iPhonefreak

Last Saturday evening it was raining up a storm in NYC and I was rushing back from dance class. As I hit the sidewalk a taxi miraculously stopped right in front me. It was a sign from heaven.

So I took it, thinking I could just dash home and save time.

Ah! But the rain caused tunnel traffic above Canal Street to back up endlessly. And I needed to get downtown, waay downtown and over the glorious Bklyn Bridge to my endlessly chic & historic nabe.

So by the time I emerged from the cab, I was late, frazzled, and oh — the taxi being one of those new mini-van things, the door was stuck.

I basically fell out of it, dropping purse, dance bag, large umbrella, and most sadly, iPhone into the street.

"No!" I screamed. But it was too late. My beloved virgin 4GB iPhone had been hit by the taxi.

In a testament to the sturdiness of my pink leather incase, the iPhone touchscreen didn’t crack. Or even scratch. The case didn’t break, but it was crushed nearly wafer-thin on the top side. Amazing. The headphones had been pruned of the left earbud.

After standing in the street weeping hot tears into the cold rain, I stumbled home where my dear husband consoled me.

After all, the data was completely backed-up on my Macbook Pro 17". And I had used my rebate to buy AppleCare.

If it wasn’t fixable, of course, it was the perfect excuse to upgrade. . . So sweet, right? Anyway, I made an appointment for the SoHo Genius Bar on Monday.

This means I spent more than 24 hours without my bejeweled glowing heroi– um, excuse me, passionate internet connection. Really I had no idea how the iPhone had become an extension of my body until it was gone. I found myself staring bleakly into an empty palm.

Somehow I dragged myself through Sunday and the Monday work thing. Then I rushed off see (Saint) John (the Divine) at the Genius Bar.

John was wonderful, comforting and patient. He gave me an excellent shoulder to cry on, gazed in admiration at the unbroken touchscreen, and then did the most touching thing.

He reached below the counter and handed me a new 4GB iPhone. "Here," he said in melting tones, "here’s a replacement iPhone."

Yuppers, dear readers, exhibiting the full understanding of how a chick feels about her iPhone, he offered me a replacement iPhone for a nominal sum as opposed to making me pay full price for a new 16GB upgrade.

Since I don’t carry more than 2 gigs of music with me most days, and remain a devotee of Inbox Zero, I really — sigh — can’t justify upgrading to the 16GB. Ok, maybe it was pure withdrawal, just to have an iPhone back in my hands.

I signed the paper, John did some dexterous Apple magic to make the new phone be my old number, and I was done. Done? No — alive!

Except for the case.

Now, I nearly bought a new incase, based on the stellar performance of my previous one. But! I thought carefully about how the accident happened.

Instead of clipping the case to my velvet jacket, I had put it in my pocket, as I was in a rush to get the money out to pay the taxi.

Clearly the problem was that the iPhone wasn’t actually attached to my body strongly enough.

This thought caused to opt for a case with a wrist strap. And being the hepster webgirl that I be, I naturally chose Paul Frank’s Julius wrist folio in fashionable black.

Even having it just a few days, I’ve come to love this case because it feels like a fun retro clutch bag.

Of course it doesn’t offer the same instant access to the iPhone controls that the inCase did. It’s a little harder to take the spontaneous iPhone pix of all the crazy & glorious things I encounter walking about NYC.

But it does offer better protection to the iPhone’s delicate round shoulders and touchscreen.

Although that’s not really an issue since I’ve always used crystal screen films.

So me all happy, as Buffy used to say. I was walking out the door on a cloud when John stopped me.

"Hey," he said, "one more thing!"

I turned around. "I ordered a replacement set of headphones for you," John said. "They should be in tomorrow."

Omigod. And people wonder why I love the Apple store. Thank you, John! And AppleCare!

I took my iPhone home, sync’d it  with iTunes, got all my data & music back in a  flash, and then reloaded my fave gelaskin wallpaper. Life is golden.