Yesterday afternoon I was reading the news (Tom Petty, RIP) on my phone when I got off the train. 5:20 PM. When I got to my bike I stuck the phone in my messenger bag and rode home. When I got home I couldn't find my phone. 5:45 PM. Dumped my bag out on the kitchen floor and put things back into it one by one... but no phone. Thinking I may have left it on top of my bike locker, my wife told me to take the car and drive to my locker; but I was pretty sure I'd put it in my bag. 5:50 PM. So I got back on the bike and rode on the left side of the road, going slow, riding on the grass or sidewalk when there was traffic (about half of the way) all the way back to the station. No phone. Then I rode home again, following the exact route I'd taken before, eyes on the street, gutter, grass... got home, no phone. Dumped my bag out again and looked all through it. 7:00 PM. It was now dark.

Turned on my laptop and wifi, and used Google Chrome "find my device" app to locate my phone. First thing I did was to lock it, and put my wife's cell phone number on it, so if someone tried to turn it on, it would immediately call her. Neat app. Then I looked at the map, which took for ever to load, but ... it showed it across the street from home. WTF! So I took a flashlight and looked around everywhere I could think of, down to the end of the driveway, the mail box, both sides of the driveway, under the steps, looked everywhere I could think of. No phone. Eff this, I'm having dinner. My wife didn't want dinner but I hadn't had lunch, so I made something while she took the flashlight and looked around outside. I refreshed Chrome while eating, and my phone was still out there across the street from my house. It couldn't be on the other side of the street, I hadn't gone there, and the GPS is a bit imprecise anyway, but no matter how many times I refreshed it, it never came closer to the house than the other side of the street. SO when I finished my dinner I took my brightest bike headlight and went out looking again. Passed my wife down at the end of the driveway, as she was giving up. I went over to the other side of the street, looked in all the yards, sidewalk, up the side street a hundred feet, and gave up. Walking home I found my phone at the end of the driveway. Right where my wife was looking before; and I'd looked there several times as well. It was in the grass, screen looking pretty smashed, sand and gravel embedded in the gel case, looks like it got a glancing hit by a car tire and shot out like a tiddlywink. But at least I found it, right? 8:40 PM.

When I pick it up, and touch the screen, the light comes on and it's calling my wife. I hit the disconnect button and went in the house. I took the gel case off and found the battery case was bent, so I bent it back and stuck it back on the phone, and it looked almost okay. SO I took a knife and peeled the tempered glass screen protector off it, and, woah, the screen protector was shattered into hundreds of pieces but the actual screen was intact. In fact, the phone seems to work fine. Three hours wasted, but hey, things could have been worse.

Still, not a good day, and that's not even thinking of Las Vegas and Tom Petty.

Google Chrome users, I have to recommend that 'find my phone' app. It works.