Do not taunt the tech gods

The other night, during the Great Verizon Crash, T-Mobile sent a text that had everything in it but nyah, nyah. nyah, nyah. The snark is great in this one. Considering I hadn't had any issues, and it was already this late, I would have thought this obvious. That being said, I've only had two outages in the 20+ years I've been with T-Mobile and one case of delayed texts. I'm not particularly happy about recent events (Starlink partnership (aka Elon Musk) and the monetary support of the ballroom, the latter basically to push through a fibre merger with the FCC), but overall I've had nothing but a great experience with them. I have my phone, watch line, and internet with them (the non-fibre kind, which uses their mobile network through a gateway). Had the ballroom thing come up sooner, I might have considered changing, as I'd had my devices paid for some months, but I'd just upgraded my phone and I've got almost two years of credits (it was taxes + activation fee only, I didn't have to actually 'pay' the price of the phone itself, and I can't shell out $1199, even for principle--it was the only way I could upgrade, and my phone was over four years old and was going to lose support fairly soon.)

Anyway, it can happen to any network at any time. Cut back the snark, lest ye be struck by the cell phone gods. They abhor hubris as do all such beings.

I am such a geek

I just changed my phone's text-to-speech settings to English (UK) because I use British English for writing anyway (I know, I'm weird, just prefer it--I do use American orthography at work because people just assume you can't spell otherwise), and now my briefs in the morning, midday, evening, etc. for weather and the news are a peppy British male voice rather than a hoarse, tired American one. I am so happy. What can I say, it's the small things.

On a side note, I have used British spellings for about 35 years of my 58 years of life. I read a lot of British books, watch a lot of British TV, it just seemed natural, and I'm very much an Anglophile, but one day recently, after being diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder level 1, it suddenly occurred to me that ultimately, that was the reason. It was a quirk of autism, not a pretentious thing (I never meant it that way, or to be different, and I had people ask that, which surprised me, because I hadn't even considered that). Yep. I't just that I'm a little weird and wired differently, what can I say.

One reason

That I had trouble last year writing is that my roommate's desktop died and so I've been letting him borrow my laptop. Right now we've got it plugged up to a monitor, mouse, keyboard, etc., so it's for all intents and purposes acting like a desktop, and I just change the configuration if he has a Zoom meeting or something that needs the camera. 

That leaves me operating with just my phone.  I do have a Bluetooth keyboard (it's rather small, but it works). So I'm using it as a mini-computer.  For awhile the Blogger app wasn't working so well, so it was really frustrating to try. 

Anyway, it's doing better now. Forgive any typos along the way, but my plan is to write more.  I didn't manage to do Monday or Tuesday this week, but I still have two more days I can write and meet my goal of three a week. I don't think that's unreasonable. And there's at least two today. :) 

So yesterday was actually pretty productive

and I'm on track for today as well. Yesterday I:

1. Went to two pharmacies and got medication for my roommate and myself.
2. Got some groceries while I was at the second to try to combine runs.
3. 'Read' for two chapters (but it was an audiobook, so I listened for about an hour, really), The Great Influenza by John M. Barry, about the 1918 flu pandemic.
4. Listened to music and perused Facebook, which probably shouldn't count as productivity, but I was up and that's what matters.
5. Organized about 60 Kindle books into categories so it isn't a terrible mess.
6. Composed a complete yet eloquent rant on Facebook concerning those who were outside of our Capitol building while the governor was announcing deaths in a huddled mass shouting for him to reopen the state and end the COVID-19 restrictions.
7. Re-watched and sang to 'Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog', which made me feel quite a bit better after that. :)

Today I woke up at 7 am because I'd set my alarm to early as I had not done my normal task of washing the percolator and its basket so my roommate could make coffee this morning. I wanted to make sure I was up before him, as when he gets up to make coffee he is usually so out of it and if the pot and basket are clean, he is too out of it to do himself. It's one of those little things I do for him each night, I just forgot to yesterday.  For those who don't understand, you try using a percolator rather than a Keurig and see how you do when you're half-awake.

