mindjet MindManager 8 (this is the software I use).

What I love about the software MindManager 8 by Mindjet is that it incorporates your already existing software to help you achieve your goal.

1. You can add start and end dates to a Task that will populate into your Outlook.
2. You can add an Appointment that will populate into your Outlook.
3. You can add a Note that will populate into your Outlook.
4. You can add a Contact that will populate into your Outlook
5. You can assign “markers” to indicate each goal and task priority.
6. You can give pictures to your goals.
7. You can assign people and resources to each task.
8. You can add goal and task details and information in its individual notes.
9. You can add website hyperlinks to your tasks.
10. You can attach documents.
11. You can connect databases or incorporate specific Excel ranges.
12. You can view as a MindMap or you can view it in outline form.
13. You can also track it in Microsoft Project.
14. You can send it as a Presentation, Word document, PDF.

I’ve already started my Goals Mindmap and it will take some time to break everything down and utilize the various components that make it actionable. Set dates, the people I need to talk to, information that is already available on the internet to let me know what I need to do. Really this is the easy part.

Action

Ultimately, it is about taking action. Once you see it on paper, I believe it makes it real and attainable. You have done your due diligence in getting all the information you need to make it happen. It’s creating your own personal step-by-step process. So, wondering what I could achieve with a detailed plan, it will be interesting to see what I can achieve in one year.

And, by default, it appears that me posting this, I am extending my accountability to all of you. I really hope you will do the same because you deserve it for you. You deserve and are entitled to all the successes you dream. Map your path and then go after it.

If you feel you’re doing it alone, I hope you will share here with me. I hope our successes inspire each other and you will be surprised to find you have a lot of other people out there who want to cheer you on too.

I extend my sincerest wish for you to have your most amazing year ever in 2010 and with great love,
-Layne

Zipping programs have their advantages and are really fast, easy, and simple to use. It will truly simplify your life if you find yourself transmitting multiple files to your contacts. Go to the end of this post for the really “quick and easy cheat” directions to zip and unzip.

What is an Archive or Zip File?

• Distribute files on the Internet: Only one Zip file transfer operation (download) is required to obtain all related files, and file transfer is quicker because the archived files are compressed.
• Send a group of related files to an associate: When you distribute the collection of files as an archive, you benefit from the file grouping and compression as well.
• Save disk space: If you have large files that are important but seldom used, such as large data files, simply compress these files into an archive and then unzip (or “extract”) them only when needed.

Program Tutorial

You can access the tutorial from the Menu, select Help, and then select Brief Tutorial.

Zipping Options.

• WinZip Classic: The powerful WinZip Classic interface is preferred if you have a general understanding of Windows and of Zip files. Most users will be quite comfortable with its Explorer-like interface once the basics of Zip files are understood.
• WinZip Wizard: The WinZip Wizard guides you through some of the most common operations involving Zip files. If you are new to Windows or unfamiliar with Zip files, you may wish to start with the Wizard and switch later to the more powerful Classic interface.

Zipping With Classic.

1. In the WinZip window, click the New toolbar button or choose New Archive from the File menu. The New Archive dialog will appear.
2. In the New Archive dialog, specify the location where you want to create the archive and type the name you want to use for your new archive, then click OK. The Add dialog will appear.
3. In the Add dialog, select the files that you want to add to your new archive and click Add.

Zipping With Wizard.

1. In the Select Activity panel, choose Create a new Zip file and click Next.
2. In the Choose Zip Name panel, type the name you want to use for your new Zip file and click Next. For example, if you are creating a Zip file that will contain some files related to yearly reports, you might type “1999 reports” as the name for your Zip file.
3. In the Select Files panel, click Add files to choose the files you want to add to the Zip file. Select the files you want to add and click OK.
4. Click Zip Now to create the new Zip file.

UnZipping With Classic.

1. In the WinZip window, click the New toolbar button or choose New Archive from the File menu. The New Archive dialog will appear.
2. In the New Archive dialog, specify the location where you want to create the archive and type the name you want to use for your new archive, then click OK. The Add dialog will appear.
3. In the Add dialog, select the files that you want to add to your new archive and click Add.

