What’s Gotta Go

I love gadgets, no two ways about it.  Gadgets don’t even have to make my life better to be worth having, but that is a bonus.  I’m old enough (not that old, but enough) for my family growing up to actually owned and used a rotary phone in our home.  In fact, I remember being on party plan where multiple households shared the same line.  Remember those fun days?  Who of you that experienced that time in technology can admit to having listened in on a conversation or two?  I was pretty young, so I’ll admit it.

One current technology I enjoy is a wireless phone.  I am not talking about a mobile phone, which is a good and bad technology of its own, but just the simple cordless variety in the home.  We  used to have a couple of them, but last year we purchased a single base with multiple handset variety from Panasonic.  The phones are wonderful.  Clear signal, great sound quality (which is a big one for me) and great range.

Why is it with new technology comes new problems?  I have mentioned before that I am an efficiency guy, aka kinda anal.  My family cannot grasp the concept that putting each handset in a general area each time makes life just a little easier.  Doesn’t this make sense?  A “kitchen” handset should always end up on the same counter area after each use.  A “bedroom” one on a particular nightstand or dresser.  “Office” handset, yep, on the desk in the office.  Does this happen…yeah, right.

Currently all of the handsets reside in exactly the same room.  This is because whenever my wonderful wife gets off the phone, it usually ends up staying wherever the conversation ended.  This is typically the kitchen as it is the hub of our home.  I can handle running across the entire house when a new call comes in, but I don’t have to like it!  How about kids and putting the phone away…excuse me while I pick myself off the floor after a fit of laughing.
I guess having them all in one place is better than not having any idea where they are, which is also a fairly common problem.  Ever run around the house looking for a handset and only hearing the base ring?  That’s because the handsets currently reside behind couch cushions, on top of the fridge and out in the garage.  Of course the couch cushion variety lost its charge a day ago, so don’t expect to find it until the next major cleaning event.

I’ll admit, this is a pretty petty pet peeve, but we get a fair number of calls some evenings.  I have young kids that go to bed early.  It’s such a load of fun to run around trying to find a phone to cut off the ring as it wakes up my one year old!  I bet I do my best time in the 40 yard dash when trying to locate a phone after 8 pm.

Ahh the joys of new technology.  Tether free phones become a new tether in their own special way.  I think cordless phones need a few new options to address this problem.  Most phone systems like this have a “locater” option now, but how about embedding a secondary batter reserved for just this feature after the main battery is dead.

Perhaps a reminder option that can sense which user just finished a call and, if put down not near its designated area a little annoying message can be played, “Put me away!”  Ok, that last one is just my sentiment, but it’d be funny to play as a prank sometime :)