I've been crazy busy over the last few weeks leading up to Affiliate Summit  2008 West.   To top it off, I decided to go out to Palm Springs for the eTail Conference, when I probably shouldn't have.

That being said, it was an interesting conference.  Not one that I'd likely attend again, but it did offer up a few interesting topics and a cool Carnival.  But like all conferences before eTail, I overdid it.  How could I not?  It is afterall, a conference — an opportunity to network and that's what I love best.  I'm good at it.

Nonetheless, I left Palm Springs beat.  I hopped on my flight from Palm Springs to Phoenix on my way to Orlando, clad in my Geekcast.FM T-shirt and sweats, determined to snooze.  Unfortunately, my neighbor was already snoring before the flight even took off.  So, I plugged in my iPhone, pulled an Audible (The Appeal, by John Grisham) and chilled out for the flight. 

At one point, I must have gotten up to stretch and put my iPhone in the pocket of the chair in front of me.  Well, that's where I left it when I got off the plane.   It wasn't until 1/2 way to Orlando that I realized that.   So, I did what every person in my shoes would do.. I bid my iPhone a fond adieux and cancelled the phone number.

Six days later, the night before I was leaving for Affiliate Summit, I checked my office voicemail and heard a conversation between a friend/business acquaintance of mine, Alan Rafeli of Rock Solid Colo and a gentleman named “Dan” who apparently found my iPhone.  Alan, being the solid kind of guy that he is refused to just give Dan my phone number for fear that this person was a nut case or something.

Needless to say I was in shock.  Dan the Man, found my iPhone!  So I gave him a call.  Turns out, he is a fine older gentleman who works for the railroad system.  The reason why it took him 6 days to call me to let me know he had my iPhone was because he works 5 days on and has 2 days off.  On his first day off, he went to Wal-Mart to get a charger to turn my phone on since the battery had long since died.  He then messed around with the buttons and came across the contact list.  (Alan was one of the first contacts and he got the call.).  After a pleasant 30-minute conversation, he told me that he'd be overnighting my phone and the new charger to me. 

I told him that I wanted to send him a check for $200 bucks for all of his troubles.  Dan said, “just send me 25.00 for the charger and we're square”.  I ended the call with a question to Dan:  “Dan, how come you just didn't turn the phone into the airline's lost and found.”   Dan said, “Honey, if I would have done that you'd have never seen this dang phone!”.

When I got back from Affiliate Summit, sure as heck, the iPhone was waiting for me.  Dan is now $200 richer and I've roped another person into affiliate marketing.

Life sure is weird.  When you least expect something to happen, it fires one right at ya!