Setting the mood

Mike recently gave me his old cell phone when he upgraded to the new Motorola RAZR. There was nothing wrong with mine, but it was aging, so I gladly accepted. My old phone played polyphonic ringtones, but not real music tones. The new one does it all, so I celebrated by downloading myself an old favorite, So, What'cha Want by the Beastie Boys. Yeah, it's a little obnoxious, but I like it. Plus, I receive calls on my cell phone about twice per month, and almost never during the day, so it's not like I'm annoying the world with it.

Regardless, I have been trying to make sure I put my phone on 'silent' during the day because people at my job just don't make personal calls. I've been pretty good about it, I've only forgotten to shut it off twice. Apparently, those days were the two I was due for incoming calls this month. Twice everything has been quiet in the office when all of the sudden punk rap starts blaring from the pocket of my jacket. Twice I have gone red in the mad dash to get my hand in there and silence it as soon as possible. The people I work with are pretty forgiving, and I doubt they think any less of me anyway, it's just one of those things.

Which makes my mind wander to another point. Is it just me, or does it seem that the more advanced phones have become, the harder it is to silence them? The one I had two phones ago only required the right grasp to cover the speaker and muffle it to a level that was quiet enough for me to finish the silencing the ring altogether. This phonecan be grabbed in a way that completely covers the speaker, and somehow it still manages to put out enough sound to keep a small nightclub jumping. I'm not complaining, it's just an observation.