If you call me today (if you're one of the five people who read my blog who actually has my number), I will not answer.
I am on Day 5 without my cell phone.
It began last Thursday when, due to unforeseen circumstances, I had to take G to work with me for a few hours.
Why she was with me isn't important; it's how I occupied her during our TV station's 45-minute morning meeting that's the focus of my story here.
Yes, the only piece of technology (other than my blog... and my email... and, I suppose, the TV station where I work) that keeps me in touch with the outside world. Instead of bringing along a few books, or a doll, or even her binky (what? No, G does not still use a binky! Who said that?), I came to work-- with my daughter-- empty-handed.
So my cell phone it was.
At first, she just wanted to look at it. Then, she just wanted to touch the buttons (I'd like to apologize to her pediatrician, who may or may not received a few blank text messages last Thursday morning; anybody else think it's odd that of all the people she could have texted, G chose the only person in the my phone's directory 100% devoted to HER?). Then, she did what she's done with every single object that's crossed her path since birth:Gnawing on it.
Slobbering on it.
I really didn't see the harm. I mean, c'mon, I once dropped my cell phone into the toilet during a college sorority party (don't ask); how much damage could a little drool cause?
Apparently, plenty.
By the end of the work day (hours after her dad had come to pick her up), my phone was inexplicibly shorting out. That night, it turned off without warning. And by Friday afternoon, it wouldn't even turn on.That precipitated a Friday night run to my nearest Verizon retailer, where I tried to convince the sales associate that I did not drop my phone into a toilet/puddle/sink and that, yes, it was actually the spit of a 17-month-old that felled the mighty mighty En-V 3.
Thankfully, the phone was still
under warranty. Alleluia.
It's been five full days since I've been cut off from the rest of western civilization. In the meantime, I've missed a call from the local YMCA telling me that swim classes were cancelled, a message from a friend I've been playing phone tag with for weeks (you know who you are), and a half-dozen frantic calls from my mother, wondering if I was still alive (yes, Mom; I'm just fine).
My replacement phone is scheduled to arrive at my home via FedEx no later than 7pm tonight. I am counting down the minutes, and yet dreading it. It's been nice to have an excuse not to "check in" with the outside world. It's given me an excuse to leave my phone at home, turned off, for almost a full week.
What about you?
Technology in general?
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on Wednesday, March 03, 2010
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Oh gosh. We have old cell phones that we keep for the girls to play with, for a while we kept them charged so they would make noise. :-) Hmmm, I have a story about our oldest one making a call to one of our friends' numbers and the message they had on their machine...
I have a phone that I use for, get this -- making calls!! And sometimes texting! That's it! :-D Some of my friends have iPhones and a couple of them call them their iPrecious, so I'm a little scared of them...
Yeah I keep old cell phones around also. Kids love those things. Could have been worse. You could have given her your laptop. Would have been very funny if she sent picture mail to everyone of her mouth and teeth
Been there! After my little girl ate my cell I thought, "i'll just give it to her as a toy and then she won't want my new phone." yeah right... I'm not super attatched to my cell (my laptop is another story) but my kid is definitely. And she's only ten months old!
I can live without my cell phone. I use one because HF got me one, but I don't care what happens to it. I lock the keys so that the kids can play with it, although they've managed to unlock it somehow. I feel a little guilty about it, cuz the phone will only be a few months old, yet it will look ragged from the abuse it goes through.
I must inherit this from my mom. Everytime I talk to her she is getting her phone fixed. just a couple of days ago I called her and her voice sounded really high pitched and far away. She said she was screaming into the phone just so I could hear her. When I asked her what happened, she said she was too embarrassed to say. Turns out she dropped it in cupcake batter. It was her third trip back to the Verizon store in 2 weeks. Ha!
Phones hate me. In September of last year I went through 3 phones!! (Only one was my fault...I'll just say it involved sitting in on the back of the car while putting my child in her carseat and completely forgetting about it...) The other two just died, for no apparent reason. We couldn't even get one of them to turn back on at all, even the people at AT&T couldn't explain it. Of course my warranty was up so I was forced to shell out money for those phones. Refusing to purchase another one until my contract is up, I'm using an old one from MIL...it hates me too and turns itself off all the time!