UnZipping With Wizard.

1. In the Select Activity panel, choose Unzip or install from an existing Zip file and click Next.
2. In the Select Zip File panel, click on the Zip file you want to work with and click Next. The Unzip panel will appear.
3. In the Unzip panel, click Unzip Now to unzip (extract) the files in the archive. The WinZip Wizard will open a Windows Explorer window showing the unzipped files.

Quick and Easy Cheat to ZIP.

This is the drag and drop method.

1. Execute WinZip.
2. Open your directory.
3. Select your documents (you can select more than one file by pressing the Alt key or the Ctrl key and clicking the left mouse button).
4. Drag your selections into the WinZip window.
5. It will ask you to provide various information. The most important, giving it a folder name and you can browse your directory folders for a location. The “Add to Archive” name field is already highlighted when the Add window automatically appears.  Provide the name and location here.
6. Click the Add to the right of that field.

Quick and Easy Cheat to UnZip.

This is the drag and drop method.

1. Double-click on the zip file you have been provided. This will open the zip folder with a full view of all the files within it.
2. View or Save
   2a.   View. Double-click on the document and it will execute in its appropriate program.
   2b.   Save. Select your documents (you can select more than one file by pressing the Alt key or the Ctrl key and clicking the left mouse button).
3. Drag your selections into the directory folder you would like the folders saved.

Have you ever had something staring you right in the face and you just don’t get it. It happens when you buy a car. All of a sudden the car you buy is everywhere, before, you rarely saw it. Now they are EVERYWHERE.

Let me just say, I didn’t mean for this to be so long. After going through the information, I really wanted to provide the details of what you would see and get. So with that said, I hope you enjoy the post and check it out for yourself.

That brings me to my challenge for today. I work on three different computers: the office, home, and the laptop. I don’t lug my laptop around with me wherever I go. So I was looking for technology that met three criteria:

• My work has become more collaborative, requiring the necessity to be able to share documents with people who are not on my network or server;
• I would need access to the documents when working on a different computer, once again, not on the network or server; and
• I need to be able to work the document in the program I created it in and others can use as well.

There you have my dilemma.

It dawns on me that I have been reading a lot in my “feeds” about Google Docs. So I dove in to see if this was the answer I had been seeking. I work on resumes and require access to the most current version of the document when preparing a mailing series. The document is in Word, complete with graphic lines and WordArt Text.

Google Docs failed my qualifications. Google Docs strips it down to its basic elements. Looks nice, but anything graphical is eliminated. I suggest this as a simplistic method of sharing information. One great use is for students. Kids who are living between two houses and juggling homework between the two. This option eliminates carrying a flash drive in a bag full of books.

My conclusion for Google Docs is a glorified word processor and hard drive in the clouds. Nothing fancy, but it does store your documents for retrieval wherever you are and available when working on various computers.

My second option, Office Live Workspace. As soon as I executed the desired workspace, the Job Search Workspace, loaded the Word document, and then executed the saved document, I got exactly what I wanted. Microsoft Word executed and the exact replica of the document slid onto my desktop. Now I had to test the second criteria: sharing the document. I sent off the invitation to my client to see if she was able to access her documents.

She was floored with what she was presented. She had her resume and cover letter, but she was also greeted with the following: Interview Preparation Notes, Interview Schedule, Interview Thank You Letter, Job Contacts, and Informational Interview Request. I had just prepared her with the perfect “workspace” to keep everything organized, managed, and manageable. And, she could access all this information anywhere.

She divides her time between the office, the place she lives at during the workweek, and her home 100 miles away. She prefers to keep her travel light, so eliminating the need to transport her computer back and forth every week definitely simplifies her life. However, she does travel with a plethora of flash drives and my work doesn’t have to be included when she is searching for all her job search documentation. I just made her computing life easier, arrangement of all her job search information in her workspace environment, and now whenever she needs changes, I have access to all the necessary information at once.

Needless to say, our previous method of manipulating the information was emailing back and forth. When the next round of resume submissions came, I had to request her most recent information. There just had to be a better way. The “cloud.” Now, we are on the ground running.

