Phone book

As many know, dad never went without his cell phone. He was the guy who would still take a call even after the plane’s doors were closed and he kept his ringing on all the time, which meant that everyone was sure to know he had a call. Now sometimes the calls might have been urgent, but I think a lot of the time it might just be someone looking to bullshit a little.

He got his first cell phone long before most people had one. At that time they had to be attached to the vehicle or you had to carry around in a large bag. We found some old receipts and they were crazy expensive. But for someone that was always on the road, it made business possible and I am sure paid for itself in the time savings.

As technology advances like it always does, doubling every 18 months according to Moore’s Law, cell phones got smaller and eventually allowed you to store all of your numbers in your cell phone. In some ways Dad was all about using the latest and greatest, but I would say with the majority of things, he would keep doing it the same old way because it worked and why screw up a good thing. This applies in a lot of situations for sure, but in others it did not make sense to me at all. I am all about the latest and greatest, bleeding edge of technology.

He got new cell phones whenever his phone broke or he was up for the new every two. He would never upgrade to the latest model, but he eventually did turn on voicemail and would always share the funny MMS messages he would get. I even setup notifications from the compressor to send status updates several times a day along with alarm messages because there was no way he was logging into a computer.

Dad has a phenomenal memory, which worked against at times because he never forgot a single thing. I remember asking him several years ago (and several flip phones ago) why he did not use his phone book in his phone. He said, “Well what the hell happens if the phone stops working? How will I know any of the numbers?”

When Dad passed, we had his cell phone and when I checked his phonebook in it, sure enough, 0 entries. I do not think he would have ever come around to using the phone book or a smart phone. But it is one thing that helped keep his mind sharp for sure. To this day the only numbers I know are the ones I memorized when I was a kid and if I lost my phone I would be SOL for sure.

Shawn