Aw dude

Google Voice is oh so awesome. Back when I had my old phone, I would lose it regularly (or that time I lost my charger in Boston and wasted a month before I got a replacement), and not really care enough to find it.
With Google Voice, I didn't need to worry. So long as the contacters SMS'd or left a voice message at my Google Voice number, I would get the SMS's through the online interface.
Voice messages are also transcribed and one can choose to SMS 'em to oneself. The transcriptions are accurate enough to be hella useful, and no longer do you need to navigate horrible voicemail systems (haven't tried Android's yet).
It also works well on my Droid, and notifications are sent to that lovely Notification Bar.