Geeking Out

I love all things technology. Software update? Yes, please. New Features? Tell me about them! Bigger, better, faster? All some of my favorite words in the land of electronics and multimedia gadgets. I am often the one people call to help them learn how to use their digital products or hook up their ethernet. When I return home to the 'rents house in Denver, I know there will be at least one VCR that needs a new connection or a clock set.

This is what I do for a living, practically.

This runs in the fam. In Dallas, I get a call from my PapaBear when he upgrades his broadband connection to fiber optic cable. Do you know what that means? Well, I do. It basically means that the next time I hang out in Carrollton, TX, I will be able to download porn faster than anyone at NASA. That's what it fucking means.

You might remember that my Powerbook Conchata was ill recently. Well, she's all better now (thank you, Lee!) and she even has a brand new operating system, etc. And one morning, as I was avoiding editing, I discovered something.

No, wait. I discovered two things.

Let me pause for a moment and mention that I am wild about downloading ring tones to my celly. NOT the MIDI ones, but the actual clips of the song. I think it's appropriate that "Pour Some Sugar on Me" plays when the Mighty G calls. I hear Barry Manilow when my sister calls. You get the idea. Anyway, the part I hate is giving the cell phone company MORE of my hard-earned cash to attain them. Those things are $3.50 apiece, my darlings! Yikes! And I won't even go into the fact that most of the time, they don't have the perfect ring. It's mostly Jessica Simpson and Nelly and other things that have no business being made mobile.

Okay, now back to the two things.

It dawned on me that my Mac can create these much sought-after ring tones. All I have to do is take the mp3 file, chop it up in a sound editing program, and export it to iTunes. I then turn it into an mp3 again. I tell my computer to connect to my cell phone via bluetooth, and send the file over. My phone recognizes it, saves it, and I can apply it to any phone number in my address book.

This is a whole new level of Geekdom for me. I cannot stop giving specialized ring tones.

One much-loved actor friend of mine once told me that even though he's seen Caddyshack 140 times, it still makes him laugh. So, as I am downloading songs, I picked up the Bill Murray Cinderella quote and made that his ring. Every time he texts or calls, I hear "He's a Cinderella Boy!" Whenever I hear it, I picture him watching the flick while sitting on his oh-so-comfy couch at 4:30 in the morning. In my head, he is chuckling to himself and enjoying his time without pants.

This just might be the end of my social life. That's the second thing I discovered.

So, please, my darlings. If I have your phone number (and you know who you are), please leave a comment and tell me what ring would best personify YOU. Well, gosh, I guess you can even use this as an excuse to give me your digits AND your ring, if that's the track you were heading down. I'm all in, baby.

jingle. g