Wrong Number

Following on from yesterday and the fun I'm having with my new phone, another thing has got my goat.

Now I've only had the phone, and the number a couple of weeks but I'm already getting inundated with debt collectors calling for the person who previously had the number.

Why is it they always think you're lying to them when you try explaining to them they have the wrong number? Even when you politely point out that you've only had the number for 2 weeks?

I'm a 31 year old bloke from Manchester, England. I've lived in Texas for four years. Do I really sound like Mrs Esmerelda Gutierrez??

And why do phone companies have to re-use phone numbers so quick? They are phone numbers. Numbers go on for ever, they never stop. Try counting to the highest number you can think of. Did you get there? Probably not. You always know what the next number will be. So why can't A bloody T&T change a few numbers around so all new numbers are unique?

I know it can be done. It happened in England a few years ago, new area codes were developed and new numbers had an extra digit than older numbers. Simple. The world didn't end. Mrs Gutierrez still probably never paid her bills but we didn't all get blinded by the sun imploding into itself.

And while I'm at it, I haven't cancelled my old number yet and I've had more phone calls and messages to that phone than I ever did before I gave everyone my new number.

If someone tells me they've got a new number, the first thing I do is update it in my phone, so when the need arises to call them or send them a text message, I know I have the right number. I don't just ignore it and then ask them why they never return my calls!

Ringtones

Last night, I thought I would christen my new iPhone and get a decent ringtone. After quite a lot of deliberation, I managed to narrow my extensive iTunes library down to a couple of choices and then set about finding out how to go about setting a song I own as my ringtone.

With all the gadgets you can get for the iPhone, how difficult could it be?

Well, it turns out that the powers that be over at Apple don't want you choosing just about any song that you already own, oh no, that just wouldn't do. There are only certain songs you can set as a ringtone, and guess what, none of them are on the thousands of CD's you spent month's uploading.

After sifting through the songs that I could actually use as a ringtone, I found nothing suitable. It's quite a difficult thing to choose one song that shows you're the fun loving, young hipster who's just too cool for school, as well as the professional Manager trying to get his group to actually do the job they're paid to do.

Defeated, I realised the only way I was going to get a song that I wanted as my ringtone would be to actually buy the song again on iTunes. I know what you're thinking...that's not such a big deal, and maybe you'd be right, except that's only half the story.

Once you've purchased the song (again), you then have to buy the ringtone version! So now in order to get 15 seconds of a song to make my phone recognisable to me above a busy office of dum dum dums and dee dee dees I've paid for the bloody thing 3 times!

If you're interested, I finally settled on FEAR by Ian Brown, extending the ringtone to an almost album length 20 seconds so I feel like I'm at least getting something extra from the corporate fruits over at Apple.

If you're not down with the kids like me, Ian Brown was the lead singer in the Stone Roses, one of my all time favourite bands. FEAR is a proper tune. One that could only be written by a Manc. The song features only words beginning with the letters F.E.A.R. For example, it starts off with "For Each A Road, For Everyman A Religion." It has strings and everything, and the video features Brownie on his bike rewinding through the streets. Proper attitude. Check it out.

Grumpy Young Man

Hello, and welcome to my new blog.

This one isn't as nice as my blog over at Mancunian Moon. This is my rant line, where I let off steam and put the world to rights.

You don't have to agree with me, and you probably won't a lot of the time, but you do have to sit quietly and listen until I'm finished. Got that?

I actually wanted to call this blog Rants in my pants but as that name was taken, I had to settle, after about an hour of trying to find something suitable that hadn't been taken on Fine Red Whine.

Hold on tight, it's going to be a bumpy ride!