Phone Troubles and Dolphins!

OK, well then, today started off on a bad note for me in that my relatively new Apple iPhone in which I have become extremely attached to died on me! Yesterday I was successful at getting some wonderful videos of my journey up the Estero River and sometime in the afternoon my phone battery passed away. I put it on the charger and it gave me NO RESPONSE. Nothing. I even tried different receptacles in the house AND even took it to the truck to use the DC adapter. Nothing. Niltch. Nada! Geeze, we become so dependent on technology that when it DOESN'T work, we panic.

HOWEVER, this morning after I dropped my wife off at work I headed to AT&T and was greeted by a nice man who took some time to tell me that there is something wrong my phone. He also told me that he thought it was the battery. Hmmmmm. Smart man. Glad he took that troubleshooting course through his employer. So, after about an hour he finally said there was nothing he could do, the phone was crashed, I needed to make an appointment with APPLE. So, he gave me a number and told me to call. DUH, I have no cell phone! He said I could borrow his so I did and made an appointment for 11:15am, and it was already 11:00 and I was 15 minutes away from Apple and the girl said "Don't be late or you will have to reschedule." I got there at 11:16am but frankly I got lucky cause I was met by Mark, a great dude willing to overlook my sin of lateness.

Mark took a look at my phone and told me that he thought it was broke. Now I must say that Mark appeared to be pretty bright. After telling me it was broke he said he was gonna take a closer look at it so he hooked it up to his computer, took out one of those little gadgets that the doctor looks into your nose and ears with and began to examine my iPhone. I was very, very impressed at the attention to detail and the thoroughness that this young man, obviously much more informed and educated than me on the fine art of technology, performed his tasks with. After about 15 minutes Mark called me over and said, Mr. Locke, I think your phone is broke!! I thanked Mark for his evaluation and asked him how I would proceed at getting it "unbroken". He said that I couldn't get it "unbroken". I said, OK Mark, I'm in need of a phone, can you help me? He said "Sure how 'bout I give you another one?!" YAY!! Now this made me happy. GIVE is a good word for me. I'm poor. I'm broke. I don't have means to do more than get something GIVE to me. So, it took Mark 2 minutes to program and have me sign for my new phone and I was out the door headed back for my dolphin cruise.

Now, forgive me for saying this, but the first question that the guy at AT&T asked me was "Whats wrong with your phone?" Guess what I said? You got it! I said "IT'S BROKE!" The one thing I know is that if Mike and Cristina ever let me go from Good Time Charters, I will be able to get a job with AT&T or Apple! Now if I have offended any of my readers because you are currently an employee of either of these great companys, I will apologize now. I'm sorry. Its like a ballgame. You're not out until the umpire calls you out. Even if you are flat on your face 10 feet away from the base and the defensive player is standing on the base with the ball in his glove wondering if you are ever gonna make it that final 10 feet, YOU ARE NOT OUT YET! So, my phone was NOT broke until these guys SAID it was BROKE!

Now I feel better!

I had a wonderful group of people on my 3:00pm dolphin tour and we had some great times with our friends the Atlantic Bottle Nose Dolphin. We got into some almost immediately, but as the tour went on we got into a great pod of them and enjoyed their company for awhile.

I did not have the same luck on my Sunset Cruise and I felt a little bad, as always when we don't get a show, but like I always tell folks, these guys don't know they are in show business and they don't keep a schedule. So we take what we can get and we move on.

We also saw a sea turtle today, rear end stuck up in the air and at first we thought maybe he was injured. We never figured out what he was doing but he did surface a couple of times and show us his head. Eventually, as I tried to get close to see if he was OK, he darted away from us and made us believe that he was fine.

The sunset was wonderful tonight although it was a bit on the chilly side still. Oh well, the ladies from England said it was snowing big in England and the reports from Indiana, Ohio, and Illinois were not that much better.

It's winter here too, we just sometimes forget that or ignore it and hope for the best. All I know is I did not have to wear my stocking cap and gloves tonight, and that I was thankful for. Besides, I hate my hair looking like a "cone head" after I take that stupid stocking cap off!

Folks, I am a little tired tonight. I am not use to getting so much education on the evaluation and assessment of a broke phone. So I bid you Adieu! Keep looking "beneath the surface" and check in with me from time to time to see what else is happening in my South Florida Adventure!