Repurposed iPhone for Nervous Energy

I was given an old iPhone 3gs a while back. 

Interesting machine, and since I don't have a phone plan that works with it, I got creative.

You see, I really have no desire to leave my old phone plan for one with AT&T.  Their reputation of being business focused leaves me with the impression that if I have a problem I may as well just bang my head against the wall until it resembles a large bowl of tapioca pudding with maraschino cherries mixed in. 

Not being a fan of Zombies, I've stuck with T-Mobile. 

The neat thing about this is that being a smartphone, and having a very wide support base, there are a lot of programs you can put on the thing.  Ok, Apps.  Sorry, sheesh!, but a set of instructions that interacts with an operating system is a program.   Apps "this"!

I've installed a number of prog-er-apps on the phone that let me listen to music from Sirius, radio stations around the world, and a couple useful websites.   It has a number of games, since, after all, people use them to pop bubbles when sitting on the toilet.

The game, not ... well you get the picture.

I also found a prog-er-app to let me use it for free phone calls using Magic Jack's software and I use it for Skype to make internet only phone calls.  It really is useful for places other than the bathroom while popping bubbles and listening to music.

The way I use it is to tell it to only use wifi.  It is a good use for someone with an older iPhone because there aren't many prog-er-apps that won't run on it.  In fact, I have yet to have found an app (shudder) that will not run on the little thing.

Why toss something when you can find a use for it?

I use the phone to watch my professional account on Yahoo Mail.  It will check the service periodically and that is useful.  It is also why I feel like jumping out of my skin.

Oh sure, instead of complaining about something I deliberately did I could turn it off, but where is the fun in that?  After all, being told that you have mail on a device is useful if you are laying in bed at 3 am listening to the Florida East Coast Freight Train rolling up the tracks about a half mile away. 

"CHIME!" Another email.  Great, now it's 3 AM and Office OCD kicks in and I'm wondering who spammed that account.  Instead of getting out of bed, waking the dog and the parrot, stubbing my toe on the door jamb on the way to the living room, I'll just lay here until ... I wake up three hours later and check to find out there were four job openings at an organization that I am targeting.

Sure, it's useful but now that there is an interview that I'm waiting to hear back on I'm thinking that the most appropriate sound for that phone to make when retrieving a message from Yahoo is a water drop.

As in Chinese Water Torture.

Now I understand it.  It builds up a compulsion in my fragile little mind to get up, check the mail and Ahh That's Better, Isn't It?

"CHIME!"  nope, yet another Indian Recruiter saying he's from New Jersey but he's really on a Voice Over IP Phone Line in Hyderabad India thinking he can Help Me Veddy Much with a Job and Isn't Jacksonville near you for you to commute to veddy much.

That feed back loop making sense now?  Anyone know how to wire that phone in to give an electric shock when it's time to check the mail?  How about setting the chime to trip off the door bell - at least that way the dog would enjoy it too!

My house is full of some rather slightly out of date electronics that I have kept around because I have found a very good use for them.  All kidding aside, it's a great use for the phone.  I could load it with music and play it through an old FM Modulator I have here so I can listen to that whatever stream from where ever all over the property and do.  Right now, there's a programme on BBC Radio 4 I want to catch but...

"CHIME!"

Another email awaits!  Ooh this one is interesting!  Apparently there's a product I can buy to make me more enticing to the ladies... I'll get right on that!