Welcome to 2010! In a moments notice, you can get from here to there for relatively cheap. A flight from Tampa to St. Louis (869 miles) takes about 2 and a half hours for about $200 round trip. Tampa to the L.A. area (2207 miles), about 6 hours with stop over in Las Vegas (Little known fact…I ALWAYS win money playing the slot machines in the LV airport…”WHEEL! OF! FORTUNE!”) for about $350 round trip. Basically, as the cute kids say, “It’s a small world after all…”.
And, even though you are so many miles away, with the technology afforded us (instant messaging, texting, email, and mobile phones…say it like a Brit…”Mo-bye-el”) we can find ourselves back in our hometown, vocally and visually, with ease.
On recent travel for work, I left home during a monumental week for my family. See, First Born had just graduated High School and we had just come off of a two week celebration of such. Family, friends, parties, nostalgia, reminiscing, you name it. But, the week ahead of us was to be even more exciting. It was the week the new iPhone4 was to be released!
We always do these things together! We watch Steve Jobs deliver mind blowing keynotes during World Wide Developer Conferences (WWDC), “oooh” and “awww” over the new and upgraded products, ask ourselves “do we need this new product or upgrade” (um…yeah!). Then, after ordering, we anxiously await their arrival.
Last June, First Born and I decided not to upgrade our 3G phones to the then, lightning fast 3Gs (one time we actually said “no”) and await what was promising to be a wonderful new phone that would be released this year. After its introduction a couple months ago, we were “in”.
First Born and I strategically sold Mom on upgrading her phone this year…AND…convinced her it was time to bring Second Born into the fold.
SIDE NOTE: Before you go off on how much money they cost…know this: We bought our first two phones a few years ago for the discounted rate being offered. Since then, we have upgraded by selling our old phones on Ebay, for a profit, and thereby reclaiming our initial investment, plus profit, to further pay for our phone habit. So…these really aren’t costing us anything! So, BACK OFF!
Ok…
Last week on Pre-Order day…I spent about 3 hours in iPhone hell. Overloaded web systems made it virtually impossible to pre-order online. It went like this: Input info. Choose phone. Await upgrade confirmation. Get confirmation. Put in CC info. Click Order-Now button, wait for it…wait for it….screen pops up that says “Oops! blah blah yourordercouldn’tbeprocessedtryagain” “Oops!”? In the words of Bill Cosby…”I know what I’ve done when I say ‘oops’..what did you do?”
Three. Hours! But, I finally got them ordered..whew! And just in time. MacRumors.com was reporting that all pre-orders, going forward, would NOT be delivered on release day June 24 as promised, but sometime in July, due to overwhelming response. (600,000 phones sold for pre-orders). My confirmations stated a delivery of June 24. Cool.
The day after pre-order day, I confirmed that I would have to be out of town on delivery day, June 24. Actually, I’d get home that same day, late that night. But I’d miss waiting for Mr. FedEx to deliver my new toy (part of the fun) and get home to it awaiting me. I can live with this.
In preparation for delivery, I paid .99 cents for an App for my current iPhone that would send me push notifications (look it up) telling me just where in the world our new phones were according to their being scanned at different FedEx ports along their journey. Honk Kong, Alaska, Memphis, (“Munich..everybody talk about, mmm, Pop Music” ) then Tampa!
Before my trip I received my first push notification that the triplets were on the dock in Hong Kong awaiting a seat assignment and boarding pass.
So..my travels begin and .99 cent App keeps informing me of the absolutely-positively-has-to-be-there goods, when I notice something strange. Seems the delivery day has been graciously changed to June 23. A day early. While I’m still OUT OF TOWN! I’m not even going to be near it whilst it spends its first day at my house!
Nothing I can do about it…try not to stress..it will be there when you get home. It’snotyourfault (I know), it’snotyourfault (I know!).
Now, while traveling, I stay in nice(r) hotels and get to choose where I enjoy my meals. Given that there are usually restaurants near my hotel that I can’t frequent at home, in most cities I know where I am going to consume my meal before I get there. In St Louis, it’s Chevy’s Fresh Mex restaurant. Great smoky salsa, table side made guacamole, great flavors all around. It is here that my availability to the grid (hence the title of this entry) was about to change.
I’m there enjoying my meal. Entertaining my new trainee and his lovely wife, when I look at my phone, read the time, and notice that First Born is probably home from work and most likely running around the house waving his new phone above his head in joy. It is June 23, the day before the published delivery day of our iP4s, and .99 cent App has pushed to me the notification that they have, indeed, arrived.
I continue to make workish conversation while enjoying the guac and fresh tortillas, when I get a text message from Second Born that reads, “First Born needs the last 4 digits of your social security number”. Ah…there it is…he’s home, he’s activating his phone, but needs his Fathers important information to continue his quest. It’s good to be needed. It’s good to know that after all these years of child rearin’, life lessons, tears and laughter…he still needs me. (Yeah..just text him the number…it’s the phone he needs Ward, not you)
I text him the last 4 digits of my social security number and grin knowing he’s about to be the first in our family to experience this latest advancement in this wonderful technology.
The nice waitress refills my beverage (orange please, not a lemon) and brings out the Fresh Mex! Mmmmmm, cheese enchilada, mini chimi, beans and…wait…Houston? We have a problem.
My phone is reading No Service in the upper left corner. I’m getting flashing messages that my mail program can’t access it’s mainframe, my text messaging has a red exclamation point indicating it can’t send or receive the mini messages that I so anxiously check for every 5 minutes. Something has gone terribly, terribly wrong!
As our meal beings to wind down, I wave down nice waitress and make a “check” motion with my hand (they hate this). All the while glancing at my phone too see if it has come back online. Maybe something has caused AT&T to lose signal in the St. Louis area? Funny, AT&T is always so reliable…I can’t imagine that are having trouble. Yeah, nothin.
My trainee and his lovely wife drive me back to my nice(r) hotel and thank me for the wonderful cuisine. Bye, bye-bye now, bye.
Run upstairs, get in hotel room, log on to computer, open iChat…there he his, status “Away”, First Born.
Me: HEY!
Me: What.
Me: Did.
Me: You.
Me: Do?
First Born: Hey dad!
Me: ?
First Born: You have a fully functional iPhone 4 waiting for you here at home!
Me: What. Happened?
First Born: Yeah…we knew we had a problem when Second Born called you from his phone and it rang here on my desk.
First Born: Seems it automatically activated the first phone connected with your number. Funny.
Me: Mmmm Hmm
Me: And yours?
First Born: Yeah, mine works great! LOVE. IT!
Your instant message session has ended
So there I am, in a St. Louis nice(r) hotel, stuffed with Fresh Mex, off the grid. No phone service, no text service, no mo-bye-el mail, about to head to the airport in the early morning. (I like to text the woman-he-gave-me with things like “at the airport” and “through security” and “boarding”)
And then, I sat in a chair and a big bird flew me through the air across the country.
How did they do it when they crossed America in covered wagons?
