Keep Your Batteries Charged

Yesterday was a very long day of travel. I didn't get home until after 1am last night due to a number of circumstances beyond my control. Now I am headed to Seattle for a Postgres Conference. I'm just glad I didn't have to spend the night at some airport.

I was happy to get on the earlier flight home but it turned out to be a false hope. I finished writing my BLOG entry and boarded the plane. They were just getting ready to close the door when the pilot came on and informed everyone that we had a flat tire. We all had to get off the plane so they could fix it. I thought that was weird because I have been on a plane while they fixed a flat in the past. As we started to go, we were told to bring all our personal belongings. That was my plan anyways but I was disheartened when they brought me my gate-checked bag and told me the plane wasn't going anywhere.

We got off the aircraft and were directed to one of two lines to rebook our travel plans. Naturally I was at the end of the line. They then opened a third line and I jumped at the chance to move up. I went from the very back to fourth. The only problem was that the first person in my line took a complete hour to rebook his flight. In the mean time the rest of us were wondering what we could do to help things move along. I decided to give the airline a call on my mobile phone.

When I completed my BLOG yesterday I had about half my battery left on my iPhone. While I plugged my phone in to charge it the previous night, I also turned off the lights in my hotel room. The wall socket I used was connected to the light switch for the hotel and so by turning off the lights, I turned off the charge to my phone. "No Problem," I thought in the morning, "my iPhone can last several days without needing to be recharged." That was before a busy day on the road.

I used the phone to find directions to our meeting (people are amazed to find out that the GPS and map feature with directions on the iPhone is free . . . I wonder if it costs on other phones). I then used the map feature to find a place to find a specific store in Louisville. I then used the map to help us get back to the airport as I was the navigator for the driver. Now I was using it for its primary purpose: to call people. The airline wasn't able to help me on the phone but I was taken care of anyways. The moment my existing flight was cancelled, the computer immediately rebooked me on my original itinerary. Then I had to make arrangements to get a ride home from the airport. When I finally got home last night after 1am, I had a small sliver of battery life. So I guess an iPhone's battery is good for about one day of constant use. That is good to know and a better reason to keep the thing charged.