the last remaining cell-less U.S. resident finally gets her own :D

So. Looks like I am finally catching up to the 21st century... lol. I spent a large portion of paid company time yesterday and today shopping for a cell phone AND and iPod.:D Yep, that's right. I didn't actually have a cell phone up until now - to the neverending frustration of some friends (including akashaelfwitch) and endless puzzlement of casual acquaintances.:P It simply wasn't too high on my priority list. *shrug* But now I realized it might be a good idea to get one before I move to a new address. First, there might be no landline in the new apartment (or, it might be cheaper not to use it); and second, a cell phone gives me infinitely more privacy while calling potential new landlords, without my roommate necessarily knowing about it.:D As luck would have it, the company I work for is offering employee discounts on various products and plans with Verizon & Cingular. And, while I was checking that out on their website, I also accidentally discovered they have a discount agreement with Apple as well. Heh. Couldn't have picked a more convenient place to work, it seems. So since I paid next to nothing for the phone (a pretty modest-looking nondescript brand - I don't really like flashy stuff - but it does have a camera... lol), I decided to make up for it and splurge on the iPod.:D And by "splurge" I mean that I didn't exactly pick the cheapest model, but the one next to it... LOL. Oh well... it has room for 1000 songs, and I figured that should be enough.:)

I also called one of the rental properties I had found online, and yes, they have available studio apartments priced $480-$550 per month. The location is perfect: northern side of Chicago, not too far from the suburb where I work. And there are no additional parking fees in that area, since it's not too crowded and it's supposedly very easy to find parking in the streets. But of course there must be a catch somewhere... so the apartments have no high-speed internet availability.:( But I'm thinking that since they do have cable, there might be the option of cable internet... right? How does it actually work? Sadly, I am beyond clueless in the technical department - even though high-speed internet is like air and water to me.:D I don't care for cable TV at all, but if I were to get either cable TV+internet or none of the above, I'd rather pay for both. Pathetic, isn't it? Anyway, could someone enlighten me in those weighty matters, so that I don't waste my time visiting the property just to find out it's not compatible with my basic survival needs? :P

Thanks in advance, and good night.:)