May 04th, 2022

Any idea what this is a photo of?  It's my spiffy new phone!  Woohoo!

I certainly had no intention of buying a new phone.  Honest!  But I was starting to have problems with the old one.  It was little things at first like working very very VERY slowly.  And of course,  I blamed it on laggy internet service.  Isn't that usually the culprit?   Or, if I was hiking or we were in the car I would assume that we were just in a bad connective area.  It was merely  a minor inconvenience.

Then my phone began changing my mind on my behalf of what I was trying to do.  For instance I might be looking up the address of a restaurant and my phone would say, "nope, you need the weather" and change over to the weather app.  Wha???   Other times it would pop from whatever app I was using back to the main page at it's own whim.  In other words, not normal cell phone behaviour.

But I didn't say anything about it to Tim (my in-house electronics and technology guru) for several reasons: #1 he's a busy guy and I hate to bother him with piddly things,  #2 I was certain that whatever was wrong with the phone was my fault because I always assume that things are,  #3 in the grander scheme of things it was not a big deal  and #4 repair and replacement is expensive and I am always very financially anxious.

But finally one day I must have expressed some frustration where Tim could hear me so he decided to take a look.  The first thing he did was to take the phone out of it's protective case.  

Side bar:  The protective case is ESSENTIAL.  I drop things.  About two minutes after getting my last phone I dropped it twice, one of the times face down, thereby cracking the screen.  Thank goodness there was that clear plastic covering on it that held it together!

ANYWAY, as soon as the phone was out of that protective case I heard Tim say, "uhoh".  That is never a good thing to hear.  He showed me the problem:

Do you see how the back of the phone is lifting?  That's because there is a bulge.  There should be no bulge. The bulge is bad.    Ok this is not something he can fix.  

So because Tim is a very nice man, he immediately ordered a new one for me.  It's basically the same as my old phone, just a newer model.  It's slimmer and longer.  The slimmer is nice because it's not quite as heavy but the longer is a bit of an issue because it doesn't fit quite so well in my pocket.  That is when I'm wearing clothes that actually have pockets.

Another side bar:  Why is it that girl-clothes have lousy pockets?  And worse, sometimes no pockets at all?  Who do I speak to about this?  Who is in charge of deciding who gets pockets and who doesn't?

I'm certainly not going to quibble about whether or not my phone fits into the pockets that may or may not exist in whatever I'm wearing. I was exciting about having a new phone!  Woohoo!  But very concerned about having no protective cover.  I was honestly afraid to even pick it up for fear that I would do what I often do and, unintentionally, drop it.  

The few times I used it at all over those first couple of days,  I mostly used the phone while it was laying safely on the counter.  If I absolutely felt it necessary to bring it with me, I lifted it ever so carefully and slipped it into the purse pocket made especially for that purpose.  And then of course reversed the process once we got back home.

Meanwhile, Tim also ordered a new protective cover for me.  But this one is different.    It's like a little book!  Probably because of what happened last time (protective cover on back and sides so of course I dropped it face down!) the new cover truly encases it completely!  And as a bonus it has little slots for whatever I choose to put in there.  Cool!  It looks like this:

I don't know if you can tell in the photos but it's navy blue so it goes with my purse which is awesome.  Makes it look very intentional.  I feel kind of fancy now.  It's about the size of a small clutch purse so I can carry it easily and if I do ooops and drop it, the entire thing is completely covered and it's unlikely that I will do real damage. Whew!

On the other hand, it's now definitely too big for my pocket.  The old phone "just" fit in the pocket of my hiking shorts.  Dang!  What options do I have now? Does that mean I have to take my purse with me when I hike?  Coz that's not going to work for me at all.  First of all it would probably ruin my purse (and I REALLY love my purse). Secondly, a purse would be seriously in the way, one more dang thing hanging from my shoulder and kind of stupid looking.  Who hikes carrying a purse!  Or do I have to just hold my phone in my hand?

 What it probably meant was that I would be hiking without a phone even though I have already added the 'All Trails App' to it because this app has been a mile saver for Joy and I more than once while we are out on Photo Safari!   BUT frankly it's more important for me to bring my camera and water bottle in a holder which has a long strap.

I find that I need at least one free hand while hiking.  One to carry the camera and one free hand for moving vines and fronds out of the way, or grabbing onto trees as I slip/slide down a slope or for balance while crossing a stream on a log or  slapping at mosquitos or ....... well you see what I mean.  I definitely need one free hand. I cannot be carrying my phone even in it's new cutiecute case.

So when Tim saw that the new case does not fit in my pocket OR even in the zippy pocket of my water bottle carrier he ordered another case for me.   It is similar to the blue one but a different colour with a design on it and has a long strap.  I cannot show you a photo of that yet because it hasn't arrived.  BUT it will be here this week and I am very excited!    And I feel very spoiled.  And Excited.  I cannot wait for this new hiking phone holder to arrive!  

Hard to believe I'm this excited waiting for something that is not a book.  Usually I only get this kind of excited about something new to read.  Although, in truth, it does kind of look like a little book so I guess it counts :)

Anyway, that's the newest thing going on here.  How about at your house?