So after I got that taken care of (three hours before he woke up!) I:

1. Called T-mobile to finally get my hotspot fixed, as  I knew I'd need it where I am now, away from the Wi-Fi, and it hasn't worked in months.  Apparently, there was no problem with my plan, the data, the laptop, or actual connexion.  It was connecting, just not giving me Internet.  So we went through various settings and two operators, each of whom had to call me back periodically, and I had to factory reset my phone, but it is now working.  If it hadn't, I still have my phone under insurance and they were willing to replace it. I feel good about my service; they were very helpful.  Now I just need to restore some of the stuff that was backed up and re-download some applications and I'll be good to go.  My music and everything was all on an SD card, so I didn't actually 'lose' anything.
2. I've taken my car to the shop to get the front brakes fixed.  They've needed it for a while.  My mechanic, Kenny @ Mitch's Auto, runs a small shop and I know their business has really been impacted by all this.  So I thought I'd get them fixed while I was off rather than taking it to a chain.  They've always been really great about fixing my car and not overcharging or anything like that.  I'd highly recommend them.  They're on Industry Road near the Circle in Lexington.

Other plans today: 

• I have to go back to our small independent pharmacy as my roommate was asleep when I picked up what was ready yesterday, but he had a few other things he needed.  But that's just a drive-through sort of thing.
• I'm going to take some things to my storage unit.  I have my winter clothes packed up (in one, not two totes this year), and I have a few other things that are sitting in my room right now otherwise.
• Reading some more. I'll listen to more of the Barry book, maybe while I'm waiting for the car to be finished.
• Re-install things on my phone.
• Do some more reading as far as my Kindle goes now that it's ready to go.
• Straighten up my room a little.
• Launder my masks and the clothes I have on right now and from yesterday that I went out in.
• Take some pots and put them in the shed until I'm ready to use them so they don't wind up being blown around like the other day when a couple were in the yard

I wish I was in a good place for gardening.  The soil in the yard at roommate's house really needs to be worked and amended.  I thought about getting a hanging plant yesterday when I got groceries from Kroger, but it's cool right now and we've been under frost warnings.  I'll look next time I make a trip out to the store.  But container gardening is about our only hope right now, as neither of us has much to spare in terms of getting what's needed to improve the soil.  I do have a big tub at the storage unit that might work for a tomato plant later once the frost is not an option.  I just need to drill a few holes in it, although a co-worker has my drill at the moment.

Okay, I think I'll go ahead and post this and switch over to working on the phone.  Have a great day.

I've tried to blog using the mobile application several times lately

but it refuses to publish with an image attached no matter what I do. Maybe it's a glitch that will be fixed in an upcoming update.

Anyway, sorry I haven't physically gone to the computer and blogged instead.  I've been fairly busy as of late.

I've spent some time setting up the new phone and tablet.  The phone I've geared towards listening--things like Pandora, audiobooks, podcasts, music on the SD card, etc.  The tablet I've geared towards reading, especially Kindle and Project Gutenberg.

We haven't played the game in a while as one of the players is away visiting family in another state.  So the first weekend of this month YKWIA and I went to the Lexington Chamber Orchestra concert at Tates Creek Presbyterian Church and had a very good time.  Otherwise, it's been all about doing stuff around the house on the weekend and getting some relaxation in.  I haven't read much else, just a bit of The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman, and while I had to turn in The Labyrinth of Spirits (which, as a new book, was due in 2 weeks rather than 28 days), I got it as an Audible audiobook.  Today as I was waiting at a doctor's appointment I went through the book up to where I left off.  I was on chapter 19 (21 really, as it has a prologue, etc.), which sounds great but the thing has over 700 pages and while the chapters are short, there are over 170 of them!  I'm not sure I can listen to it at work and still focus on my paperwork like I can with music, but I have a device that plugs into the car cigarette lighter that syncs up with Bluetooth to my phone that allows me to play music and answer calls even though I have an old car (18 years old!) that doesn't normally have that functionality.  I can also play the audiobook through the device.

