Last weekend I went to an outdoor concert where I saw a pretty decent Beatles tribute band that hails from the great state of Texas and goes by the name Me and My Monkey. The entire excursion from home to the venue and back again lasted just about six hours. I was pulling into my driveway engaged in a phone conversation with a friend about which fake Beatle was her favorite when my Android gave a strangled beep, cut us off and powered down.

At first I thought it was a glitch, but a quick attempt to turn it back on showed me otherwise. I was out of juice. My battery was drained beyond the point of no return — or at least no return without access to an electrical outlet. I wondered if I had forgotten to charge the phone the previous night. After all, I was outside with friends, food, and music all evening. My phone was snug in my pocket on standby … Or was it?

I was the first to arrive to the venue, so I made a call to let the my freinds know I had staked us out a shady spot. After that, I fired up go sms to coordinate getting the right number of chairs, and I used it again while searching the parking lot for my friend’s car to help her carry those chairs. During the Sgt. Pepper set in an attempt to settle an argument, I “Googled” which year the Beatles officially broke up (turns out it was 1970 but the break-up dragged out until 1975). Sometime between Strawberry Fields and Hello, Goodbye I got an email from the office, so I logged into my handy SoftLayer App to check on a support ticket.

During the intermission, a local radio station was piped through the sound system and someone asked me to Shazam what turned out to be a Florence and the Machine cover of a track off Abbey Road. Since my phone was at the ready, I was the point person to find out whether the chorus to I Am the Walrus really said goo goo g’joob. I didn’t have a lighter on me, but my Virtual Zippo did the trick nicely during Hey Jude. And did I mention I don’t wear a watch because if I just hit the power button on my spiffy smart phone … ta-da, I get the time!

It’s a funny feeling when you realize how something that didn’t really exist five years ago has managed to ingrain itself so deeply into your everyday life. That’s what I found myself thinking as I was drifting off to sleep Saturday night, me in my bed and my Android recharging on the night stand … Well, that and who are the eggmen? Goo goo g’joob.

-William