An afternoon with great friends

 One of my best friends and his wife came to the house last night for dinner and discussion, which we very much enjoyed. It was Sunday, after mass and OCIA. The weather was right, and everything just worked out!

 

It was so cool to see our two girls playing and having a good time outside while we got to catch up. We've been friends since I was in 5th grade and he was in 3rd, so to still have him and his wife as friends is a true blessing, and I'm so happy we have girls the same age so they can grow together as well. 

Day 3 with my Punkt MP02 Dumbphone

 

See "Day 1" TLDR: I replaced my iPhone 16 Pro with a Punkt MP02 in an attempt to remove digital clutter from my life,

It's day 3 of the Punkt MP02, and I'm loving the more "back to basics" aspect of life, but I do have gripes. For one: the complete and total lack of group messaging. And it's not that I want group messaging - I don't. It's that if someone includes me in a group text, I literally have no idea they tried to contact me. The messages don't send separately, I don't get some cryptic notification - nothing. This is obviously less than ideal.

Secondly, the battery life on this phone is horrible, which is shocking for a phone that does... well, nothing. I cannot seem to get a full day out of this phone, and I don't even use it very much. 

 

 

Onto the positives, I found that the network tethering capabilities do work very well. Another positive: I had the pleasure of using a DeLorme Atlas & Gazetteer: Texas in order to go from point A to point B over the weekend, and it was fine!

Day 1 with my Punkt MP02 Dumbphone

 

I replaced my iPhone 16 Pro with a Punkt MP02 in an attempt to remove digital clutter from my life, be more present, and not have a constant dinging, notifying billboard in my pocket (or hand). I also switch from my Apple Watch Series 10 to a Casio F-91W. 

It's day 1 of the Punkt MP02, although I've been using a TCL dumbphone for about 3 days now. I genuinely so far do not miss my iPhone, watch, or anything. There are a few downsides, however.

The promise of Signal via the Pigeon messaging on the MP02 is what made me pick this phone up - as I use Signal heavily for work. In the latest update of the Pigeon software, the Link Devices option no longer exists, meaning I can no longer use Signal on my work laptop. This is going to be incredibly difficult to manage, and may be the only reason I could see myself switching back to an alternative.

Other than that, things are fine without a smart phone. I've been listening to AM radio on my morning commute (740 KTRH - Hey, Houston!), reading physical copies of books from my personal library, and carrying a pocket composition notebook and cash. It's like I'm living in the real world!