Tuesday, July 18, 2006

The story of a cell phone

Did you know that moisture is the worst enemy of cell phones? Well, I learned this week that it doesn't even take direct exposure to water, like a dunking or a spraying or an "I dropped it in the toilet." (Hilariously, that is the most common cause of cell phone replacement!) No, my friends, it takes less than direct wetness to make the little moisture-detecting sticker on the inside of the phone turn red. All it takes is humidity - in my case, sitting overnight in the pocket of a pair of pants that I had put on over my wet swimsuit. Not the brightest idea, I'll admit, but it wasn't that I thought it was a good idea, I just wasn't thinking!

So after panicking because it WAS my fault that it now wouldn't turn on, I spent several hours researching online what to DO about it, and I found some pretty interesting stuff to say the least. I definitely ignored the advice to bake it in my oven at 125 degrees to dry it out, but I DID take it apart as much as I could and put it out in my car with the windows rolled up for the afternoon, then overnight in a plastic bag surrounded by packs of silica gel (you know, that stuff that comes in vitamin bottles and new shoes that says "Do not eat!" - it's a moisture-absorber). And I prayed hard as I put it back together again, then plugged it in to the charger.

Guess what! IT TURNED ON!!! :) And now it works perfectly. HALLELUJAH!

Now, if only my car would cooperate just like that...

5 comments:

Ben said...

Hey,

I checked out the dates from the 22-28th and I'm not sure what we'll be able to work out. I know for sure that I'll be in West Virginia for a couple shows from the 21-25 or 26th.

Why don't you give me a call (since your phone works) and we'll try to figure something out.

Anonymous said...

My brother dropped his in a creek once and did do the baking in the oven thing. THe only thing was, he accidently fell asleep so it baked for 4 hours. When he remembered, the screen was bright, bright orange. But after it cooled down, the screen came back and it worked fine again. :)
They are tough little buggers, eh?

btw, we leave for Oz in a week from Sunday. Is there any way you'd want to get together and hang out before then? I'd love to see you. It's been too long since we've chatted.

Whitfield said...

*sigh* ...the wisdom of friends...
when next i have a cell phone (october), i'll be sure to learn from your experiences. grins

and cherith. THAT is hilarious. :)

love you becca! and i can't wait to hear how kentucky was!

Anonymous said...

hey becca,
oh i mistakenly grabbed a couple of books which i thought was amy's - towser and fadiman - and i will send it back! promise! i'm still in chicago, not in thailand, so i'll just mail it! sorry! and look, here's another exclamation mark!

speaking of cell phones, one of my kids Ike had his eaten by his dog (mangled to different pieces) thrown into the swimming pool, thrown out of a car (again, broken into pieces) and other various hazardous-to-cellphones acts, and it's still alive! buy nokia! they live forever! i need decaf!

sam!

Foolish Thing Nine said...

I think the best thing I ever did with my phone was go puddle jumping with it on the quad. And by puddle jumping, I mean sliding across the quad on my stomach in the driving rain while it was in my pocket... But we took it apart and dried it and it was all good!