Mobile Phone Tribulation

No I didn't drop it in the toilet. I always rest my phone in my car cup holder since it's easily accessed if the phone rings. This location has worked well without a hitch for nearly two years, but the series of events leading to my phone getting wet follows.

My Sherbet-feeding routine involves keeping a Sigg bottle full of water in my car (as well as food of course) to provide his daily fresh water. The weather recently was very cold for SC, below freezing and in the single digits for several days in a row. The water in my metal bottle froze which of course expanded in the form of ice causing enough pressure against the walls of the bottle to form a crack. When the weather warmed up the now melting ice ran into the cup holder unbeknownst to me. Thursday I drove the longer drive to work in the Ballantyne location, meaning that my phone rested in the watery cup holder for longer than it would have had I been in the RH office. By the time I got there my screen was fading and I was confused as to why. You see, my ceiling car light is on the fritz and I was totally unaware that there was water in the cup holder. It wasn't till I got into the office that I could see moisture in the tiny lens of the camera.

I got lots of advice from the girls at work. Everyone kept telling me to put the phone in rice and it would dry it out. Good idea, but I didn't happen to bring any uncooked rice with me that day. I called the hubby who sent me several links suggesting remedies but the only one I could do for the next 9 hours was place the phone glass side up in the sun, which I did. When I went to retrieve my phone at the end of the day a well meaning coworker had turned it glass side down, thinking that I was ruining my phone by letting the glass be exposed to the sun. I thanked her for being considerate and said some ugly things to her in my head as I began the trek home.

Once home I settled my phone in it's grainy grave and nailed the coffin tight for the night. The instructions warned that one of the biggest mistakes was to take it out sooner than 24 to 48 hours, but bull-headed me saw that the light was on and so removed it. The phone then began a series of paroxysms that included calling random people in my contact list. The hubby suggested burying it in rice once again or drying it with a hair dryer; I chose the rice.

After another day in the rice and my phone seemed much better. I checked a few things, listened to my audible book, and then the seizures started again. I had to shut it off completely at this point because I had no idea who it would call next! Again the hubby suggested the hair dryer. That made me nervous because I'd read that heat could be just as damaging as moisture, but what recourse did I have? I propped the hair dryer, got it blowing on low power, and waited...

While waiting the hubby and I reviewed our options. New phone? If so which one? Which one has this, that, the other? I realized that the phone I really wanted was the phone I already had, granted it was leaning against a cat food bowl with a hair dryer blowing it's brains out, but my phone is wonderful, familiar, and best of all free.

I'm happy to report that as a result of it's recent salon treatment my beloved iPhone is working just fine. Moral of the story? There are many:
1) Put your phone somewhere that water cannot reach unless Poseidon himself rips the roof off your car and pours the sea into it. 2) Fix your damn car light the same day it goes out even if it costs the price of a new AT&T 2-year contract.  3) Refuse to work in any office other than your home office.  4) Always pack a container of uncooked rice in your purse; you'll probably need it.