In the Workspace I have provided her the following documentation:

• Resumes;
• Cover letters;
• The Interview Schedule, listing the company, job position, the event the company is attending or attended, location, the start time, the end time, job description, the interviewer(s) name(s), the interviewer(s) title(s), and the interviewer(s) phone number(s);
• Interview Preparation Notes where she can contact the department in advance to prepare for her interview. She works for the State and is seeking a promotional position. If you have been asked for an interview, you can request their interview questions in advance and they will email it to you. I know, that was weird for me when I first found out.
• The Interview Thank You Letters;
• Job Contacts where she can enter information from their business cards to send their Thank You Letter and follow up; and
• Information Interview Request. It was an option that she had not even considered and may consider in researching what it might take to get the position she wants.

Office Live Workspace comes with a variety of workspaces that preload with various templates just for that subject. Here are the choices of workspaces and their preloaded templates you have to choose from:

1. Class Workspace
   • Class List with Contact Information
   • Class Notes
   • Essay Outline
   • Important Dates
   • Syllabus
2. Essay Workspace
   • Paper Milestones
   • Team Paper Outline
   • Term Paper Template
   • Thesis Template
3. Event Workspace
   • Business Event Flyer
   • Directions
   • Event Agenda
   • List of Invitees
   • Notes
   • Party Invitation
   • To-do List
4. Household Workspace
   • Announcement Board
   • Emergency Contact List
   • Grocery List
   • Household Event List
   • Household To-do List
5. Job Search Workspace
   • Cover Letter
   • Informational Interview Request
   • Interview Preparation Notes
   • Interview Schedule
   • Interview Thank You Letter
   • Job Contacts
   • Resume
6. Meeting Workspace
   • List of Attendees
   • Meeting Minutes
   • Meeting Notes
   • Meeting Presentation
   • To-do List with Owners
7. Project Workspace
   • Participants
   • Project Notes
   • Project Overview Presentation
   • Project Post-mortem Presentation
   • Project Proposal
   • Project Schedule
   • To-do list
8. School Workspace
   • Graduation Requirements
   • Notes
   • Semester Schedule
   • Sports Schedule
   • To-do List
   • Useful Contacts
9. Sports Team Workspace
   • Announcements
   • Directions
   • Season Schedule
   • Snack Schedule
   • Team Roster
10. Study Group Workspace
    • Announcements
    • Event List
    • Meeting Notes
    • Report Template
    • To-do List with Owners
11. Travel Workspace
    • Business Trip Itinerary
    • Packing List
    • Personal Data Form
    • Travel Checklist

On the left sidebar you have “My Workspaces” where you can view and select from the various Workspaces you are working with. On the right sidebar you can view “Activity,” “Comments,” and your list of “Shared” persons for the selected Workspace. The preloaded templates use the various Microsoft software applications, but Workspace is not limited to just Microsoft applications. Because you can upload your own documents, you can have access to any of your program documents as long as you have the program application on the computer.

It’s easy and it’s free.

If you found this article interesting, I hope you will share your thoughts and ideas of what you do in resolving sharing issues in an age where sharing information has become essential. How have you simplified your sharing challenges? I look forward to hearing your experience.

I’m always looking for the bigger and better deal. I am a huge advocate of any product or service I use that meets my needs in an exceptional way and I tell everyone I know about it. This article being case in point.

Some history on my mobile use. First of all, that is all I use for both personal and business. At this time, I see no reason to have two or three phones, phone services, or lines to do this. There is the home phone line, the business phone line, the fax line, and the mobile phone. My mobile phone is used for everything except for fax. I actually prefer sending and receiving information via PDF rather than by fax and thus far have not found the need for it. When and if I ever do consider a fax line, I will choose to do that online.

I like to keep things simple and keeping all my communication using one phone and online keeps everything in one place. I still need to consolidate my email addresses to select accounts. No matter what you use, the point is using what works for you, with the features that are important to you, meets your needs, and is cost effective.

