ouch

So I've been blogging about getting old A LOT lately. Today is no exception. Let me first tell the tale of "Christi, her two crazy kids and the stupid Sprint store."

Wednesday night the center button on my Palm Centro stopped working. Since the red power button was already behaving oddly, yesterday I took my phone to the nearest Sprint store. I grabbed a customer service guy and he gave it to a tech person and assured me it would only be 20 minutes or so. 45 minutes of hell later (Cassie threw such a tantrum that a perfect stranger gave me candy, and breaking all safety rules, I took it and fed it to her,) I grabbed another customer service rep and explained that lunch/nap were right around the corner and they hadn't seen ANYTHING yet re: her behavior, so I'd come back if it was going to be any longer. Allegedly my phone was fixed and it seemed to be working fine, so we left. Fast forward four hours later when I was mid-convo w/Jenn and I thought her phone (she was driving) dropped our call. Imagine my surprise when I realized it was MY phone. Which ceased to function at all. So when Jamie FINALLY got home, I hopped in the momobile and went back to the Sprint store. This time, I was diagnosed with a "fried" motherboard (apparently that is the technical term) and told I'd get a new phone in 3-5 days, but everything (it's a Palm Centro--so it's not just a phone, it's my planner/calendar/address book/camera, etc) was gone. GONE! Apparently I was to back it up on my PC b/c "these things happen." Um, yeah. Nice to know that now. So if we've got plans in '09, please call and let me know b/c I have no record of that and no short term memory. Also, if you're reading this and not my dad or husband, I no longer have your phone numbers, so drop me an email with those too, please! Thanks.

Anyway, when I got home from Sprint, I noticed the overflowing trash can in the garage and remembered that today is trash day. Cursing Jamie for not taking it out when he got home, I briefly remembered his warning that it was slick out, but pushed it aside b/c it was RAINING (not sleeting) and the driveway just looked wet. So I hopped out, hit the inch thick sheet of ice and went down hard. If I didn't crack a rib, I've got the mother of all bruises. It hurts to move, it hurts to breathe--it sucks to be me right now. I managed to get the trash to the curb though and get inside. Then I took an Ambien (couldn't find any decent painkillers) and tried to sleep it off. Unfortunately I'm old and sleeping it off hasn't worked. I still hurt. And every painful breath was a painful reminder that Sprint sucks.

So I headed back to the Sprint store (w/the kids in tow again) and spoke to a manager. I very politely explained that it was my third trip in 24 hours and while I realized that not backing the phone up was my fault, that in this day and age w/Fed Ex and couriers and whatnot, 3-5 business days for a new phone is unacceptable, and I knew we could find an acceptable solution. While Cassie untied bows on their decorative packages, the manager agreed to give me a new phone IF I signed up for insurance for the new phone. Okay, fine, whatever. I retied the bows, got my new (PINK!) phone, and got the hell out of there. Apparently, Sprint would really like to keep their customers happy and keep their business. So now I'm happy, I've already synced the new phone and laptop, and will do so regularly to prevent total data loss again. Other than the constant nagging pain (yet another reminder that I'm no longer a bouncing spring chicken), things are slowly improving. Jamie just sent flowers b/c I've had such a rough couple of days. And Chase finally lost his second tooth.

Maybe things are looking up...