Because I’m 45 going on about 17, I derive a lot of amusement from my cell phone. It’s not an iPhone or even a BlackBerry, but it is fairly cool nonetheless. It’s an LG Vu with a touch screen and mobile TV.

Anyway, since I’ve never liked the stock ringtones a phone comes with, I downloaded a collection of rock and roll anthems to alert me whenever someone calls.

When my wife calls, the phone plays “More than a Feeling,” by Boston.

My daughter, “Beautiful Day,” by U2.

When my son calls — if he ever were to call, that is — it would play “Carry on My Wayward Son,” by Kansas.

When anyone calls me from my home number, I get “Vertigo,” by U2.

If someone else phones, I hear “Sister Christian,” by Night Ranger (which, incidentally, is playing at the Linn County Fair this year).

Other songs I work into the rotation are “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” by the Who, and “All Along the Watchtower,” by Jimi Hendrix.

In addition, the library also includes “Gonna Fly Now,” better known as the theme from “Rocky.”

Juvenile? Yes, of course. But so what?

Anyway, every day I tell my wife to call me sometime, and I always add, “Call me on my cell phone so I can hear the cool ring tone.” Most days, she forgets and calls me on my work phone, but occasionally she uses the cell number, and on days she does, I’m apt to get home and hear this:

“I called you on your cell phone at (fill in some time here) and you didn’t answer.”

“I was in the bathroom,” is my usual and truthful reply.

I typically set my phone next to my computer monitor while at work and just don’t, as a matter of course, take it with me to the latrine.

One day a while ago, though, I happened to be sitting on the throne here at the paper with my phone in my pocket, and it rang. It was Pam, my daughter, so I answered.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“I’m sitting on the toilet.”

“Ewwww. You’re talking on the phone while you’re on the toilet. That’s kind of creepy.”

“You called me,” I reminded her.

“I know, but you didn’t need to answer it.”

So if you’re one of these people who always has your phone on your person — like in one of those holsters that I’m not sure are sort of cool or really nerdy — do you answer your phone while in the bathroom?