Just Checking In

::Onesome: Just-- the Cell Phone? ...and no land line? How does it pencil out for you: do you need to have both a cell phone and a home phone in your life? How about down the road? Do you see yourself disconnecting from the hard-wired connection?

• I don't think we NEED it, but I don't mind having the land line. For one thing, it gives me a number to fill in on forms and things so I don't have to answer when they call - telemarketers you know - and the land line does not run through batteries nearly as fast as the cell phone does. Also, it's easier to tuck the house phone under your chin while doing dishes or kneading the bread dough than the cell phone.

::Twosome: Checking-- accounts, a thing of the past or something that will be around for a while? I'm wondering how much we're coming around to debit cards and online payments...

• I think we'll keep the checking accounts. There will always be some people who want to write a check and some places that won't take plastic. You give me an incredulous look, but those businesses are out there. They don't want to pay the credit card fee or they want to avoid paying taxes or whatever.

::Threesome: In-- the same vein: how about the net itself? If you're on it for basic communications then what happens when your handheld device becomes your email/chat/and voice communication system? Do you bail from the hardwired home links when wifi becomes just a little more ubiquitous? ...and before you answer, check in with any teen you see walking down the street with their head in the Net!

• Hmm, that's tough. Our home setup isn't hard wired completely. The laptops all have wireless cards so we don't have to be plugged in anymore. But we do have the gateway in the house and we don't really text or check the Internet from our phones. We aren't THAT popular or 'with it', sad to say. I guess it will depend on how fast the technology develops and how cheap it is when it gets here and when they stop selling the stuff that we're already using.

This is me, and your communication questions answered. Well, their questions.