Texting
 

So I have a fancy new mobile phone. Not THAT fancy--it doesn't have a camera or show pictures or surf the net or play videos--but it does do text messages.

Do you "text"? Do you think this is something useful &/or cool or is it just the latest lame fad that will be dead in a couple years? Any interesting applications for it? (I read about a web site where you can text msg when you're at a certain club or bar and it will tell you which of your friends are also there. Sounds vaguely useful & fun if you're not going to go all Orwell at the whole concept, tho it requires that you have friends who go to clubs. Or, well, friends. :lol: )

constantly. easy way to touch base with friends, organise things, confirm things and exchange tidbits of information without the waste of time that such snippets require on a call, great internationally too. it's obviously asynchronous so like email, you can reply instantly if required, or later, the cost is silly but it is very useful.

I just spoke to the head coach of my favorite college football team and he said all his assistant coaches use texting to communicate with the high school players they are recruiting. It has helped our recruiting considerably.

Oh sure, use a device more sophisticated than they are to capitalize on their inadequacies and dreams.

Last summer I bought the "ultimate text machine," the Nokia 6820. I love it. Text messaging is so much easier than going through the trouble of calling someone, maybe, maybe not interrupting them, having to explain things quickly, figuring out how to leave an informative but short voicemail ...

It's the same shit you do here on the Cellar and with e-mail. Just using your phone. Plain and simple. What works better for you?/

Wow, did that amake any semse? This belongs in the posting while intxoicated thread.

I gave my gf the boot on monday. Probably explains why I am awake and on the computer at th is hour. I hope i can amend that situation shortly with th first young, innocent NYU student willing to be taken advantage of.

Why is that relevant to this thread? Are you planning to take a camera phone along? ;)

I have on very rare occasions used the text messaging features on my cell phone. I don't have one with the full keyboard, so it's a laborious task to type out the messages. And then I have trouble addressing it, and misplace the message for about five minutes while I try to attach the destination, either an email address or cell phone number to it.

Until the interface improves, it's more of a novelty than anything.

Especially since I can't be bothered to learn to interpret txtspk.

Texting drives me insane. The only people that ever text me is the odd persistent young lad hoping for sex or companies offering 'free' ringtones or mp3s. I cannot use the type pad because you have to wait for it to stop flashing before you can enter the next letter, so I always spell it wrong, get annoyed, do the same thing again and in throws of frustration send the damn thing anyway. Then I get replies like 'omg wtf av u bin smkg' and as it is a stupid question I turn my phone off. Three days later I approach it reservedly, and out of mild curiosity, turn it on again. There's usually an answerphone message from my mum saying something completely pointless like 'it's half past three! um... hope you're ok, bye' so I turn it off for another 3 days, which some people find annoying.

Great way for the phone companies to make money on something which has a marginal cost of near zilch.

Is that really a major problem for you?

While I do now live with a mobile and use it for email and web as well i can turn it off and ignore it for days, I think that's important.

Stereotype.

It can be. Some can be less persistent, more stalker. Nothing dangerous, just very annoying. Men just do not understand simple verbal signals like 'fuck off'.

Might have something to do with the phrasing. Try "Piss off" next time. :D

I'd probably type it wrong and have them end up thinking I want their 'pants off'.

What's your point?

The vast majority of athletes end up just like everybody else. Flipping burgers, sucking dick on street corners, working at a law firm, whatever.

These recruiters do nothing but paint an illusion that very rarely turns into reality.

You made a comment implying that college athletes are stupid and uncultured. That may be true for some, but certainly not all. Your smart-aleck comment was a cheap shot and beneath you.

The few college athletes I've known knew the score and were using their athletic ability to get a more expensive college education than they could have otherwise afforded.

They only recently brought football back to the college I'm attending and I've been a constant and vocal opponent of it.

I talk to the instructors and I watch the athuhleets and it's not a pretty picture. When these kids are done with school, most of the them are going to go right back to the farm, or Burger King, or the welding shop or whatever because they aren't good enough for pro or educated enough for a job that pays real money, although welding pays pretty good no matter where you are.

I've had instructors get pressured for good grades. I even had one instructor tell me they had pressured her to word an answer in such a way as to allow them to pass off one player as being educationally challenged. They wanted her to say that even though he failed her class, that with special attention he could have passed, although she told me that it was as close to impossible as to be a miracle.

If you don't want them, why do they have your cell # in the first place?

The athletes were all already using it. Our coaches are the ones who were less sophisticated than the technology and had to go out and learn it.

And I'm not sure what inadaquacy you are referring to. Their dream is to play in the NFL but kids aren't as dumb as they used to be. They know what their chances are and that is why many of them are opting to play for schools with better academic reputations - so that if things don't work out, they have a decent degree to fall back on.

Are you suggesting that they would have been better off had NONE of them attended college and played football?

If they flipped burgers after college then its safe to say they would be flipping burgers had they not gone to college. However, at least some use football or basketball to get a degree and actually do something with their lives. Bear Bryant died a long time ago. Things have changed.

What I'm saying is that college football is primarily a gamma mill and that the vast sums of money spent on them could be better used on people that are actually there for an education.

Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of people that are here for an education who have no chance either. It's just that athletes hold a special place in my heart when it comes to how important they think they are.

I love the stories my friend tells me about when he's hooking the guys up with a set of behind-the-back-bracelets.

"You know who I am?"

"You know I play football for Southeastern right?"

We need a smiley for backpedaling. This will do almost as well: :turd:

That would be appropriate if I were backpedaling.

Instead, what I'm having to do is to clarify and illuminate for the exxagerationally and sarcastically challenged.

Yeah right. :zzz:

hmmm., sorry I asked. :angel:

Friends are the daughters of Judas.

Funny, my friends never give my phone number to the odd persistent young lass looking for sex.

Maybe I need a different group of friends... :D

Maybe I need... oohh never mind

You can have mine.

And her friends are probably most often persistent young lasses.

Interestingly, no one that I know would even consider giving out my cell phone number without asking me first.

Actually, what's more common is for friend to say to person ... "Well, if you really want to talk to her, I will give her your number and ask her to call you."

huzzah! :thumbsup::thumbsup:

Of course, I'm pretty selective about my friends. They tend to be decent people to start with, or I won't waste my time on them.

Except, of course, sycamore:apimp:. He's funny, so I made an exception for him. :stickpoke