The New Phone

   C located a smartphone that someone wasn't using. The owner was willing to give it away but said that the screen needed repair. C found a place that could repair the screen for a decent price and made arrangements to get the phone.
  I still wasn't crazy about the idea of a smartphone. However, since my boss and coworkers rely on texting to communicate, I seemed to have little choice.
  We got the phone on Monday afternoon. The screen did have a little damage in the corner, but nothing that would keep the phone from working. We decided to wait to repair the screen. Since it used to be someone else's phone we needed to wipe it. Google is a wonderful thing. It tells you how to wipe a phone. We were able to change the passcodes and get some things set up. The next thing we needed to do was activate it. That should be pretty easy, right? Just call the cell company and they can activate it.
   It turned into a small nightmare. The company couldn't activate the phone because of the existing SIM card. A SIM card is a small chip inside a cell phone that carries information about the phone. C began calling around to find where he could get a new SIM card. He called a nearby store who said they didn't carry SIM cards for older style phones. C called two other places that said they don't carry the SIM cards for the cell provider we have. Finally in frustration C decided to drive to another place.  It was about 20 minutes away and rush hour was just beginning. C was not happy, but we both wanted to get this taken care of.
  The drive wasn't too bad. Once we got there we had to sign in. It took a bit for us to sign in because we had to choose from a list of services and what we needed was not on the list. C's frustration level grew. We sat down to wait. There weren't too many customers there and there seemed to be several employees standing around. I was beginning to think this was a lot of hassle for one stupid phone that wasn't sure I even wanted. After about 10 minutes they called my name. We brought the phone up and explained to the tech what we needed. There was a five-minute wait as the person who has charge of the SIM card stock was answering the call of nature. Once our tech had a SIM card it went pretty fast. A few minutes and two signatures later we walked out with my newly activated phone.
  The next thing to do was re-enter my contact list. This was a pretty easy job. I had wanted to clear out some old contacts for a long time and this was my chance. I fed the cats and then went to work. It didn't take long.
  Once I had my contact list set up I sent a text to my coworkers. I wanted to make sure that the texting part work. It did.
   Then I loaded the apps I wanted. What I did was load most of the apps that are on my Ipad. I also loaded one stitch counting app for knitting and crochet. I loaded an app called Bitmoji because one of my coworkers said I had to have it.
  The last thing to do was change some of the sounds. I wanted Hungarian Dance by Brahms for my ringtone. I found a guitar ringtone for when C calls. I also found a clip from Monty Python that plays when I get a text message. It says "message for you, sir!" It might get annoying, but at least it will be different from what everyone else has.
   One thing I've discovered about it is that it isn't as easy to carry around as my flip phone. It's too big to fit in my pockets and I don't usually carry a purse. I'll just have to knit a little pouch for it. I'm thinking raspberry colour with a black strap. Maybe I'll get fancy and felt it....