Brave new world

My new cell phone lifestyle means, among other things, that I no longer use my Cli�, the Sony-made handheld computer I bought a couple of years ago. It's about time: for all that I like it, the Cli� is getting a little battered and finicky. Ereck loves to play Scrabble on it, though, so it can contentedly retire to that use.

I'm able to jettison the Cli� because my phone lets me keep track of contacts and appointments. That wouldn't mean much if I weren't able to synchronize the phone with Outlook, but happily the phone has an infrared port for just this purpose. So I bought an infrared adapter for my computer and, after much fiddling, got the devices talking to each other.

I hit a snag when it turned out that the phone can hold only 500 contacts, and my Outlook count was approaching 1,000. Lots of these were not relevant, however, like the number of an automobile glass shop on the South Side of Chicago whose services I needed ten years ago. So I winnowed down my list.

Another thing I can do is load my phone with ringtones. These are MIDI files, those tinny approximations of pop songs that are endlessly available on the Internet. I have long loathed MIDI files that play, unbidden, when I visit certain web sites, but what with my new cell phone lifestyle, MIDI files are my new best friend. What song currently plays when I get a call? "We Like To Party," natch.