Delayed Gratification

Yes, I'm a geeky, dweeby human being. As such, it was incumbent upon me to get in line to purchase an iPhone the moment they became available. That, and my current phone is such a piece of crap that I could HARDLY WAIT to make it redundant.

The Good News: I was about number 46 in line at my local AT&T store.
The Bad News: There was an extremely talkative gizmo guy, who was much more clueless than he knew, who would not shut up for 2 seconds together over the course of the 2+ hours we waited.

The Good News: I made it to the point of purchase without murdering aforemention gizmo guy.
The Bad News: My goddamn credit card was declined (I've had this happen before when trying to make a major techno purchase. They say it's to ensure my card's not being used for fraudulent purposes. What it is, is EXTREMELY INCONVENIENT, VITIATING THE WHOLE POINT OF HAVING A CREDIT CARD IN THE FIRST PLACE.)

The Good News: I had enough money in my checking account to use my debit card.
The Bad News: Now I have very little money left in my checking account.

The Good News: I now own an iPhone.
The Bad News: Transferring my old mobile phone number is going to take a while.

The Good News: I can use my iPhone for outgoing calls and load it up with all my info.
The Bad News: NO, ACTUALLY I CAN'T. AT&T is so backed up with activations that it'll take 24 hours to process all the requests. So, in fact, I have an extremely elegant looking brick sitting on my desk. An extremely elegant looking, very expensive brick.

The Good News: I own Apple stock. Clearly they were unprepared for the massive influx of activations... which must mean that they are busting every known record for first day sales. This ALMOST makes up for my frustration in not being able to immediately deploy my new toy.

Near Death Experience

Driving 70 mph, at mile 86 southbound on I-95, my right front tire blew out.

Giant tractor-trailer rigs had been blowing by me at 90 mph for hours. Crazy guys in souped up Acuras and Beemers were weaving in and out of the traffic that had — finally — been liberated after the hour-long Delaware toll plaza slog (unbelievable, really). It was just about midnight.

The wheel suddenly became unresponsive and there was a godawful grinding noise. I knew I was going to die. I had a vision of twisted wreckage, a fiery explosion, a charred and unidentifiable corpse.

Obviously, since I'm writing this, that didn't happen. I managed to wrestle the wheel enough to cross two lanes of traffic to the shoulder. I brought the car to a halt and hyperventilated for a few minutes while I waited for the adrenaline surge to subside and the shaking to die down a bit.

The rest was a long saga of inconvenience, expense, and exhaustion, featuring my crappy and unreliable cell phone, a polite but not particularly warm and fuzzy state trouper, and a kind and helpful tow truck guy nicknamed "Shrek."

My thanks to Lynn for being so good to me when I called her in a panic, feeling horribly lonely, vulnerable, and scared while waiting in the dark for the tow truck to arrive. I now realize that not only did I wake her up, which was bad enough, but it was on the night before she was heading out to a marathon week of NAMI's annual conference.

My thanks to VW for providing a full-size spare tire.

My thanks to God for providing another reason to remember that if you're alive, you're already ahead of the game.

Note to self and others: when stranded on the side of the road at night, if your car is not damaged, leave it running while you keep your hazards and/or headlights on. Otherwise you wlll run down the battery and add substantially to your inconvenience. Trust me on this.

Other note to self: run, do not walk, to get an iPhone the moment they are available. You must get a cell phone that actually works reliably in an emergency.