So I haven’t been posting much because my life right now involves three things:
- Work on Computers in Various Scenarios
- Farming and Rhubarb
- Brief Appearances in Family Life
I do have to share with you that I dropped my phone in a big vat of rhubarb. To keep rhubarb fresh while traveling, it needs to be in a bucket of water. Therefore, I dropped my phone in a bucket of water. I immediately pulled it out and shook the devil out if it, water flew all over myself and a customer who was there to pick up her vegetable share; I hope that she forgives me for flinging water upon her at only our second meeting.
Then my phone started to ring! A customer was calling for directions to the park where I was handing out produce. Except when I tried to answer the phone, the phone camera started going berserk! I was taking pictures of the gravel, the sky, the rhubarb and my hat as I continued to fling the water out of the phone and curse at Murphy. Every time I pushed a button, the phone’s camera snapped a photo.
I was able to pry the phone apart and take the battery out. I left the pieces to dry in the sun. It finally broke 70 degrees so the hot sun dried out the phone, and after about 20 minutes I put it back together and it worked. Oh my goodness, it worked. I am so thankful because there is NO WAY I have the time or cash to go get a new phone.
So again, if YOU should drop your phone in a watery bath of rhubarb, remember:
- Shake Well
- Shake Some More
- Dry Parts in the Sun (if it’s raining, you are screwed)
- Pray to the Verizon Gods
- Reassemble phone
That’s it! Enjoy and remember to spay and neuter your pets.
June 24, 2009 at 8:21 am
There is also another secret. Cell phone companies don’t warranty phones that have been in the water. Most batteries have a moisture sensor on them that changes color when they get wet.
If you ever change batteries in your old phone, keep the bad one to use like a “throw away gun” in case you ever drop the phone in the water and it doesn’t work.
Just swap out the batteries before you return it…or try to…
I know it kind of hovers on “cheating the system” but the phone company would do it to you.
June 24, 2009 at 10:54 am
I dropped my phone in a kiddie pool. No wait, my kid dropped my phone in a kiddie pool. Verizon did take it back because I had insurance, but I had to get all crazy and loud before they agreed. Had I had this advice, I could have spared the Verizon salesperson a teeny weeny bit of semi-sorta-borderline verbal abuse.
June 26, 2009 at 4:36 pm
Sounds like you’re on course to become Murphy’s Lawyer! Yay maleesha!
My niece was getting a pedicure prior to being in my daughter’s wedding and the goofy guy at the salon was taking their picture and dropped her camera into the foot bath. It was a new camera and my niece was rather upset. She gave it to me to try to fix. I told her it was a goner. I removed the battery and flash card and hung the camera in front of a dehumidifier for a few days. I wasn’t really expecting it to come back to life, but it did.
No secrets there. But speaking of working on computers and MTAE’s comment reminded me of a time I was working on someone’s PowerBook. It had a problem on the main board, I’d worked out by elimination. Not covered by warranty, but there was a sort of extended warranty coverage for this common problem of the AC adapter port breaking off the main board. It wasn’t the problem with the computer I was working on, but it would get a new board for free from Apple if it DID have that problem … long story short (is too late for that?) I was able to give it that problem without too much trouble.
In conclusion, all my pets are neutered. But I’m not.