As you know by now, there are some services that I absolutely rave about. Some being Sony for my electronics, HP for printing, Finesse for my shampoo and conditioner, Verizon for my mobile phone, Google Reader to keep all my RSS feeds organized, you get my point.

Some services have a timeline for renewing or expiring. These are the times when I start researching what new products or services have become available, as technology is always changing and companies need to keep up with the change. When using Verizon, I tried the BlackBerry. Having used the Palm Treo, I was extremely disappointed in the web interface that BlackBerry provided and found using the web on my phone nearly impossible. So I changed my service (which reduced the cost), replaced my phone, and went without web on my mobile. BlackBerry has since changed how you view the web and now the Palm Treo is not even found in the Verizon store as an option. BlackBerry improved on what was already an outstanding product and eliminated the competition from the store.

I knew that my Verizon contract would be completed soon and considered whether to keep them or find an alternative that met my needs sufficiently. The priority for me in my mobile phone is the ability to have service wherever I am. I’ve used various services, AT&T and Metro PCS. When using AT&T years ago, I wasn’t able to get service at a location where someone on Verizon could, and the location was in an area of the office where I worked. So I thought I would switch to Verizon. I even loved it then. When I was looking to cut on my expenses, I switched to Metro PCS. When I moved to Minnesota from California, Metro PCS wasn’t an option. Turns out it was only in California at the time. So I switched back to Verizon.

Fast forward to NOW. My Verizon contract is up and I started researching carriers. I thought about going back to Metro PCS considering cost and the fact that I don’t travel like I used to. The reception and service was a little spotty, but it met my needs in reliable communication. Researching Metro PCS, I discovered that they had expanded their service and gave them a second look. Then a friend suggested a service that I hadn’t yet heard about, Straight Talk, a registered trademark of Tracfone Wireless, being supplied and distributed by Walmart.

I’m a predominately visual, see, and touch person. So off to Walmart I went to talk to a customer service rep to get the details, while comparing all the other service providers. Although the Straight Talk and PCS Metro appear to be comparable in many ways, there are two things that stand out. Dependability of coverage: it appears Straight Talk is ahead of Metro PCS on this one. Phone selection: Straight Talk is still very limited in your selection of phones and Metro PCS has included a BlackBerry in their selection. The cost: They both seem to be pretty much equal.

I did make the switch to Straight Talk, which is a month-to-month provider with no contracts. I have found the dependability in my calling on target and no issues there. The phone I bought was the most expensive, a Samsung with a QWERTY keyboard, has a bit of weight to it, fits nicely into my hand, and slides open with ease. I need to read up on the “lock” feature and use that feature as you will find that because the cover buttons protrude above the faceplate a bit, your phone will be making calls or rotating through the features if placed in your purse or pockets.

So, with a week in, I love my phone and I love my service. Like I said the phone selection is still pretty limited, but wouldn’t be surprised to see it evolve over the next year. The BlackBerry and much talked about Droid phones are a lot more fun, have all the bells and whistles, but if you are looking for something that stands out in giving you the basic necessities of what you need with calling, texting, picture texting, and web capabilities, this will fit the bill.

I do need to make one other note. There appears to be a limitation on the amount of phone numbers you can store in your “Contacts.” There are five Groups to choose from: No Groups, Business, Colleague, Family, Friends. In saving contacts, it appears that I can only store ten contacts in each group. That would allow for a total of 50 if I am correct with that. This generally wouldn’t be a problem for me, but, when using my Verizon, I could save the number without considering how often I really need to access it. Also, if someone calls me from a saved number, their name displays on my phone. So this particular limitation can be a bit annoying. The one perk is I don’t have to remind myself to go through my phone on occasion to clean up my phone directory. Who knows, maybe this is something they will change in the near future.

If you are looking to reduce your cost and are able to live without some fancy bells and whistles, this is a great option to look into. I’m saving $300 a year and access to the Web when I need it.

Would love to hear your input on who your provider is, why you like them, why you don’t, phone and provider features you can’t live without, and any thoughts you may have on this new provider Straight Talk and others.

You almost have to love at the fight going on between AT&T and Verizon!