Drained Batteries

For anyone that missed the story, I no longer have a cell phone. For anyone that still wants to hear the story, there's a short and long version. The short (quite literally, both in size and electrically), is that I flushed my cell phone down the toilet. The long version follows...

It all started with a trip to Greenville for Rachel & Jaron Davis and their wedding. I just happened to start dating a Rachel as well that very weekend. I left Greenville Sunday, and unwittingly also left behind my laptop power cord.

As the first week went by, I was tempted to drive straight back and get it (and see Rachel). I instead had Eric mail it to me. I started having thoughts, at this time, about how difficult it might be to stay in Carthage while dating someone in Greenville. I also started pondering what bills I could eliminate to make it easier to move down there. For a brief moment, I thought about getting rid of my cell phone. Then, I immediately thought myself crazy. I called Eric back to help him decide between UPS and the USPS (I went for the one with an extra 'S' for Saving Money). Eric said he might call me if he had any questions.

So I was in front of a toilet doing my business (flushing, that is), when I decided to give Eric one more call to see how things were going at the post office. As I pulled out the phone, I was being careful not to knock anything else out of my pocket and in the process lost grip on my cell phone. I looked down. I saw nothing. I saw swirling water. I saw nothing else. It was gone.

I missed my chance to call Eric. I called Verizon instead to cancel my service. I thought - what better way to make up my mind then have it made by life. It sure helped me feel better about the whole thing. Unfortunately I missed the phone call where I could have asked Eric to insure my package.

One week later. I got a phone call from Eric with a full explanation of why I didn't have my package. Apparently, one of their mail trailers was "damaged" and that they were very sorry. I made up my mind. It was time to back to Greenville to check it out, knowing that I would probably still have to buy a new cord at the Apple Store in St. Louis.

By this point, you may realize the triple entendre of my post title that I'm quite proud of - phone down toilet, phone battery shorted, laptop battery dead. I drove down to Greenville, and recognized a fourth thing that had been drained - the mail truck trailer. There were tiny particles of dirt and dust that were dried to the outside of the adapter brick - the kind that come from something that sat in a lake or river for a while before they settled on being dry.

I went with Rachel that Saturday to a Mall in St. Louis with none other than an Apple Store. WOW!!! Kid in a candy store and a half! The ceiling was a solid panel of light. As I paid for my new power cord at a human cash register with a PDA, I was asked if I wanted my receipt e-mailed, on paper, or both. This story actually ends with a simple statement - if you want to hear sounds, go to a Bose store (you'll have to ask me).