The Kind of Guy I Am

Yesterday my mobile phone broke, which is to say I broke it by inserting the recharge plug upside down and screwing up the jack. This mistake has changed my whole world.

I don't know when I got my first mobile phone, maybe twenty years ago, and I bought it off the rack at a 7-11 convenience store, so it was an official "burner phone," the kind used by drug dealers and hit men because they aren't assigned to any particular user. It was a Virgin Mobile phone, and I just paid them some money whenever the minutes of usage I had ran out, and it kept going.

There wasn't any real plan or anything, it was just a "pay as you go" type thing that I ended up being quite proud of it. I think it cost about fifteen dollars and could be used for voice, texting, and could even take real crappy pictures that I could send to an email address.

But, mostly, it just worked (although all the uses were more expensive by the minute than any "real" phone provided by a carrier through one of their plans). And, since I rarely make or receive more than one or two calls a month and text even less frequently than that, it was all I needed.

Until yesterday, that is.

Once, about five years ago, I had to replace it and pulled another "world/s cheapest phone" off the rack at a Walmart or some such place and moved the SIM card over and was able to keep the same number. That phone is the one I broke yesterday.

Obviously, everyone in my life and everyone around me had better, fancier phones that could do a great deal more, but they also cost tons more, both in cost and in monthly service charges. Mine actually *could* go on the internet (for an additional charge) and attempt to display web pages that were monstrous to navigate, but it could be done.

I mostly used it for emergencies, and it performed pretty good at that.

Anyway, like I said, yesterday I killed it and was very upset with myself. Although the solution was obvious at once, it took me a few hours to admit it. Virgin Mobile no longer sells or supports anything except iPhones and, as it turns out, those are pretty damn pricey. There are still burner phones out there, but none for sale near me, and since I had to bite the bullet, I decided to go to a real phone store and get a real phone, the kind all of you have had for years.

So, I did.

I believe I got the cheapest phone with the cheapest plan that Sprint has, but I probably could have done much better. When something like this happens, I panic and try to fix the problem ASAP. I chose Sprint because I heard someone once say that their Verizon phone kept dropping, but more because Virgin Mobile uses the Sprint network to carry its traffic.

I don't think that really matters one bit.

I don't know about other people, but it took me an hour and a half in the phone store to get everything all sorted out and my phone number transferred to the new phone. My concern now is moving my current contacts and numbers over to the new phone before the old one's battery completely runs out and I can't see them any more.

Ever again.

Also, since everyone has one now and has for years, smartphones no longer come with any directions or instructions. It took me a minute or two to figure out how to turn the damn thing on. and everything else is "intuitive," except it's not.

Now I know how all those new computer users felt when we sat them in front of one at work. There's a steep learning curve, but I keep telling myself that I'll have the hang of it all in a month. Or two. Or several.