NEWFANGLED CONTRAPTION

What is this thing?

The Wife's car is in the shop, and since she has several home visits for her job that she really can't postpone today, she has my car.

Which means I have no car. Combine that with the fact that I have not made it to the Verizon store to replace the cell phone that I killed last week, and I am feeling quite out of sorts today.

I'll be working from home, which means I feel fortunate to have Internet access, so I am at least somewhat connected to this world that I have come to know. 

In preparation for this day, I wanted to leave our home phone number for my co-workers, in case they needed to reach me today. Only problem was, I had no idea what our home phone number is. I had to call the Wife to ask. 

I felt a little better when she had to put me on hold and go look the number up. Turns out neither of us know what our home number is.

She at least has the number programmed into her cell phone. I know this because she called the house the other day. I didn't answer in time because I could not remember which room the phone was kept in. 

I realized that, after two-and-a-half years in our home, I have neither dialed our home nor used our landline. I guess it's there for "just in case" purposes - such as today - but it's a big change from childhood. 

There were times when getting access to the phone meant you had successfully wrestled it away from a sibling. Call waiting was a huge breakthrough because it meant maybe, just maybe, your friend was trying to call back.

Now, if the landline rings, we don't answer because only telemarketers know that number.

Well, telemarketers and my co-workers.