I love my Bookmans iPhone, but sometimes I feel like it should have given to someone more tech savvy than myself. I’ve now had it for at least six months, and I’m still learning how to use it. However, last Sunday I was in Target looking at some necessary baby item, California Baby sunscreen I think, and I whipped out the iPhone and went to my RedLaser app to locate the cheapest local and online price for the item. The tattooed father of a two-year-old boy asked me about the app, then asked me out to coffee. Since I was still sweats-clad and unshowered, I think he was most attracted to my iPhone. As I left the store, I had that song from Napoleon Dynamite stuck in my head: “I love technology but not as much as you, you see…”

I like to look at people’s apps almost as much as I like to look at their iPod music. My favorites for the toddler are my white noise app, which I use to get her to sleep (set to “heavy rain”) and my Pedi Safe, which I could use in an emergency for first aid, or use to double check the dosages of certain life-saving drugs. We also use Basic Spanish a lot, just for fun. The ones I use the most are Flickr and Tweetie for work, and Photoscatter for all eight grandparents to instantly see pics of the little one on Facebook, Flickr, Picasa, Twitter, etc…depending upon which site they have an account with. When I get stuck waiting without a book, I go to Pandora (if I’m bored of my music), AllRecipes, iRateTattoos, or Poem Flow, to name a few.

And I still can’t believe I can access my email from anywhere. It’s saved my bum so many times. Forgot dad’s birthday card would be late arriving in the Czech Republic, I’m at the park and don’t have his new phone? Send him an email. Need to cancel a meeting due to heavy snow, no phone for the client, and my car is stuck? Send an email. And for work, people can feel like I’m instantly available, because I’m always “here” with my iPhone!

If you don’t think I’m evangelical enough, here’s the beginning of an article I read during the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti: “U.S. filmmaker Dan Woolley was shooting a video about poverty in Haiti when the earthquake struck. He could have died, but he ultimately survived with the help of an iPhone first-aid app that taught him to treat his wounds.”Check out the whole story here. I think Twitter for the iPhone is what I struggled with the most. I just didn’t understand what it was. What’s the use of constant personal updates, like a bunch of people speaking at the same time? But now I follow things like the city council meetings via an AZ Daily Sun reporter, and all the other Bookmans stores, so I’m constantly apprised of their goings-on, not to mention all the local Bookmans customers, nonprofits, local business, and politicians it helps me keep tabs on. It’s not like I can call all those folks at once and ask how it’s going!

Lucky for the slow-learners like me, there are also countless books and magazines that can help you use your iPhone and choose good apps. Recently, I found The iPhone Book: How to Do the Most Important, Useful & Fun Stuff with Your iPhone by Scott Kelby and Terry White—used! I can’t wait to dig into this one, and start really feeling like I finally know what the heck I’m doing. And for those of you with the new iPad, good luck with that!