Brenda stopped by the other day with a wonderful orchid for me.  She'd found it at Kroger for $2, in a plastic pot and finished blooming, but healthy and there are about three plants in there.  It's a type I haven't had before with a very prominent pseudobulb on the bottom with leaves coming from them.  I've seen them in the store--they have rusty, spidery, small flowers in just clusters of them, and I've really wanted them.  I'm not sure what type it is, perhaps a miniature Cattleya or Dendrobium.

Speaking of which, it's almost spring, and I read with interest that the Bluegrass Orchid Society was having their first meeting of the year tonight, with a talk on Dendrobium species and their care, but I had the doctor's appointment and then we had planned on going over to a friend's house for his birthday.  He is battling cancer, and had gone out with his brother and sister-in-law, and was just too tired to get together tonight, so we'll go see him tomorrow.  So by the time we got home, it was too late to change plans and go to the meeting.  I would have loved to have taken the new orchid, though, and get an identification, but oh, well.

I fed the animals and then YKWIA went to the computer and was watching some weird, twisted soap opera he discovered on YouTube, while I went to my room to lie down for just a bit, and the cats came with me, the one purring on my belly and the other at my feet.  I wound up falling asleep for two and a half hours.  I got up and did the dishes, plugged in the electronics to charge tonight, and then decided to write a bit.  But I can tell sleep is coming fast.  I didn't sleep the best last night, kept waking up in fact, and woke up at 4:30 am to pee and almost just got up for the day.  I toyed with the idea of going and getting another bookcase for my office since I had the appointment and therefore parking in back of the hospital, but that would have meant going to the storage unit in the dark wee hours of the night, and I thought that wouldn't be particularly prudent.  So I decided to go back to sleep, and it's good that I had the parking, as I woke up at 7:16 am, and had to be at work by 8:30 am.  I was about 15 minutes early, but if I'd had to ride the bus this morning that would not have happened.

Work has been very busy and I've done really well with productivity and while it can be frustrating, I'm plugging on.  The other day I was able to pull off a minor miracle to get a family's MRI scheduled next day, with the help of my co-worker who does the authorizations, and my boss let me come in at an ungodly hour of the morning so I could call first thing.  It was touch and go for a while (I got pulled out of a meeting because the family got there and the university had accidentally scheduled a sibling instead, so they were being told there was no appointment made).  I'm working on some difficult surgeries, and I have three denials I have to work on for a single case agreement tomorrow.  That's when you ask the insurance company to treat your out-of-network status as if it were in-network for that one case only.  I've had one other case I tried it on, and it worked, so it's worth a try, and it works better, in my opinion than an appeal.  But I don't have much experience in it.

I had applied to the Lexington Public Library in February for a library programming position, but I haven't heard anything, so I'm assuming I didn't get it.  LPL does usually send an e-mail, and I haven't received that yet, but it's been a month or so since the position closed so it's not looking good. :(

Tomorrow I'm at work until 3 pm again as I have a blood draw at 4 pm.  My family doctor always does a blood draw two weeks ahead of the main appointment.  Kudos to my boss, who let me off for a total of four appointments this month, although they're all after 3:30 pm at least.  It was five but I rescheduled my appointment with the ophthalmologist to April.  My endocrinologist is next Monday; it had already been rescheduled by them from January since she wasn't going to be in that day, and when I tried to reschedule, it was going to be August!  So that one had to stay.  I need to reschedule one I missed during my bout with the respiratory virus in January, and I have made an optometrist appointment for an exam on the first weekend of April.  Yay for weekend appointments.  I'm switching dentists and need to get the ball rolling on that, too.  But all my appointments were clustering in March and so I'll wait on that till maybe May, I think.  Then I can have the second cleaning of the year in November.  I did have the DMO plan for Aetna, which paid more fully for services but had a very limited range of providers (mainly Aspen Dental).  I switched back to the PPO, which costs a little more but has many dentists so I could go to one I've been to before and liked, one that YKWIA goes to.  The reason?  Aspen called me up one day insisting I pay a bill I didn't know about before they turned me over to collections. When I asked how much I owed, it was $1.  Yes, you read that right, $1.  I paid it there over the phone, but it kind of ticked me off that they would do that, threaten to send me to collections over such a trivial amount when I'd never even been billed.  Anyway, I like Dr Kleier, although she doesn't have the later hours they did.  So I'll have to wait to go there.

