Phoneless - Day 2

Well, I'll start off day 3 by writing day 2's post about how not having my phone makes me forget things - like writing day 2's post about being phoneless.

Yes, I used my phone to remind me of everything. It was my alarm clock and reminder-based todo list. Each day I had at least 3 different alarms to wake me up, wake the kids up from their afternoon nap, and remind me to do things. I used Astrid to remind me to write e-mails, follow up on online orders, tell Erin things that I wanted to tell her but couldn't because I was at work, and a host of other things. I find myself almost entirely brainless without it.

I described this phenomenon to Erin as having lost my "crutch." I started to feel like without my phone to remind me to do things, I might actually lose my head. Erin was quick to remind me that "planners" of any kind are used by professionals all around the world and have been for generations upon generations. Man is a forgetful beast and, if it were not for friends, family, personal aides, or ribbons tied around a finger, things just wouldn't get done. So I guess I don't feel so bad about not having my little friend to remind me to do just about everything except breathe.

Except I do feel bad. I miss my friendly little pocket organizer. And as the days go by I find myself feeling more and more forlorn. I have been watching incessantly the tracking number of my phone containing package sent back to Samsung. So far, it appears to still be in Ogden. Boo. But I have also been searching the internet for cheap replacements. And by "cheap replacements" I mean another Vibrant or Galaxy S 4G in respectable condition.

As the thought of having to trash my old buddy and get a look-alike settles in I am starting to understand the feeling of a young child being told that the goldfish mommy and daddy got them to replace the one they had to flush down the toilet was "just as good." It's not. I took excellent care of my Vibrant. It had a case on it from day 1 (-ish) and an expensive, professionally installed screen protector from the start. I used microfiber cloths to rub away oily fingerprints and pocket lint. I even talked to it! Granted it was to do voice searches, but still, it listened as well as any old friend from childhood.

So the days tick on, and I am starting to see how impossible it would be to return to my old life of a "dumb phone" and a pad of paper. Honestly, I think the paper would only get turned into airplanes anyway. And the phone, being mostly useless since I use less than 100 minutes of voice each month and never text outside of Google Voice, would only get used when I attached it to the charger every 3 days or so. I have never missed my Vibrant's 4-8 hour battery life so much.