So yesterday afternoon my wondrous iPhone, survivor of a some-35-mph flight off the roof of my car onto the middle of a busy street in north Dallas and then an hour or so sitting in the middle of that street till I came and rescued it…froze up.

Just as I was getting off the plane at LAX. Just froze up bigger than shi…well, it froze up.

On the rental car bus some guys cheerfully offered the advice to “pull the battery” and when I allowed as how you can’t pull the battery on an iPhone, they further offered the cheerful advice that “iPhones suck.”

Thanks guys.

Anyway, I’ve made a living the better part of my life going to places I don’t know all that well and getting around in them. And I know LA some. But not the part where I am now. And before I got so dependent on this silly little contraption I used to print maps: Airport to hotel; hotel to project; Starbucks in the area.

Not anymore, boy. Just enter it into the wondrous iPhone and let it lead the way.

Well, times being hard for everyone right now and this client not being a huge conglomerate and me working to save him some airfare, I had flown into LAX as it was much cheaper, even though the guy’s shop is much closer to Ontario. I made the hour and-a-half trip on “the 10″ out to this part of the LA sprawl, got off around Ontario Airport, and engaged in an hour-long search right out of “Planes Trains and Automobiles” for either my hotel, or the street my hotel is on, or WiFi that worked.

Ever wonder if they even make pay phones anymore?

Does anyone even carry change to make a call if they do?

Does anyone under 25 even know what a pay phone is/was?

Well I got here, finally. I wound up at a McDonalds where their WiFi didn’t work but the girl at the counter gave me the phone to talk to their “tech support” and after about five minutes on hold it occurred to me I could just call the hotel and get directions.

Moral of the story?

Sometimes ink on paper is better; from now on I’m always gonna print my maps, wondrous iPhone or no wondrous iPhone.

Onward.