Okay, I guess I should head to bed.  6 am comes early, and with the time change, it's a struggle.  Good night!

Apparently

This is the week for things breaking.  The other day it was the windshield wiper.  Yesterday it was my cell phone.  Also, yesterday, although I'd forgotten until I went out today to search for a turnip and four Belgian endives (to no avail) that my check engine light popped on.  That's usually emissions, although I should take it to an auto parts store and see what codes come up.  Still, things are pretty tight right now, and I don't have the money to fix anything, really.  The windshield wiper was just $12 and the phone will take about $5 since it was insured.  But the car is a whole other story.

Trying to get back on track

So I was sick for an entire week, and even weeks later I'm having sniffly noses and some mild coughing.  But I'm back to the routine at work, although we're oddly enough off Monday for Presidents' Day, so I took off yesterday for a long weekend.  I spent the whole day doing errands, but they were ones that needed to be done.  I started the day off with a phone, which had been alright the night before, basically becoming a brick.  When the screen was turned on, the emergency medical app would come on, and then the screen would go back.  I could slide up the Samsung Pay app from the bottom of the screen, but there were no 'desktop' or app icons at all.  Then it would turn off, try to turn back on, and repeat.  I waited until T-Mobile opened a couple of hours later, and that's all it did.

So the good news is I didn't have to upgrade to a new phone or spend a lot of money that I didn't have.  I have paid off the phone (it's about 2 1/2 years old, a Samsung Galaxy S7), but I've also kept insurance on it, and so I can exchange it for a new phone of the same model, and it'll just cost me $5 for a fee (I guess that covers their shipping it to the store).  It may come as early as today (I was at the store when they first opened, and it shipped quickly), but with the weekend and holiday it could be Tuesday, I guess, at the latest, unless UPS runs on Presidents' Day, I'm not sure about that.  So here's hoping it'll be today.  She said if it came it should be around noon, and it's a little after eleven now.  Of course, they'll have to e-mail me, or I also gave them my friend's number.

I also called the Lexington Public Library yesterday and spoke with the human resources director, as I have an application in and I was afraid they might call while the phone was out of commission.  So I guess it also shows interest.  It's a librarian position doing programming (as in events, not computers) for patrons.  Keep your fingers crossed for me; I'd love to get back into the library field, and I'm excited about this job.  Don't get me wrong, I'm very grateful to have my current job, but I love librarianship so much more.

I am working on the Doody's Core Titles again this year, as a librarian selector where I select and rate medical books based on my knowledge of Orthopaedics and Paediatric Nursing.  I've done it for many years.  I also just had another book review published.  So I am still pursuing librarian-related interests.

While I was T-Mobile, they talked me into a free tablet, with a $10 addition to my bill for another line but no money down for the actual tablet.  So I've been setting that up and I haven't felt too bereft without the phone. I shared something on Facebook to either message me on Messenger or call my friend's phone at the house if they know it.  I checked and everything's backed up with Google, including my contacts, so that's good.

Other things I did yesterday: I got one new windshield wiper because my passenger one had broken and was being held on with tape, and I also went to the credit union with my friend, and the pharmacy, two grocery stores, did his laundry (I'm working on mine today, after I bake bread).  Apparently, I shouldn't try to bake bread before caffeinating--I put all the ingredients in, set up the menu, but forgot to hit 'start'. I checked about an hour and a half into what should be the bread baking part of the cycle, and it was just sitting there.  Sigh.  It should be working now, though.  I also did the cat litter yesterday and brought the garbage containers back to the house after being emptied.