As a Realtor my phone is like another appendage. The week I had to go without it while I had ordered a new one was chaotic. It was hard not having it, but it was also really nice to have an excuse to be disconnected from everyone and every thing for a while!
Ouch! I've been there when it is easier to give them the phone than to work at keeping them out of trouble. (Although I do lock the keyboard when doing this, J has been known to unlock it)
Glad you will be back in touch today!
Did they let you keep the shorted one? Our old ones are GREAT at keeping J happy.
My son calls his grandpa when he gets a hold of my phone. But to be honest I rarely use the thing. My Ipod touch and laptop whole different story.
I am indeed, one of those people with an iPrecious. And it is the only link I have to the cyber world b/c I live on a farm where innernets are only for those who pay incredible amounts of moolah to the phone company. So we make do with our iPhones. But if mine were gone, I would no longer have access to any facebook/Twitter or blogging worlds.
They say that forgetting your cell phone at home is the new forgetting your purse. I believe it.
So get this!! My 3 year old can mainpulate my iPhone like he works at the Genius Bar ... and go ahead and call me crazy, but I'm actually contemplating getting him an iTouch for his birthday. I mean why buy more Transformers??
Wow...I feel your pain, if not only for a minute. There has been numerous times that my blackberry stopped working. For some reason, they don't like baby slobber. Due to those numerous incidents, it doesn't work right. I'm due for a new one. Can't imagine not being able to get calls, Facebook, or receive my emails. I'd be lost if I was going on 5 days. How are you still sane? Honestly, if she was super fussy and I was desperate, I'd still give her the phone. Toodles.
We have a couple old phones, that work decent enough, stashed in the closet...just in case! I am right with you though, I give Amelia my phone (well, I USED to...) to appease her and now when I am texting it will just shut off without warning. usually during a really long, detailed text too which makes me even madder! It still "works", so I am thankful for that but it might be time for me to start saving for a new phone ;)
I hope your phone arrives safe and sound!
I love my cell phone! And I do let the kids play on it, but I never considered them chewing on it and that make it stop working. I'll have to watch the baby closer now and make sure he doesn't chew on it. Although he has called 911 once on an old phone! That was BAD! So, we try to watch them closely as they play. Although, you have to do what you have to do when they are with you at work!
My condolences to your phone. I call my phone "The Mrs. Hotline" so she would be more disappointed if one of our little ones gnawed on it.
I think a parent can only explain that haunting feeling when the kids are quiet for awhile and mom or dad discovers what desctructive activity has kept them silent.
Too funny - I've had a few cases of the kids sending calls or text to people on my phone! Hope your new one gets here soon!
oh i have an obsession with my phone...heck I NAMED her {iZzie Bella}
I would die without her!
I need my phone for life support, but I see how a break may be nice. I did the computer last weekend, maybe I should give-up the phone this weekend.
If this happened to me, I don't think that I would survive. How are you doing it?
Bree did the same thing with my phone. I, like you, never thought that baby drool could kill a phone....but it does. When I got my new phone, the AT&T lady suggested I get insurance since I let my kid play with my phone.
I don't know what I would do if I didn't have my phone. It's not like I talk on it a lot or anything, but if my phone is nowhere near me...I freak out and feel like I'm missing some important phone calls. Evidently though, I don't get important phone calls & I hardly get regular phone calls. I guess I should chill a bit.
With my last phone I would have been fine. Now I have the Crackberry and I think I would dissolve into a weeping blubbering mess if anything happened to it!
During the week I keep my phone with me at all times. On the weekends I never turn it on. I love it when I have it off, but then I hate returning all the calls on monday morning.
I can't believe drool killed your phone...that's crazy and kind of really gross too. ;o)
We do not have a home phone. Our cell phones are our connection to family, friends, etc.
Yeah, I probably have an unhealthy relationship with my phone AND my computer...
I think one of the two are always within grabbing distance.
This has happened to my hubs phone, just this weekend actually. I do not use my cell so much. I am too busy chasing/playing with my kiddo. I am online when he naps or is asleep at night. I have a no frills phone and it is usually in my purse. We use the home phone more than the cells and my toddler loves calling people!
Hate it, hate it, hate it. I get enough phone time 8-5.
I have a love/hate relationship with Verizon. As in the company.
Ughhh....
So glad your new phone is on the way!
