Today, It Came!

I am a born wine steward. Someone should hire me to acquire young vintages for their cellar, or possibly, assemble a small inventory of cheeses, to be aged right up to the threshold of perfection.

Because I am very good at waiting.

How good? A brief survey of the internet reveals that Palm-branded smartphones have been around since 2002. I've wanted one since the very first Treo 180 came into existence. I subsequently wanted, in order, a Tungsten W, a Treo 600, a Treo 650, a Treo 700 and a Treo 750.

But there is no reasoning with Kate's Ability to Wait. For wait she can, as long as necessary, for the Device of Her Dreams.

I've limped along with basic cellphones -- whatever model you can get for free when you sign a two year contract. For a while there, MG and I shared one phone, licking our wounds after a savage termination fee debacle when we moved to Los Angeles. In the same window of time, I've had two PDAs, a Palm IIIc and a Tungsten C. And I love that little Tungsten C, but oh my God, a fully-functional wifi device it is NOT. And yet I hung in there.

Back in June, with the dawn of the iPhone, I was sorely tempted. I hate AT&T's network and their customer service. I hated that the iPhone worked with the much slower EDGE network. And I wasn't a huge fan of the touchscreen keyboard. And still, I was tempted. But no.

No, I waited until yesterday, when the waters parted and Verizon released the Treo 755p -- designed to work on the lightning-fast EVDO network. Thoroughly QA'd to work out the bugs that filled page after page of angry forum comments all over the internet. And most importantly, not hooked up to the fearfully spotty Sprint.

I hesitated for a moment, then remembered that the next generation iPhone won't be out until this time next year, which really means the soonest I could possibly want it would be late 2009. Reader, I bought the phone.

Verizon, god bless them, piled on so many rebates and discounts that it knocked the $570 price down to $250. Even so, I had several long, miserable hours, when I discovered that the phone would not be black or silver, but a shade called "azure green."

I know it sounds ridiculous, but when you've waited FIVE YEARS to buy a smartphone, you'd like it to be a non-stupid color.

Happily, azure green is basically greenish grey, kind of a scarab-shell color, which I can live with. The internet access is wicked fast, the voice quality excellent. J'adore.

It was worth the wait. And now, happily, the future stretches ahead of me, unoccupied by ambitions or expectations.

For now.