What's Your Phone Number????
When I was a kid I used to have a little phone book where I wrote down all my phone numbers of my friends and family and kept it in my dresser. Whenever someone had a new number I would simply cross out the old number and then add the new number. That system worked fine for me for years. Then along came the cell phone, more exact the smart phone. I fooshily did away with my address book over time and put all my numbers in my phone. I figured that they would be safe there forever. Yes, I was a bit naive thinking that but hey, it was all new to me and all the hype I heard about these phones on commericals and ads on TV made me feel that back in the beginning I was totally safe and thew out my phone book, and said hello smart phone. Then the unthinkable happened. One day I was happily using my phone and the screen went blank. I was puzzled about why this smart phone would have a totally blank screen. I tried everything that they told me to do, take out the battery, charge it for this amount of time, I didn't think any of it would work but after all, what did I know this was my first phone. Well, I was right none of that and more worked.
I decided that it was time to replace it anyway and so I went to the store and traded it in on a new one. The guy at the counter said that he would back up my contacts for a small fee of $5. I told him to go ahead since I hadn't written down any of them. He disappeared to the back room of the store and came back and ta-da my new phone had all my contacts in it. I was so happy. I had that phone for a few years and then guess what? That phone too had problems. But, this time I couldn't back up the contacts and the contacts were lost in cyber space or where ever lost numbers go from phones. I was kicking myself that I hadn't written any of them down. So, after I got the phone fixed I e-mailed everybody I could think of and told them to text me or e-mail me their numbers. Pretty soon my list was back. I did that smart thing and this time I wrote them all down an saved them in google drive. I didn't really update anything. I typed them in the drive and then forgot about them and over the years people changed numbers of course, especially one friend who changes his just about every six months.
Fast forward to this morning. I woke up, got showered and dressed and checked my phone for any messages I might have had on Facebook. I click the open web button on the phone or touch the screen and then the unthinkable happened. I got a pop up on the screen saying that FBI had locked my phone and that I had to pay to get the lock off. A scam for sure. It instructed me to go to paypal purchase a code and then come back and unlock the phone within 48 hours to use the phone again. I did everyting I could to get that off of my phone. I took out the battery, turned it off and on but nothing worked. I regrettably called customer service. I sort of knew that they were going to tell me. She tried a couple of things and together we tried to back up the contact list before we wiped out the phone back to the factory settings. But, of course the pop up had invaded my phone and attached itself so well there was no getting past it and my precious contacts were lost again.
After 25 minutes of customer service, including hold time my phone was fixed. The ad or pop up scam was gone and so were my contacts. But, I knew that I had them on the google drive. Ok, the list is old but about half of them hadn't changed their numbers which is a good thing. Some of the other half I can e-mail and the rest well, if they don't call then I won't be talking to them again.
I pulled up the list and got what I could off of it and I have to remind myself that at the end or middle or the year to update that list. Now, my friend who changes his number every time he changes clothes, I don't have his number. I have a dozen of his old numbers, or so it seems like a dozen but actually only 3 or 4. That one will have to call me whenever. I am not holding my breath with him because the last time I spoke with him right after the holidays he told me that he was expecting a child with his new girlfriend. I sort of was prepared for the news because I had a dream about him two nights before he called that the woman was pregnant. I should join the physic network, LOL Not really, it is just one of those things that sometimes you can feel when someone close to you has news. I told him I think it will be a boy. Hey, I have a 50-50 chance that it will be. So, he promised to keep in touch better which I knew was not going to happen with all the getting ready for the baby due in August and all the other stuff involved in all of that and his working two jobs and being a new home owner I am lucky to hear from him once every decade.
Now, I am entering numbers back in my phone and bugging friends through e-mail of numbers I don't have. I am sure they love that. But, sometimes it just is what it is.
I decided that it was time to replace it anyway and so I went to the store and traded it in on a new one. The guy at the counter said that he would back up my contacts for a small fee of $5. I told him to go ahead since I hadn't written down any of them. He disappeared to the back room of the store and came back and ta-da my new phone had all my contacts in it. I was so happy. I had that phone for a few years and then guess what? That phone too had problems. But, this time I couldn't back up the contacts and the contacts were lost in cyber space or where ever lost numbers go from phones. I was kicking myself that I hadn't written any of them down. So, after I got the phone fixed I e-mailed everybody I could think of and told them to text me or e-mail me their numbers. Pretty soon my list was back. I did that smart thing and this time I wrote them all down an saved them in google drive. I didn't really update anything. I typed them in the drive and then forgot about them and over the years people changed numbers of course, especially one friend who changes his just about every six months.
Fast forward to this morning. I woke up, got showered and dressed and checked my phone for any messages I might have had on Facebook. I click the open web button on the phone or touch the screen and then the unthinkable happened. I got a pop up on the screen saying that FBI had locked my phone and that I had to pay to get the lock off. A scam for sure. It instructed me to go to paypal purchase a code and then come back and unlock the phone within 48 hours to use the phone again. I did everyting I could to get that off of my phone. I took out the battery, turned it off and on but nothing worked. I regrettably called customer service. I sort of knew that they were going to tell me. She tried a couple of things and together we tried to back up the contact list before we wiped out the phone back to the factory settings. But, of course the pop up had invaded my phone and attached itself so well there was no getting past it and my precious contacts were lost again.
After 25 minutes of customer service, including hold time my phone was fixed. The ad or pop up scam was gone and so were my contacts. But, I knew that I had them on the google drive. Ok, the list is old but about half of them hadn't changed their numbers which is a good thing. Some of the other half I can e-mail and the rest well, if they don't call then I won't be talking to them again.
I pulled up the list and got what I could off of it and I have to remind myself that at the end or middle or the year to update that list. Now, my friend who changes his number every time he changes clothes, I don't have his number. I have a dozen of his old numbers, or so it seems like a dozen but actually only 3 or 4. That one will have to call me whenever. I am not holding my breath with him because the last time I spoke with him right after the holidays he told me that he was expecting a child with his new girlfriend. I sort of was prepared for the news because I had a dream about him two nights before he called that the woman was pregnant. I should join the physic network, LOL Not really, it is just one of those things that sometimes you can feel when someone close to you has news. I told him I think it will be a boy. Hey, I have a 50-50 chance that it will be. So, he promised to keep in touch better which I knew was not going to happen with all the getting ready for the baby due in August and all the other stuff involved in all of that and his working two jobs and being a new home owner I am lucky to hear from him once every decade.
Now, I am entering numbers back in my phone and bugging friends through e-mail of numbers I don't have. I am sure they love that. But, sometimes it just is what it is.
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