Hello/Goodbye

I was just reading the Best 100 Products 2009 list from PC World Magazine.  This is a gadget lovers dream list and luckily I didn't read it prior to creating my Christmas list. 

Number two on the list - Google Voice.  Amazing - this free service is what I dreamed would happen someday to telephony.  Each person would be assigned a phone number (almost like a Social Security Number) and that master number would control all communications to you (and a number that would stay with you for life). You can read about it (or see it) at www.google.com/voice 

So much has changed with the phone in my 55 years of existence.  My first cell phone (in my 1986 Supra--- and I still have that original number on Susan's phone) was over $1K and I forget the cost per minute.  Now 23 years later I've lost track of the number of cell phones I have acquired and not yet disposed of. 

How much time do we spend on the phone? 

One source I found states that for landlines it is about 480 minutes per person per mth and  for wireless 742 minutes per person per mth and I'm sure there are many surveys that site different averages.  So I decided to look at my phone - yes I reset the timer on Feb. 20th 2008 and it states I have talked 265 hours, 14 minutes and 3 seconds since that date.  So my personal average is 723 minutes/mth (12 hours).  That's over 3000 hours since I have owned a cell phone (125 - 24 hour days). 

Now you know why I refuse to answer the landline phone.