Today my main to-dos have been on getting a shower, then there's the bread, my laundry, possible trip to Fresh Market for more Belgian endives, possible trip to T-Mobile for the phone, and game notes.

It's sunny this morning and we didn't get the snow that they'd been predicting.  So it's been a good couple of days so far.  I didn't manage to call my doctors about rescheduling some March appointments (I've got 5, and while they're late in the day, that's probably too much to expect to be let off work.  I was going to reschedule a couple at least.  I'll have to call about them Monday.  Most of my appointments fell six months ago, but they were spread between September and October, and then my endocrinologist had to reschedule my January appointment, and it looks like a giant cluster within two weeks.)

So now I'm listening to Pandora (the Passenger station) and I plan on doing a little reading later and hopefully, I'll watch some of a DVD collection I have out from the library, the first season of 'The Librarians'. :)

Okay, I think I'll go for now.  I won't promise to write later, but I will do my best.

My phone was giving me some trouble

Suddenly, when plugged up with my normal, factory-provided charger, it was saying that there was moisture detected. I'd turned off the phone and restarted it, but it still kept popping up. I've only had that happen when trying to use a standard USB charger that isn't adaptive fast charging for the Samsung Galaxy S7.

So, I looked at some troubleshooting and decided to take a cotton swab and gently swabbed the port with dry cotton, and it's working now.  So it must actually have somehow detected some humidity.  It's snowing outside, so I'm assuming the air isn't the normal winter 'dry'.  I've had the phone for a year or more now, though, and it's never done that, at least with the charger that came with it.

I pulled out my box (with the quick start guides and the SIM-card drawer key) and the only other thing that came with the phone, a caddy with earbuds (which I don't use; I use my old S5 ones because I don't like the S7 shape of the buds, so I use them as a backup, only.  Inside is one other thing, a  USB to micro USB connector that, for the life of me, I have no idea as to why it was included with the phone when it came with a transfer USB to micro USB cable as part of the charger, and those sorts of cables are ubiquitous.  I just never got it.  I typed 'what is the purpose of the USB micro USB connector that comes with the galaxy s7' into Google and it's for Smart Switch, the Samsung method of transferring files from one phone to another device.  Still, I found it kind of weird. They did mine in-store using their Wi-Fi, except for the applications, as I had about 500 of those (I had 750 the other day, and I thought perhaps I should delete some I don't use.  But that's the number that comes up on the scans, and probably included pre-loaded ones). So since I was trying out the charger and cables anyway, I'm backing up my photos and music (that are already on a microSD card) further, by putting them on to my laptop.  It's about a third of the way through the music.  The pictures didn't take that much time; the estimated time for the music is one hour and 15 minutes.  I don't think it's going to take that long, though.

YKWIA and I have had our custard and nog.  The animals, who were fed late, are fed and the dogs are out for a bit in the snow. It's not really accumulating, really, just tiny amounts.  The laundry, which I've done in a leisurely manner, is almost finished.  I did the dog blankets and YKWIA's bedding, too.  [He accidentally fell asleep with a cup of tea in his hand last night, and spilt the whole thing, practically].  Tomorrow I plan on doing my bedding and clothes.

I had planned to listen to some music, stretching out on the bed, when the charging thing happened.  I went from 60% to less than 40% in very short order trying to figure it all out.  But it's charging now, albeit not as quickly as when plugged into the wall, given that it's plugged into the laptop.  We're  over halfway to the music backup being finished, so yeah, it's going pretty quickly.

Okay, that's all for now.  May your Christmas Eve be pleasant and warm.

I found out the other day

That my phone will take panoramic photos.  This is one of my library at work.  It's small,  but it's home.  I will so miss it.  It's hard to believe that I have to dismantle it over the next four months. :(

Apparently

All that productivity last week,  plus a busy weekend of cleaning and running people here and there and gaming,  meant crashing by 10 pm tonight (and every other night in between),  so I didn't blog for several days.  Sorry about that.  I'll try to get back on track.

