I’ve been enjoying an early Christmas gift for many months. It’s a little AT&T doo-hicky you plug into the computer thingamajig and it “boosts your bars” so you can use your cell phone at home, even if you live in an area notorious for poor reception.

Tired of hearing me complain about the lack of available service at my residence, a friend hooked me up with a pretty darn-decent solution. I refer to it as my virtual cell tower.

At first, my virtual cell tower was located in my office, which is located in “the east wing.” The signal wasn’t all that strong in “the west wing,” so my friend ran wires around the house and relocated my booster box in the kitchen.

Unfortunately, instead of displaying unending gratitude for doing me such a favor, I’m afraid I shrieked something like “What’s this massive bird’s next of wires doing next to my kitchen sink?” Or something like that.

But my friend is patient, and calm, and kind, and tolerant, to say the least. I think he learned some of those traits during his 37 year marriage. He simply made one more trip to the hardware store and ran some molding whatchamacallit strips under the window and cleverly disguised his handiwork. Problem solved.

It’s taken some getting used to, and I still forget to leave my cell phone on when I’m home, but at least now I have the option of using it to call out when I want to, using minutes but not racking up long distance charges, which makes me a very, albeit virtual, happy camper.

So here’s a big public Thank You, my dear friend!