Brought to you by the letter “Q” and by the number “10”.

Over the past ten years, I’ve had several cell phones.  And the majority of them have been BlackBerry cell phones.

The one at the left is an image of my first cell phone, a BlackBerry 6750.  I originally purchased this phone with the hope that it would be the perfect unit for anything I needed to achieve.  And it was, at that time.

Heck, I even modified the phone by taking the chassis apart, spraypainting the body red, and then re-assembling everything.  Yep.  I had a CherryBerry.  And when people asked me why I did that to my phone, I said, “Well, if this ever got stolen, and I had to describe the phone, I could say, ‘It’s RED!  It’s a Red BlackBerry!'”  Ha ha ha ha…

I used the 6750 phone until it finally gave up the ghost.  And after a few months trying to make a Motorola RAZR phone do what it couldn’t do – that phone could BARELY make phone calls – I convinced my phone carrier Verizon to provide me with a brand new cell phone, the BlackBerry 8703(e).

Now I had the BlackBerry 8703(e) for nearly four years.  It was probably the most dependable cell phone I could ever have imagined owning.  It allowed me to visit social media, it had a clear, strong signal, and it just FELT like a good, solid phone.  I kept this phone for so many years, that I eventually replaced its original dying battery with a larger aftermarket battery; the phone even came with an extended backplate, giving me a BlackBerry with a phat booty.

But there was only so much I could do with this phone.  Sounds familiar?  It had no camera attachment, and trying to load Facebook on it was like trying to download a streaming video on a 3200 baud modem.  I was dating someone who kept sending me pictures from her iPhone, and I had to go home and look up the pictures through Verizon’s website just to see what she sent me.  Time to upgrade again.  And this time, the upgrade was a BlackBerry 9330, also known as the “Curve.”

Okay, this phone has some serious power to it.  Certainly leaves the other two phones in the dust.  It even had a camera, so that I could take pictures as well.  And I liked the phone.  But something about this phone just didn’t feel right.  And barely seven months later, I upgraded to another BlackBerry, this time the 9650.

Now I’ve had the 9650 for about a year now, and although it’s a massive improvement over the other BlackBerry phones I’ve owned, there’s been some problems with it.  This phone drinks battery power like I drink diet cola.  Accessing social media on this phone is still kinda kludgy.  And when the Times Union upgraded their blog portal, my BlackBerry couldn’t handle the change – I used to be able to approve blog comments through the phone, but after the website upgrade, I had to load through two different screens just to get to the blog website, just so that I can approve your posts.

I think what’s happened with me is that, all this time, I’ve simply settled for a BlackBerry phone, whatever was available.  Now don’t get me wrong, BlackBerry phones are excellent phones.  I’m a BlackBerry loyalist.  I didn’t go out and get the brand new iPhone or Android or Galaxy Nexus the day it came out.  I’m not that kind of person.  I’m not wired up that way.

Until now.

Until the day that I saw the news that BlackBerry was releasing new phones in their “10” series.  First out would be the Z10, a full touch-screen phone similar in concept to the iPhone or the Galaxy Nexus.  That’s not the phone I wanted.

I wanted the next phone in the “10” series.  The BlackBerry Q10.

For the past few weeks, I’ve been nagging Verizon Wireless about getting their brand new BlackBerry Q10 cell phone.  And to Verizon’s credit, they’ve tried everything to get me to change my target. They’ve offered me the Z10 phone.  No, I don’t need a Z10.  They’ve tried to offer me a discount with a new 2-year contract.  No, I don’t want to lose my unlimited data, and if I enter into a contract, I’ll lose that option.  They’ve tried to tell me that I don’t use that much data as it is… I’ve told them that it’s hard to watch Blu-Ray movies on an old Philco TV; it’s hard to win a Sprint Cup race in a Mercury Grand Marquis; and I’ve been saving all my gift cards for just such an occasion.

I want what I want.  And for once, I’m going to get it.

Verizon’s date of release for the BlackBerry Q10 – both in black and in white chassis – is June 10, 2013.

On May 30, 2013, they started taking pre-orders for the phone.

Yep.  I decided I would alter my original plan of “show up with 40 Verizon Wireless gift cards and wear out whatever minimum wage, red polo-wearing, khaki-toting member of the Red Check Brigade was taking my order” and, as my plan would hold, I would dump all my cards on whatever poor customer service rep drew the short straw to take my order.

And I explained this to the Verizon phone rep when I set up my pre-order Thursday for the cell phone.

“Mr. Miller,” the rep said to me, “We don’t have to do that.  Let me offer you a better solution.”

I’m listening… but I’m not expecting a miracle.  I mean, we ARE talking Verizon here.

“I can take your cards over the phone here.”

Okay.  And with that, on the first day of pre-order availability for the BlackBerry Q10, I gave the sales rep the codes for the cards.  He took down each one without question or complaint.

I asked if the phone is now fully paid for.

“Yes sir.  So, since you’ve paid for the phone, we can send it to you as quickly as possible.”

Great.  That means I can get it by June 10, the day the phone is released to the public.  And do I get the white BlackBerry Q10 phone, the exclusive one for Verizon?

“Oh yes, Mr. Miller.  I have that listed specifically here for you.  And here’s your confirmation number for your purchase.”

Okay, so now I just wait until after June 10, and all will be fine.

“Oh no, Mr. Miller.  When we say ‘by June 10,’ that means you will have it in your hands and ready to activate by June 10 – if not earlier.  If you know what I mean.”

Hold on a second.  The phone’s not released to the public until June 10.

“That’s correct, Mr. Miller.”

And if I receive the phone prior to June 10, do I have to wait until June 10 to activate the phone?

“No, Mr. Miller.  In fact, if you get the phone on a Monday, you can have it activated that same day – before anybody else can buy the phone.  And yes, you can have the white Q10 phone.”

Um… er… ah… Scuse me a minute, I’m a bit tongue-tied right now.

I’m not sure what to think right now.  But what I am thinking is that I might actually be getting the BlackBerry Q10 before everybody else… AND having it work prior to the official Verizon Wireless release date.

Whoa.

Let me rephrase this.

What say you, the Most Interesting Man in the World?

But then I realized… after all this…

Anyway… now I’m waiting for the mail to arrive.  Every day between now and June 10.  You people can keep your iPhones and your Galaxy Nexi and those other cellular telephones.

I’m not just “waiting for” the BlackBerry Q10 phone.

It’s on its way to me.

Fist pump.