fuck you, Verizon

My wireless carrier du jour FINALLY decided to release the security patch to protect against Stagefright yesterday, the Android vulnerability that affected bazillions of devices and was first publicly announced in July 2015.  Way to stay current and relevant, Verizon.

They did notify me after I checked for the update and started downloading it, that it would make my phone unusable for 30 minutes.  Guess how long before I started jonesing and wishing I had waited?  About three minutes.  I probably shouldn't have picked the time when I was relaxing in bed, listening to podcasts.  I was too tired to get my book and read.  I was too tired to open my laptop and watch videos or surf.  In essence, I was dumb.  And tired.  So I snuggled with Kitten and tried counting sheep.  I got bored after 17 sheep.

I started panicking when the screen froze a few times, already planning ahead to the soonest I could get a new phone.  And then watched while it started optimizing for my apps.  It said I had 252.  I call shenanigans.  I know this because in a moment of de-cluttering a few weeks ago, I counted and came up with 76 and was shocked I had so many.  Granted, about half are Google and Verizon bloatware.  Which means I still installed way too many voluntary ones. 

Fortunately, it finished successfully, and my precious podcasts and audio-books were unscathed, ready for me to listen to.  Also, a few texts came in that I had missed, although I'm curious if any got lost in the ether. 

It's times like these that make me wish I had gone Apple instead, especially after that awesome letter that Tim Cook wrote.  I guess we can't have it all.  I'm happy to have a working phone that allows me to communicate with the outside world again.  That was a harsh 30 minutes...