2nd October 2006
Hi all,
This week I decided to conduct the "Horrendous Ringtone Challenge". This was inspired by my work colleague who spends approximately 43% of her net salary on horrendous ringtones and message alerts, and yet has the gall to turn around and give you a dirty look when you receive a phone call and your mobile phone isn't switched to silent mode.
How did I pick a ringtone? I sent an e-mail out to my best friends and picked the best one from their suggestions. Given that his wife and my wife had seen the group in concert, it was perhaps not a surprise that my friend Stuart e-mailed to suggest "Anything by G4!" Great idea, but which track?
Needless to say I'd have to do some sneaking around to get to my wife's CD collection. With the CD swiped I turned to leave our living room and make my way up the stairs. The trouble was Lorraine had noticed I was up to something. "What are you doing with my G4 CD?" she asked. Honestly, you'd have thought I was sneaking away with a nuclear warhead.
With the CD safely in my office I had to pick a track to edit. "Bohemian Rhapsody"? No, if I had that as my ringtone Neil Taylor's head might explode. Taking a look at the track lisiting one candidate jumped out at me - "Life on Mars". A Bowie classic, probably completely butchered. It seemed the perfect choice, with just one small problem. My old friend Matt loves this song, to the point where if he played it in the car he insisted I didn't talk while it played. Just as well I've not seen him in nine years. "Life on Mars" was the choice.
CD into PC CD-Rom drive, song transferred onto mp3, mp3 edited down into smaller chunks until finally... it was ready. All I had to do now was bluetooth it to my phone, which would be fine if it wasn't for the fact that for some reason my phone decides it doesn't like bluetooth connections with my computer. I'd have to grab Lorraine's phone, her loathsome pink phone with the erratic camera and nonsensical functionality, and use that.
Of course this led to more sneaking around, especially since Lorraine is normally no more than a foot away from her phone at all times. Eventually I grabbed it and snuck away. Well, almost. "What are you doing with my phone?" she asked. Honestly, you'd have I thought I was sneaking away with her G4 CD. (On reflection I was prouder of sneaking away with the CD. I just don't like my wife's phone at all.) With the phone away I could bluetooth the ringtone to her phone, and then from her phone to mine. A long-winded way to do it, but relatively painless, slightly more time-consuming but ultimately successful.
Being honest I actually did all of that about two months ago. In the ensuing time I've got used to having G4 on my phone, as well as answering my phone quickly. Lorraine and I have dealt with her rotten old phone, getting her an upgrade. Unfortunately her new phone doesn't accept bluetooth connections from my computer either, so the hideous old phone still has some use. Ugh.
So what happens when you put a horrendous ringtone on your phone and don't set it to silent mode all week? Well in my case, this happened:
On Monday, no one called.
On Tuesday, no one called.
On Wednesday, no one called.
On Thursday, no one called.
On Friday, no one called.
On Saturday... someone called.
On Sunday, no one called.
Remind me the next time I run this experiment to do it with Lorraine's phone. I might have some more interesting results that way.
Have a good week!
Tony
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