Not going Virgin

For the past few months I've been debating a change in cell phone carriers (not what first piped into mind with the title right)

My AT&T contract is finally over so I could make a change. But looks like I won't, at least for the moment. Virgin Mbike has a pretty attractive package. For $45/mont I could get 1200 minutes of talk time and unlimited web (4gb high speed). But of course there's a problem. Or rather, a few problems.

1) I'm sure the plan actually comes to more after taxes. My guess is that I would spend at least $60/month, while now my plan has me paying $85/month including taxes. That's not really a huge saving.

2) the plan doesn't include mobile to mobile minutes, so while I only use 300 minutes a month now...usually for phone calls to my mom, the number would sky rocket if I didn't have this feature. I used to use 1400-1600/month.  I could get unlimited talk for $55/month, but wouldn't the bill actually come close to my current $80?

3) they won't unlock the phone. Okay, so this is the same as every other carrier, but the problem really lays in that we travel overseas a ton. They don't have coverage in Germany, so I couldn't use my phone there anyway, and they won't unlock it so I can use another carrier while there! At least with AT&T I can use my phone if there's an emergency. It would cost a pretty penny, but it would be an option.

4) In a non-contract plan they could change the rates, and what I have now is already pretty affordable (for a smart phone). Since I'm now month to month, I don't have to worry about contacts anyway. I have unlimited high speed data right now (grandfathered in that way) , so I would hate to switch, and then come back later with a less beneficial plan!

In the end, it's not really worth it to me to switch. AT&T coverage is terrible in Boston, but they have pretty decent customer service, a good website, and are big enough that I don't have to worry about roaming(only dropped calls). I'm really bummed that Virgin Mobile wouldn't unlock the iPhone. If they would have I would have switched in an instance! Now that my contract has expired perhaps I'll jailbreak and unlock my phone anyway...I cam now get a free upgrade with a new contact...a security blanket if something goes very very wrong. I think it should be required that they unlock phones after your contract expires. So frustrating!!

Violence

The images on the news are a little too familiar.  A little too much like war. 

I wonder if other countries have this much violence.  I wonder if I should move.  What I can do to keep my children safe.  Where I could go to regain that sense of security I once felt.

I suspect that safety doesn't really exist.  A quote I heard somewhere said something like the following:  the only safety is being strong.  Or something like that.

Basically, you can't prepare for everything...or anything really.  Instead you just have to be strong enough to do what you must do in any given circumstance.

But how do you be strong when someone puts a bomb around the corner? How do you make a good life for a child when violence is just so prevalent around us.  Bullying, school shootings, bombs.  These are all things that I never thought of as a child.  They were things somewhere else. 

But when two explosions go off 2.5 miles from your house, everything seems to be a lot closer than I could ever have imagined.

Sad isn't enough to describe this. Worried, that too.  Overwhelmed is a bit more like it. 

It's just so unreal. So wrong.  So frightening.