I learned this very same lesson. Um, twice actually. It pains me to admit that I let it happen more than once.
I do kind of enjoy those few phone free days, but it can be a bit of a hassle.
yes and no. i only have 200 texts a month, so i'm not crazy over it. i don't have internet and i don't call a whole lot of people. but yes, i'm sure if i had more features, i'd probably be lost without it.
I would be lost without my phone. All my telephone numbers are in there and I don't know any of them by memory!
Sadly, I rarely use my cell phone. I'm not fond of talking on the phone and I don't have a text plan.
I covet the Google Phone, but my love of the interwebs would make it a dangerous purchase.
ah yes...i too have lost a phone to toddler drool
amazing how potent that stuff is...learned my lesson--new phone has caps over the plug-in areas and i keep mine up and away from the kiddies...for many reasons :)
i don't actually like to talk on mine--it makes my ear hurt and gives me visions of brain cancer
i never text--i'm behind in the times...have no interenet on my phone and no fancy features
but...without it i'd be lost!!!!
if i'm without it when i leave home i feel like i'm going to get into a terrible accident and have no way to call for help (we live in the country)
That's kind of amazing! Haha. Who knew toddler drool was so powerful?
Thanks for the birthday wishes!
Ahh kids and cell phones! When my oldest was 1, he tossed mine in the toilet!!
It's funny that you bring this up today. Just yesterday the three-year-old I watch managed to sit on my phone and dial a friend of mine, who then got a five-minute voicemail with me in the background cooing about having had a "poop catastrophe" (A had poo'd through her outfit and onto mine!). I got a text asking about my poop catastrophe that I found both mortifying and hilarious :)
let's just say my hubby buys me the extended extended extended warranty on any technological item I/he buys...
Camera #1 but the bullet to spilt breastmilk
Camera #2, bit the sand in hawaii (6 months after camera #1 went)
Camera #3 bit the sand a year later at the lake here
camera #4 is still alive and kicking...
Cell phones die a sad death in my purse, I am now on a blackberry and hubby said if I wreck it I pay ...there was no warrantee offered...yikes!
I was fine until I upgraded this past November. Now I have email, internet, Facebook, the works... at my fingertips. I'm addicted. I cannot get through cooking a meal without looking at the beautiful screen to see who loves me. Also, mytinyphone.com for free ringtones. Just saying!
I love to hate my phone...I recently got a new one and I absolutely HATE it so I have 30 days and I think it is going back...it is nothing like my old one even though Mr. Cool at the sprint store said it had the same features....I do however put it on silent a lot...lol
BTW I am convinced baby drool can desrtoy anything
I love my blackberry to death! But when I can't access the facebook app, I get all pissy! Why I'm a so darn addicted to that stupid social networking! Why do I care what somebody ate for breakfast! But I can't stop looking! And this darn blackberry makes it too easy! Plus I adore the google map app until it fails me and I still get lost! I hate you technology but can't live without you!
I LOVE IT!
I got an iPhone in May 2009 and before getting it Imocked it because why in the world would I need an iPhone? WHn the real question is, How did I ever live without it!!
It is my BFF and I treat it as such, but I do let Sarah (age 2) play with it! I just turn it off.
I love my phone! It has been a year since I have gained access to my email etc...via my blackberry. As a mom who stands around at parks, sits in the carpool lane...I LOVE having the ability to putter around on it!
I will learn from your example and keep it out of the hands of my two little boys!
Lol i cant believe her slobber done that to your phone. haha! My phone is busted, cant see the screen or any of the numbers im dialing.. am I replacing it? Nope I hate my cell phone! hahaha
That's a funny story! I feel so lost without my cell phone; I can barely remember life without it. Lil Bits used to chew on everything, too. Now she's more selective--mostly it's chocolate that I have hidden.
slobber can do so much damage, its amazing actually! Don't ever let her chew on your keys if it has an alarm on the key chain either!
I thought I could live without my cell but then one day I forgot to charge it and was out of touch with my texting friends for a few hours...amazing how much I had missed...haha!
Today, I posted a comment on my Facebook page saying that I was seriously thinking about deleting my account. Yes, I have a love-hate relationship with technology. I love it, but at the same time I don't like always being connected.
I can only imagine what technology will be like when our little ones are our age!!!
