I Think I Need My Head Examined

I just entered a contest to win an iPhone through Real Simple magazine.

Thing is, I don't enter random raffles or drawings or anything hosted by Ed McMahon. I voted against the lottery and get angry when I have to stand in line behind someone buying a lottery ticket. I don't want to be the 5th caller to the radio station. If Bob Barker had ever called my name, I probably would have "Come On Down" to the floor, that is, and then crawled under my seat. I don't want the door prize at whatever meeting/workshop/conference they feel they need to trick me into attending by giving crap away. I am the Official Wet Blanket of All Contest & Give-Away-Related Activities.

Add to that, I am not really a gadget person. Electronic gadgets, that is. (Ask me about my new lazy-susan/plastic storage container contraption from the Container Store and I'll go on for days...) It was only in the last two years or so that I upgraded to a TV that didn't have dials on it. I barely own a cell phone. I don't have an iPod. I wouldn't turn down a free one, but the effort I have to go through to access and listen to my music in its current capacity doesn't outweigh the price of getting an iPod at the moment. Same with a Blackberry. I can see the point if you travel a lot or are away from the office during the day for large amounts of time. But I'm not. And when I am - again - the hassle doesn't outweigh the cost. So why? WHY do I now want a completely indulgent, borderline pretentious, VERY expensive technological thingy.

Maybe it's the commercials for them. They're genius. But most all Mac-related commercials are genius (not to say I that couldn't have lived without ever seeing that annoying Feist iPod commercial that they've finally stopped playing but is still somehow stuck in my head) and that certainly hasn't made me want to buy any of their products. I was perfectly happy lusting after the iPhone from afar and then MAYBE if we find out a year or so from now that they aren't more trouble than they're worth or don't randomly catch fire and melt to the side of your head or something else strange and tragic, I might consider adding it to my technology wish-list. Considering I still don't have my own laptop, surround-sound, or TiVo though, it shouldn't hold its breath.

Maybe it was when I noticed that the really cool pictures posted on one of my favorite blogs (I heart the Daily Chuck!) were taken with an iPhone. When I read that, my little ears perked up and I cocked my head to the side like my dog, Oliver, when he's trying to figure out where the squirrel on the TV set just ran off to. "Take pretty decent pictures on any whim without having to lug a camera about? Hmmm...."

Or maybe it was just that my current crush on the iPhone was combined with my slightly dysfunctional love of Real Simple magazine. Had they suggested I join the Britanny Spears Fan Club or donate to the Mit Romney campaign I might have been tempted to do so. And that kinda scares me.

But more importantly though... if I win, I actually get TWO iPhones so maybe I'll share. Interested???