Blogging my life without a cellphone

A month or so ago I was putting the dishes away and managed to push a plastic cup out of the cupboard while pushing recently cleaned ones in. The cup bounced off my iPhone screen and on to the floor. After almost 6 years of dropping iPhone on sidewalks, in parking lots (sometimes so hard its skipped and skidded multiple times), on the deck, in the driveway and down many sets of stairs resulting in no cracked screen you can imagine how shocked I was that this stupid plastic cup completely shattered my screen rendering it completely useless.

So why not get a new digitizer? Sure, good idea! I just replaced the digitizer on my iPad 2 (child in a tantrum smashed this one) and pulled the screen off my iPhone 3GS to reconnect a connector that dislodged during an almost car accident some time ago, why not my current iPhone. Unfortunately, I would find that replacing the screen in an iPhone 4S is much more difficult than the iPad 2 and a million times more difficult than an iPhone 3GS.

But I go ahead and try anyway. The first thing I notice is that the screen must be approached from the back of the phone. This requires pulling out and unscrewing EVERYTHING before I can replace the screen. I find a YouTube video to help me but it only displays the pulling apart, not the putting back together. I figured I'd just go backwards from that point. When I finished I had 2 screws and a metal thingy left over. Uh oh. Nevertheless I'm quite sure everything is plugged in that needs to be plugged in so I start the iPhone up. Grey screen. Nothing but grey. Ugh.

So I was going to try again but the left over screws made me think i was missing some hardware and that it was useless to try. I was going to buy a new SIM for a flip phone we keep for emergencies. I was going to buy a prepaid android that I found on sale for $59.99 (retail price: $99.99). I thought aboput upgrading now to an iphone 5. I didn't do any of these things. I decided instead to wait for the new iphone scheduled to be released in October. So it was official. For the first time since c2000 I was and am completely cellphone-less.

I'm making this thread to track my breakdown over the coming months.

"July 30: I HAVE NO MOUTH AND I MUST FLING ANGRY BIRDS"

^^^ Very possible!

PROs and CONs of not having a cellphone:

PROs:

• I hardly made any calls on my iPhone. My primary usage was data, so the only calls I was receiving were calls from online colleges trying to sign me up for a masters i dont need. Very glad to be rid of those fools for now.
• No iPhone means no losing the iPhone all the time. And it really was ALL THE TIME.
• I am able to suspend my account (ie not pay my monthly minimum) for up to 6 months and pay only a $10 fee each month. This should be just enough time to get my 5S (or whatever its called). Savings!

• PP doesnt have a cellphone either but this is by choice. The flip phone I mentioned above was meant to be for him to take in the car in case of emergency. I just sat in a drawer and deactivated after 90 days. So when we go out together neither of us have a way to contact anyone or look up a map or whatevs
• I drive a crappy 2002 VW Nu beetle and its literally falling apart. The day will come soon when it stops for good. Will I be on an Interstate or some far reaching place when this happens? Probably.
• If the kiddos get sick @ school they will call my cell first then pp's work number then maybe my work number.
• I have to use my iPad 3 to play podcasts and audiobooks in the car. This is kind of a pain in the ass.
• Ive lost half of my contacts.
• I cant text from my cell number. I have to try to text from messages on the ipad but if the recipient is registered on imessage I cant do that. I end up having to text from my google voice number which sucks.
• iPad picture resolution is ass
• Every place I call that asks me for a contact number freaks when I give them my work number. 'You cant be contacted at [cellphone no] anymore???'. Then I have to explain the temporary nature of the switch.
• Mostly, I have no easily portable way to carry around all my info. I need maps! I need email. I need MMS. I need a camera! I need ILX ZING! I need Facebook! I need games! I need my goddamn logins to EVERYTHING!

just be like Seth and arrive two hours before you're supposed to be anywhere

That reminds me of another con

• losing all track of time at lunch then realizing I'd been out for 2+ hours

okay this is starting to get a little rough. i have an ipad3 that i can get text from iMessage users but otherwise Im out of touch. PP and I are going out with friends saturday night and leaving the kids with PPs 20 something y/o brother and wife who have never watched them before. PP doesnt have a cellphone by choice so in case of emergency we are going to have to give them our dinner companions cell number. so ridic.

also plugging in the ipad in the car to listen to my UYD podscast is a pain in the ass because every time I brake it slides right off the passenger seat and pulls the plug out.

another shitty thing is that my kids have recently become obsessed with Daniel; johnston's iOS game 'hi how are you' and they demand a ipad at all time. i have two ipads so theyre good but that leaves me with my laptop. ugh.

also, just over the past week, ive heard from 3 butthurt peeps wondering why i haven't returned their calls or text for the last 2+ months. 'oh i broke it' doesnt seem to fly as an excuse.

on bright side right now - im about to hit the halfway point.

just keep getting more ipads. one for the car, a few for the kids, one for each person who's butthurt about you not calling them, etc. SO MANY IPADS!

irl lol

you know when i get home from work my kids dont say hello to me they say 'iPad?' and then im standing there with nothing to do so i actually do need another ipad!

well things got rough for a few weeks there when the ipad 2 died and the kiddos spent every day fighting over the remaining ipad but, like a miracle from st steve, the ipad 2 came back to life last thursday. peace has been restored.

for about 5 minutes last week i seriously considered spending $300 on an ipod touch to bridge the gap to Sept 20. i need music/podcasts for distraction when doing mindless chores/activities. God forbid my brain actually gets the opportunity to start thinking and reflecting. Dangerous territory. The point being, do you have any idea how awkward it is to hold on to an ipad while vacuuming? its pretty fucking awkward.

I bet I still have one of these laying around somewhere.

http://www.greenbaba.com/images/medium/mp3_player/mp3_player_m3045_med.jpg

Always the very best for the love of your life.