PS I'm up in the middle of the night taking my meds,  brushing my teeth,  etc.,  and the laptop is still packed away from the game on Sunday, so I'm blogging on my phone.  In the previous paragraph it autocorrected to 'drinking people'.  My phone is somewhat bloodthirsty apparently.

Good night.

Now that's weird

When I play music from my phone through a Bluetooth-enabled tower, it puts all the songs on the album in alphabetical order, but if I have it physically plugged into between the speaker and earphone jack, it plays it in the order they appear normally. Odd.

Okay, A should be calling any minute for a ride home from work. I should go put on street clothes, get him, come home, and go to bed, as I have to be over for the game at 9:00 am to prepare for company. Good night.

My precious

I did pretty well today after the first few minutes when I discovered that, while I'd carefully packed everything else I needed for the day,  including the phone charger,  I forgot my phone,  which was left sitting on my beside table. It was kind of freeing,  actually. But let's not repeat it any time soon, okay?

So now you tell me?

My phone just indicated a severe thunderstorm watch--not warning--right as the storm passed and the windows stopped rattling. :) It's not the phone's fault--apparently it was just issued. There wasn't anything for Lexington before that. The rain is showing up on the radar at Lex 18's weather application now, and we're on the southern tip of severe weather. But I was like, oh, really? :)

Is it bad

That,  if my phone tells me I'm short by a few minutes on my activity level for the day,  I will take it and walk up and down my hallway for a little while?

#PavlovianTraining

Hello

So I'm at a friend's appointment, which usually lasts a couple of hours, and I brought my laptop with me to work on the game notes, because apparently at some point when we took a break and I was out of the room, the recorder stopped, and I wanted to make sure I got everything down before I forgot what happened. I also went online to change some settings on A's mail account, so that he can send/receive e-mails from the phone. All the settings on the actual phone look correct, so hopefully I've fixed it. He's at a meeting right now, so I can't test it.

It's cooler than last week, but still in the 50s today and it will be in the 60s tomorrow. The sun is beautiful, and it seems like spring even though last week we were in the high 70s and it was almost summery. Rain is in the forecast later in the week, but I don't think it'll last particularly long, so that's good.

I'm hungry. Lunch was not satisfying this afternoon at the cafeteria (I had a tuna sandwich), and I forgot to bring anything with me to eat over a YKWIA's when we're finished here, and we have a project to go through, so I may have to stop and get something on the way back. I did get word that my small refund is coming from the IRS soon, but it looks like I may be paying for a car starter with that, as the car is intermittently not starting. It is possible it's a key transponder gone bad, or even something else. I have a mechanic that I trust, but they're not open on weekends, and I don't know if I can really afford to take off more time at work. But I don't want to get stranded or spend too much money, either.

Okay, I should start on the notes, at least getting the audio transferred over, etc. Hope you've had a good day.

I did a lot of errands with a friend today

and watched a couple of 'Ugly Betty' episodes with another. Then A started watching the Kentucky/Indiana NCAA Men's Basketball game, so I sat down at my laptop and did the game notes in about one hour flat, which may be an all-time record. Now I'm playing on the computer while YKWIA works on one of his projects. After the game I'm going to orient A to his new cell phone (that was one of the errands), and then we're going to go to the grocery and make the weekly run. :)

Home now

We decided to record 'Grimm' and watch it tomorrow, as they were tired and were all comfy in bed. I came on home. It's supposed to get really cold tonight; my apartment leasing office actually put up a notice on our building door for tips to prevent the pipes from freezing. At least all of our plumbing is on interior walls, so that helps. Which makes me wonder if I left my friends' kitchen faucet dripping when I got some water. I'll call them a little later and remind them to check.

