Thanks to all of you who signed up to win the BlackBerry Pearl 8100. There were so many charming and heartfelt comments that I wish I could raid the TMobile store and send one to everyone. But…I have only one phone.

Here was the highly scientific way we devised to find a winner. First, we printed out all the comments. Then we cut out each one..

… and balled them up and tossed them in a bowl. We actually had to switch over to a larger bowl, which helped mix them up a bit.

Then I let my son select the winner.
And the winner is – …read more

UPDATE: And the winner is…
Hello, my name is Jennifer, and I am married to a CrackBerry addict. For two years he used daily, often neglecting important things like yard work and refilling my wine glass. But I was an enabler. I would e-mail and text him constantly while he was at work, and knew it was the best – and often only way – to get a speedy reply.
But then I got an iPhone and began the process of switching many of our services to AT&T. The bundling reduced our monthly bills, and would benefit us more if I could pull …read more

Recently, my husband — who’d brought his Blackberry to the beach with him — noted that it was “amazing how much perspective you get when you step away from work for awhile…that you begin to realize how stupid a lot of what goes on at work is.”
My immediate thoughts were: #1 how the words beach and Blackberry are so out of step are with each other.
And, #2 if it’s true that you acquire some kind of wisdom about circumstances when you distance yourself, then wouldn’t it be great if we could do that with every challenging or annoying moment in …read more

Driving home from ginormo store (yes. again.) I noticed a little sign posted on the side of the road. “SAT Preparation help”.
This sign made me think 2 things…one: weird place for an SAT prep sign…and two: there is no way I would be able to take the SAT test today…no way. It’s not that I got dumber as I’ve aged, but I can’t even remember how I got through it the first time. I must have though, I graduated from university and then went on to grad school.
I went to high school in the days before parental-supervision-for-every-freaking-overbooked-event in a …read more

Do you think I’m under a bit of stress lately? I’ve certainly been talking about it a lot, haven’t I?
To relieve stress, I usually cook a ginourmous pot of stew or pasta sauce — which of couse is in itself a form of stress…the prep work, the chopping and especially the clean up. There must be better ways to leave your troubles behind.
There is, it’s called travel. I just came back from Vegas and had a wonderful time. I love everything about travel — truth be told, I don’t even mind the circus act that we know today as …read more

Oh please, just admit it — you know who you are, and you know what your problem is — you or someone you know has a very specific electroninc dependency…and it’s got to stop.
Sneaking around, checking potentially IMPORTANT e-mails, leaving that stupid blinking light on 24/7, even in the blackness your room as you sleep (or your partner tries to sleep)…oh, and the bzzzzz that scares the dog toward having a mild stroke — I’m begging you…take a break and get some help.
It’s your Blackberry and there are steps that can be taken. Read Adam Bryant’s thoughts on this supremely …read more