Phone Scare

Posted by Patrick in Arch-a-thon, iPhone, Technology, Telephone

For a little while earlier this evening, I was afraid my trusty iPhone was gone forever.

It began at the grocery store, where I’d stopped to pick up a few things.  While in line, I checked my email with the phone.  That was the last place I remembered having it.

I had gotten home, walked Zoey outside, and was back inside unloading groceries when I realized that the phone wasn’t in the belt holster.

It sent me into a mild panic mode.  I wasn’t worried about losing contact information, because my phone is synced up on my computer; that way, I have backups of all of my phone numbers and addresses.  My phone is set to automatically lock, requiring a password before it can be used to make a call, so I wasn’t really concerned about someone running up a big bill.

It was more out of frustration.

My mom got me my first cellular phone, an old-timey Motorola “bag phone” for the car when I was in high school.  So I’ve had wireless phones for more than 20 years now.

And I’ve never, ever lost one before.

Beyond that, I knew that if I couldn’t find the phone, I’d have to buy a new one, and I really didn’t want to have to spend $200 on a phone.  Because the new iPhones are on the 3G network — whatever that is — the monthly service fees are a little higher than what I’m paying on the old (2G?) network.  So I didn’t want to have to pay more a month, either.

I drove back to the grocery store, since that was the last place I specifically remembered having the phone.  No sign of it.  No one turned one in.  I went to the office, called AT&T Wireless, and reported the phone lost so that they could suspend it, just in case.

I retraced my steps where I’d walked the dog.  It was my second time doing walking through the courtyard, where I saw the phone in the grass.

Panic over.

I have a running joke going with my friend Archie:  it started back in August when I was helping him and his wife pack up their home for their big move to California.  When I was working with him on things, the phone would sometimes just snap out of place.

It hadn’t happened before.  And it didn’t happen after that.

Until the next time I saw him, in January, in California.  It snapped out of place several times during my week with them.  I asked him, jokingly, what this weird thing he has going on with my cell phone.

The next time it happened was in April.  I was at an airport in Atlanta with Sam, Archie’s brother.  We were on our way to California to help Archie and the South Bay Church team put on their Easter Sunday service.

Tonight, when it happened, I was nowhere near California.  Oddly enough, I had just talked to Archie yesterday.  On that phone.  Maybe this power he seems to have over my phone takes a little longer to happen when we’re 2,800 miles apart.

At least that’s what I’m going to tell him the next time I pick on him about it.

In the meantime, I’ll be going tomorrow to get a different holster for the phone.  I’ve had enough lost phone excitement to last me another 20 years.