What's Up With That?

In the middle of last week, I had my cell phone stolen.

The van I've been driving has the front passenger window stuck in the down position and I haven't taken it in to be repaired. I have a really classy piece of thick, clear plastic and duct tape over the window to keep out the elements.

So working late one evening, I went out to leave, and noticed that my cell phone was missing. Like a bone head I left it in the van. By the time I was leaving, there were only two other cars in the parking lot, and neither was anywhere close to mine.

The place where I work is very sedate and there is almost no theft or anything like that. But the empty lots next to where I work attract evening batches of off road motorycyclists as a place "in town" to ride their motorcycles.

I was actually kind of stunned that the phone went missing and a few days went by before I reported it to AT&T as stolen.

We tried calling the number just to see if we could hear the phone in the house or the van in the case that I was mistaken about my having had the phone with me that day, or that it might be rolling around in the van somewhere. But when we called the number to see if it rang within our hearing, there was a new answer tone on the phone.

I personally detest rap music, and when a rap song by none other than $0.50 (Fiddy Cent, whom I prefer to refer to as "Four Bits") started playing when we called my number, I knew the phone had been stolen, and was in fact being used. (How dare they change my The Count from Sesame Street counting rings answer tone!)

AT&T immediately killed my cell phone number and sent me a new phone. When I went through the process of bringing the new phone and SIMM card to life, I have gotten a few calls from some strange people, whom, I can only assume, thought they were calling the guy who stole my other phone.

I was able to look up and see that they hadn't made any three hour calls to Tokyo or any internet usage on the phone for the few days that they got to use it for free, so there's no big deal.

But it has been a lot of years since someone has stolen anything out of any of our vehicles.

I have an appointment to have the window fixed, and hopefully, that will be the end of the temptation for easy riches to the morons who steal stuff out of lonely cars.

I was also able to get rid of the Four Bits answer tone and reinstate my The Count from Sesame Street counting rings answer tone.

Interesting note, it's funny to hear how it stymies the cell phone people when I tell them I want a simple bar phone WITHOUT a camera. I guess flip phones with cameras are becoming such a normal thing that the lady had to put me on hold and go speak with her supervisor about finding an acceptable phone.

I guess I'm almost too low tech when it comes to cell phones, but I can't take a cell phone with a camera to work, or one that connects to a computer, because of security issues. It's easier to get the most basic phone I can get, so that I'm not violating any rules at work by just walking in with the phone in my pocket.

I can't believe the thief only stole the cell phone I had in a recessed pocket in our van and didn't take the stock, 1998 Dodge Grand Caravan AM/FM Stereo Cassette player from the dash. He probably wanted it really bad, but didn't think he had time to get that prize out of the dash.