I'm listening to the radio now. Ed Sheeran's 'Thinking Out Loud' is playing. I'm a little tired, a little sleepy, but not as bad as I have been on and off this week. I did a little cleaning up when I got home, and the house doesn't seem quite so bad now. Tomorrow I'm running by the pharmacy, taking a friend to the credit union, taking them shopping for sheets, taking one to the grocery, and then to their Valentine's celebration. So tomorrow will be busy. Our hiatus with the game was slated to end Sunday, but Brenda's got an ill member of her family who needs her to stay home with him until he's back on his feet, so it may be next week. I still have a passage to transcribe from awhile back, but the actual game notes were finished weeks ago. So I'll try to finish that. Also this weekend I hope to get my taxes done. I put my info through an estimator and I'm not getting much back at all this year from the federal and I usually get almost nothing from the state, usually about $25 or so, which is why I usually just donate it to one of the causes you can choose. We'll see. I may wind up doing them on my phone with the Internet down at home; it's probably more secure than going on the library's Wi-Fi network. I wonder if the library is open on Presidents' Day. We've only had that holiday off since last year, so I'm still not used to a February three-day weekend. But it would be nice to go over there and do some blogging. Or I could go to our laundry room, which has a Wi-Fi password hung up on the wall, a couple of chairs, and a small table. :)

I think I may do some reading. I've got several books out from the library, both paper books and e-books. I'd like to get them read. Good night for now.

It's amazing

What cleaning up phone apps can do for your battery life.  I was up to 300 apps total.  I took off many I don't use much,  and also Facebook and Messenger (I don't really use the latest,  and can use my browser for the former.)  Instead of having to charge my phone at midday (which is good,  as I ran off today without my charger),  I got home at 10:30 and it was holding at about 50%. Not bad.

Whew!!!!

Just put a security update on my phone and it optimized no less than 300 apps at the end.  300? Is that excessive, do you think?  I'm glad I have expandable storage on the Samsung Galaxy S5. (The lack of that was a major reason I didn't upgrade to the S6 this past year.)

But wait...I freaked out for a moment, as it was telling me that the apps on The SD card didn't exist and it was displaying their icons in grey, but the phone restarted and now everything appears to be back and working. Yay!!!

Cell phones can be quite useful

I use my 'computer phone/handheld computer', as YKWIA puts it, quite a bit, although I never text in the car, and generally only answer the phone when I can pull over, because I know I'm not dexterous enough to drive and answer the thing at the same time, much less keep my attention on the road while talking on it.

That said...

Friday, two things happened that made me shake my head at just how attached people are getting to their cell phones. Oh, those of us with them (and I have two friends who do not have cell phones, smart or otherwise), experience a pang of anxiety (or more) if they're left at home. But then there are the following two cases:

1. I'm leaving my apartment complex for work on Friday morning. I see a young girl, probably a high school student with book bag, texting while walking, her earbuds in her ears, totally oblivious to the her surroundings. I stop, seeing her in time, but she doesn't see me, and proceeds to walk in front of my car across the driveway. Then, halfway in front of my car, she finally looks up, realises she is in front of my car, and rather than crossing on ahead, turns perpendicularly and crosses the road right in front of me, rather than getting out of the way first, still looking down at her phone, without looking either way before crossing the street. That child is likely likely going to die at some point with behaviour like that. I was alert and watching out for her. A lot of people wouldn't be. I am living proof that you can get injured by a car while doing all the right things--crossing with the crosswalk, being alert, not listening to music, not on a cell phone. She is just asking for trouble. YKWIA said he'd have sped up and hit her just because of her stupidity. While I certainly disagree with doing that, folks, there is this thing called evolution. Do not be the person who gets on the Darwin Awards list. And then there is this...
2. Man killed by roller coaster was looking for lost wallet, cell phone, mother says [He jumped over a fence into a restricted area, and was struck by the roller coaster car.] A cell phone is no reason to die. Yes, a wallet is important. Yes, I can see wanting a cell phone back--although if you lost it at 57 mph, I'm not sure it would have survived. But...why not just report the loss to the ride operators and see if they can find it either by shutting down the ride for a few minutes, or after close? I'd rather be patient, and let them send it to me if they couldn't retrieve it on the spot, than risk death. I just don't understand.

These are our modern cautionary tales, I suppose. But the upshot is, please, a cell phone isn't worth dying over. Be careful out there, and don't let it take over your life to the point of taking it.