Being Scatterbrained Has Its Perks

I lost my cell phone.

Somewhere between taking Mocha to the vet, going with Danny and the kids to Johnny Rockets, and a fun-filled afternoon at Dave & Busters, my phone decided it did not want to be with me anymore.

I was surprised, really. I only dropped the thing about 15 times. I broke the plastic piece holding the stylus and battery on, so I had lost a stylus, on average, every few months. Why ever this phone would want to end our relationship in such a devastating way, I will never know.

By the time I noticed its absence from my belt in the restroom at D&B, it was long gone. After multiple calls to every place I'd visited, I had to grudgingly accept that I would never see my phone again.

I am horrendously disappointed in myself.

It is no secret that I inherited the scatterbrained gene from my father. He can barely remember his coat when he goes out, let alone his keys, cell phone or glasses. One time as a child, I remember being about an hour into a road trip before he realized he didn't have shoes on. We had to turn around. That's my dad.

I am definitely his daughter. As a child, I constantly left my lunch box or gym bag at home, in the lunch room, or on the bus. I once left the school's flute, that I had taken home to practice, at a public transit stop. Luckily, it was returned, but the horror of facing my battleaxe music teacher and her hair-trigger temper has left me scarred for life.

Meticulous attention to detail, combined with a self-enforced "one place for everything" rule has helped me immensely in controlling this tendency. But this time, with this cell phone, it was not meant to be.

So I did what any lost phone owner in the depths of mourning would do.

I bought an iPhone.




Hell yeah.

Sleek, sexy and powerful, this little gadget is the best technology innovation in a years. It checks my email, keeps track of my appointments, lets me browse the web, shows me stocks, weather and directions at one tap, stores and plays my music, and has a wonderful touch-screen that frees me from the constant annoyance of losing a stylus.

This thing is pure testosterone. Just turning it on turns me on.

Sure, it's not perfect. There are no add-on applications for it yet. The web-based apps can be clunky and slow. There is no good solution for instant messaging. And for some unknown reason, the iPhone does not support phone-to-phone picture or video messaging via MMS. I have found a way around this using email, but it is still a pain in the ass.

Disadvantages aside, this is the single coolest thing ever to grace me with its presence.

It was no surprise to me that Time Magazine awarded it the Best Invention of the Year. Now if only I could invent a sticky force-field to ensure I'd never lose it, I'd be a millionare.

For now, I'll settle for the belt clip, and a steadfast vow to keep it in my sight at all times.