the host of the town

One of the shows I used to watch every Sunday morning when I was in graduate School was the Frugal Gourmet. I would get up early, make myself a pot of oatmeal (remember, I was in graduate school and for those of you who have not experienced the joy of post secondary education, you can freely substitute the word 'poor' whenever you read 'graduate student'.) One of the lessons I did learn from Mr. Smith was that there is a difference between frugal and cheap.

Frugal of course being making the most of the money you do spend while cheap may be low in cost but can also be quite low in quality. Which begs the question, if you are not going to get your money's worth, what is the point in spending it in the first place? Why pay for a handset when there are free Samsung phones available.

Which is why, as the (mostly) proud iPod touch owner, I can now finally see what the big deal is with the iPhone. The only problem, I am a T-mobile customer and that means AT&T wireless phones are nice but so far can't tempt me to break my contract. I like the idea of a free Palm Centro and the wi-fi connection but since I am on my third of three free Motorola phones, I am more than a little inclined to stay loyal.

Then again, with these Sprint cell phones on sale, maybe I could switch networks all together and go to Verizon Wireless, or Sprint? A free Blackberry Curve sounds mighty tempting, but then again it pays to shop around. After all, there are also free Nokia phones, too.