I hate my cell phone most days. There are days I don't even get it out of my purse because I don't want to do with anyone that day. There are also days that I can't live without it.
Don't have a cell phone. I know, I know...I am so out of touch with the rest of the world. I actually like to leave my house and not have someone calling me for some nonsense reason.
My husband has a cell phone but it is hardly ever used.
Glad that you will be getting back in touch with the world.
Have a great evening!
5 readers my ass! I MUST have my phone cemented to my hand at all times. What if the school calls because the kids are sick. What if someone reads my blog leaves a comment. What if.... :)
This is not the right place but I don't have email set up, so forgive me. The Secret--yeah, I read some of it...I'd love to know what you thought of it...it seemed too "prescribed"?? when I tried it...I like the principles behind it, though. Maybe because Oprah was touting it so highly...I don't know! Thoughts?
Awww. Crap.
The Cute NOM's my iPhone all the time. I guess I'll consider this to be my warning.
Oh my gracious, Elizabeth! How are you surviving? I would be going BANANAS!!! I lost my DVR, dish network and computer back to back and I thought I was going to lose my mind!
Been there, done that. THe good news is, I loved my new phone much more than my old one. :)
I think I might die if I don't have my phone or internet!
Acutally my phone is really good about getting on the internet. Even when I don't have my laptop glued to my lap, I use my cell. BUT my computer can't make phone calls, so I really can't live without them both;o)
I feel your pain!
Fed Ex was just at my house last week! ;)
Did your phone arrive? I want a new phone but mine is not used much...I want internet on it but am too frugal to pay for it. Someday.........
Holy crap; do this many people comment ALL the time? Where have I been? anyway, I don't own a cell phone or PDA or anything like that-and I can' stand them in general. But for your sake, I am glad you will be getting yours back!
I am there with you! I love days when I have the excuse to be away from my computer and can turn my cell off (never happens!). Don't get me wrong. I LOVE and am addicted to texting and all things computer, but a break is always SO nice.
We have the same phone, by the way. I love mine! Glad you didn't have to pay the ridiculous amount to get a new one!
I actually really like my cellphone. I love to take it out and people gawk and stare as if a flat pink device with a full qwerty keyboard is the most unique thing they have ever seen in their lives. However, as much as I like to look at my pretty phone, and enjoy the nice pictures it captures, I don't really like talking on it. Or texting on it. The keys are so dang small...You know what I do have a HUGE love/hate relationship with? My computer. I love my computer. I don't know what i do without my computer. You take my computer away from me for a day, and I am 100% lost. However, let said computer take a pause from all the hard work I've put it through, and I am utterly strings of words and sentences to it, I would blush to have my toddler repeat to the rest of the world. Haha. Thanks for stopping by my blog and leaving your thoughts on my post. If you have something to confess, stop on by for Drama's Thursday Confessional. Love the blog!
I love my iPhone - there I said it. We have a very close relationship.
How ironic that of everyone she could have texted, it was her pediatrician! :-) Very interesting indeed.
I hope your replacement phone has arrived by now! That's funny it was G'd drool that did your phone in. Hahaha!
I definitely have a love/hate relationship with my phone. Email has never bugged me (unless someone's tone gets misinterpreted and that can start fights...that's no fun). The thing I hate about the phone is people (my Mom) think you HAVE to answer it at all times. Even if it's very inconvenient to do so. I don't like someone thinking they have the right to get in touch with me at any moment they so choose. But, I love my phone for texting. That's the way to go!
oh no! haha I guess I know now, never let a toddler eat my cell phone! ;)
We just had a billing issue with our cell phones and they were turned off. I was actually anxious and nervous about driving without one and couldn't imagine how I did so for so long before they came along. Good luck - I hope your new phone comes soon!
Cell phones are the best emergency distraction for babies though! I guess now I know that there is a time limit on how long to let a baby slobber all over it. Haha! At least you get a new phone! :)
With my new blackberry curve, I love to show Jack You Tube videos to keep him occupied. No mouth though! I'd have to run out and buy a new phone. I use mine for work too so I can't be without one. Plus I think I have a psycho ahem psychological attachment.
LMAO!
I let my baby play with my phone, but I have key lock, and she is toothless.
I have a that relationship with my laptop. NO ONE IS TO TOUCH IT!!! NO ONE. I GET REALLY MEAN WHEN THEY DO!