the bell south strike...

During my first weeks as an undergrad at PSU (I transferred there in 1999 - school #4) Bell Atlantic was on strike. If you were moving into a new apartment you couldn't get your phone service hooked up. There were no two ways around it. If you had a cell phone, you were golden. If you were like myself and Nick and his roommates and didn't own a cell phone, it changed your way of communicating. If I wanted to have dinner with Nick I would have to stop by his apartment (a mile from mine) and wait to see what he was doing. Basically, we all had to "call on each other" like people did before phones. It was the most eye opening thing, really. I mean, as far as communication goes. It was kind of fun, inconvenient, but fun. I would stop by and if Nick wasn't in, I'd get talking to his roommates. It was much more personal. I kind of wish phone companies would go on strike more often.