OT: Further adventures with John's new cell phone

It's happened, people. My Luddite boyfriend has become a cell phone geek, with his new Samsung Galaxy S4. Every time I talk with him, he's going on about something new he learned how to do with his phone. I have to say it's pretty damned amazing what this thing can do.

But last weekend took the cake.

On Saturday, the TV had been on all day on CNN. John is fascinated with legal proceedings, and had been closely following that trial, that verdict, etc. (And NO, we are not going to discuss that trial here. No exceptions.) Anyway, once the verdict was delivered at around 7 PM our time, I figured we were done. But after we came home from dinner, CNN was back on once again and we were watching rehash, recaps and reactions.

Finally, at 9:45, I grabbed the remote and said, "Sorry, honey, but enough of this already," and changed the channel.

John didn't say a word. He just gave me a measured look, then reached into his pocket, withdrew his phone and started fiddling with it. "What are you doing?" I asked. He ignored me and pointed his phone at the TV.

The channel changed back to CNN.

"What???" I screeched. "How the hell....?"

Grinning, he showed me the screen. Apparently he'd found some sort of app that turned his phone into a Universal Remote. Sure enough, I looked at the screen and saw a basic remote control, with on-off button, volume, channels and mute button. I was speechless.

(And yes, he let me change the channel back to another program. He was just showing off.)

So let's review. This little device is a phone, a computer, a TV, a music player, a still and video camera, a remote control, a GPS unit...what else? Sometimes I feel like I'm living in the middle of a sci-fi movie. I think of all the technological advances I've seen in my lifetime alone and it makes my brain explode. I'm old enough to remember dial telephones that did nothing but make and receive calls, and when color TV was a huge deal. It's fascinating.

For those who have been asking, John is in the throes of the endless preparation and research necessary when one is facing heart surgery. Long, complicated story, but in a nutshell, he could probably have a much less invasive surgery to repair his existing valve, but his HMO is resistant to that and would rather go the easy route and just replace it. So he's in the middle of second opinions and tests and outside networks, and preparing to fight his HMO. It's not going to be pretty. But he's hanging in there. He's tired all the time now, but still very functional, still exercising. He's a strong and stubborn cuss, that love of mine.

Have a great weekend, y'all.