I gotta take this call

Hugh is, once again, scheming for a new phone. He's decided he doesn't like his ridiculously expensive phone, the one that he had to have, the one that he actually saved up money to purchase, the one that is only a few months old. So he's gone online, investigated the account, figured out I have an upgrade due, and concocted a plan whereby he takes the upgrade and gets a new phone, and I get his hand-me-down phone. All of this amazes me. I have no idea how to access our account online, I never keep track of the upgrade schedule, and I cannot comprehend caring very much about my phone, tho' I do wish the screen was bigger so that I could read the time without having to put on my glasses. And I guess I should admit that I have a customized ringtone (Hugh, of course, had to arrange it for me): it's the theme song from the new Dr. Who and it makes me very happy.

Given my phone apathy/ignorance, I am putty in Hugh's hands when it comes to his phone scheming. Somehow, I always end up in the horrid AT&Y store, waiting forever for some Bright Young Thing with an astonishing amount of product in his hair to come mystify me with technological terms. And somehow, I always end up handing over my credit card and paying a large amount, even tho' I always insist that I AM NOT PAYING FOR ANOTHER PHONE JUST TAKE THE FREE ONE I DON'T CARE WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE. There's always some promise--a mail-in rebate, extra chores, a payment schedule--that somehow never actually gets fulfilled. The rebate form is lost, there's some byzantine contract (MAHH-UMM! DON'T YOU REMEMBER I TOLD YOU) to be fulfilled about the chores, the payments evaporate.

And somehow Hugh always ends up with a new phone. We see nothing but the top of his head for a couple of weeks, as he explores its capabilities, but soon, all too soon, he discovers that, well, life with the new phone is pretty much the same as life with the old phone, and the scheming begins anew. That part--the ceaseless quest for the one thing that will make all the difference--that part, I get.