Dumb-ass phone mistake...

Today was supposed to be a kick-ass start to my week. I wrote about it earlier...How motivated I was and how great this week was going to be...However no plan ever survives contact with the enemy as they say in the military, and today's plan...Well, it didn't go to plan at all because...

Uncle G-dog made a boo boo

I awoke at 6am, was working at my home office by 6:30am and things were going great. Around 11:30am I decided to go to the supermarket with Faith to do some shopping which would double as a lunch break as well. So we headed to the lake and grabbed a bite.

We sat down on the edge of a low wall and enjoyed the lake and the lovely weather as we ate our baguettes and when finished threw our rubbish in the bin about 10 metres away and headed towards the supermarket, some 200 meters away...That's when the trouble started.

You see, we were about 100 meters away when I realised I didn't have my phones with me. I knew were they were though, on that low wall, sitting one on top of the other, beside the path...And after I covered that distance in short order, (yes the old G-dog can run fast when he needs to), I found they were gone!

Fuck! Fuckety fucking fuckeroony!

I lost both of my phones, a reasonably new Samsung S9 256gb and my work phone which is the latest iPhone, whatever number that is. (I hate iPhones.)

I asked around at the cafe's around the area but no phones had been turned in. They were gone. I called them of course, and they rang out to message bank at first, then were switched off altogether which didn't bode well.

I had my business card visible in the back cover of each but it seems whoever got them felt emailing me or calling my office was too much trouble...So they're gone.

So much for me having a great start to the week!

I called my office who are getting me a new phone right away, and blocking the SIM in the old one, so that's under control. I also went to the phone store and did the same with my personal phone, disabled that SIM and obtained a new one. I ended up getting a Samsung S20 also, so I'm back up and running.

The rest of the afternoon has been spent setting up and recovering the new phone and changing passwords...A lot of passwords, including my hive keys as well. So annoying.

This scenario highlighted the reliance we have on our phones. It also isolated challenges around my password strategies which, whilst quite solid, can use some improvement. So, that's been a positive aspect of course.

I have 163 notes in my password saver, most with multiple passwords in each and fortunately it's all come together nicely, but I'll be streamlining things now, to make sure there's less stress next time.

I use a Norton password vault which has been good although I'm thinking of swapping to Last Pass which I'll be checking out tonight. I'll get the paid version of course, because...You know, it makes sense. I also have certain passwords saved on hard copy and backed up to USB which I suggest all of you also do if you haven't already.

I'm really annoyed about my forgetfulness today, I can't even recall why I had the lapse but I suppose it happens. The good thing is that the damage isn't too great. Work will replace their phone and whilst I'll lose phone numbers they are replaceable. I keep nothing important on there, and nothing of a personal nature. It's all work. My personal phone is a bit more of an issue, but there's not much I can do I suppose. I have to put it behind me and move on.

The positive is that it's put a focus on security of information and whilst I'm pretty conscious of it already, I'll ramp that up and get better at it from here.

Has this ever happened to you guys? If so let me know...It might go some way towards helping feel like less of a dick head.

---