So.. I’m driving in to work this morning after dropping Gabe off at school, ready to get on my first call of the day. I was to have been talking to my friend Sridhar in India.. I dialed into the conf call then  BOINK .. my cell phone crashes. I have a blackberry.. I think the software on it is more complicated than the stuff on my laptop and about 10 times as buggy. I stopped the car and tried to reboot my phone.. I try artificial respiration, I try my most powerful magic.. nothing works. I have no choice but to pull out the battery and restart it that way. The trouble is.. it takes nearly 15 minutes to restart when I do that (why.. I can’t even begin to guess)… Meanwhile. poor Sridhar is sitting there waiting for me … and it’s nearly 9 PM there.. I start driving around looking for a pay phone.. Guess what.. they’re all either broken, non functional or they’ve been removed.   In the  end I was not able to find a public phone.. my phone came back to life and I finally connected with my friend. albeit 15 minutes late.. But.. the payphone predicament stuck with me..    Think about the last time YOU used a payphone.. // It’s been a while.. no ? They’ve been made completely obsolete by cell phones.. Pretty interesting that something that’s been an icon of communication for more than 80 years would disappear so suddenly… and that no one would even really take note that it was gone..