Insomnia?!?!

Are you freakin' kidding me? How can I be having insomnia? I'm a sleep deprived new mom, for pete's sake. But, here I am, 3:08am, awake and mostly alert. Brenna woke up shortly after 1am to eat and I got her back to bed about an hour later. So why am I still awake?

I am going to blame Cingular. Yes, the wireless company. You see, I had AT&T wireless for, oh, about 10 years. Then they get purchased by Cingular. Now I was initially excited about that as I think the idea of Rollover minutes is genius. If you've been under a rock for the past year, Rollover minutes allow you to "bank" the minutes you don't use for up to one year. Like I said, genius.

Anyway, I digress. I had been having a problem with my phone- the keys weren't working. Especially annoying when trying to place or end a call. So we went in to our friendly neighborhood AT&T- newly converted to Cingular- store. In order to get all the Cingular goodies you must:

A) Switch to Cingular. Umm, ok. But isn't AT&T now Cingular? "Yes, but the plans are different. You have to switch." Ummm, what plans does AT&T have? "None, they are Cingular plans." OK, that explains everything.

B) Buy a new phone. Not a big deal as I need a new one, but I ask anyway... If AT&T is now Cingular and they use the same network why do I need a new phone? "Because the Cingular plan won't work on the AT&T phone." Again, a thorough explanation.

C) Agree to a new contract. Ah, the kicker. I suppose that since you can just up & take your cellular number anywhere the companies need to tie you to them somehow. Need to change your calling plan? New contract. Need to buy a new phone? New contract. Need to talk to an actual person? New contract.

So, I have my new phone. And I can't make it work. I am slowly going through the manual hoping to gain some insight. These instructions are about as clear as an Iowa road during a blizzard.

I just know I am going to be returning to the store so the friendly clerk can show the under-rested crazy woman how to check her voicemail.

And it will bother me until then. Which will affect my sleep. Which is why I am finishing this at 3:35am.