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NOTEBOOK: Tollakson hears from Siri during meeting

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Hubbell Realty Co. chief Rick Tollakson apparently was multitasking as a string of speakers updated dozens of Des Moines leaders about Tomorrow Plan achievements the other day. “I didn’t quite get that!” Siri exclaimed loudly, apparently after Tollakson inadvertently pushed the big button on the bottom of his iPhone. Many laughed at this wireless faux pax, but I have a more embarrassing story. Once, in my days as a reporter for The Des Moines Register, I forgot to turn off the ringer on my cellphone before entering a staid meeting of the Iowa Environmental Protection Commission. In the middle of the meeting, my phone started loudly playing the opening guitar riffs from Chicago’s “25 or 6 to 4,” my ring tone of the moment. I fumbled mightily to stop it, but it took a while. “I’m here all week!” I told the commissioners, red-faced. “That’s great, but you are dating yourself,” answered a chuckling Commissioner Darrell Hanson.