RIP, My iPhone

My iPhone went to be with the technology gods on Saturday. She was 16 months old. My iPhone is survived by me, though I don't how long I'm going to be able to survive without her.

Seriously. I feel like I've lost an appendage.

Here's the story: I was heading to the pool on Saturday to get my workout in before some work I needed to do, and I grabbed my bag of equipment and headed out the door. My phone and my water bottle were sitting on a table in the living room, so I grabbed those on the way out, too.

When I got to the pool, I put my bag on the ground, at the edge of the pool where I keep all of my stuff, and I got into the water. I swam around a bit to get used to the temperature and remove a few leaves that had fallen into the water. When I swam back to the bag to get my things out, I couldn't find my phone. I carefully unfolded my towel, assuming it had gotten tangled up in it and hoping not to drop it into the water, but the phone was missing in action. I started to wonder if I had really put it into my bag or if I just thought I did.

I usually text my swim workouts to myself, and I use the phone as a timer and sometimes for music. I didn't feel like getting back out of the water and going back inside, though, so I decided I'd just swim a certain number of laps and save that workout for another day. Well, just as I'd adjusted my goggles and pushed off the wall, I felt something hard and smooth against my leg. It took me a second to realize what it was, but when I did, I reached in my pocket and pulled that phone out so fast that you'd think I was saving a drowning infant.

(Side note: I was wearing shorts over my bathing suit, which is why I had a pocket.)   

Not exactly what happened but a decent reenactment.

"No, no, no, no," I wailed, racing to the side, grabbing for my towel, pressing buttons and trying to remember what to do. There's a scene in the film Carnage where (if I recall correctly) Kate Winslet gets Jodie Foster's phone wet. I tried to remember what they did. For some reason, a hair dryer and a bag of rice popped into my head, though I can't be sure those ideas are from that movie.

I raced inside, holding the phone out at arm's length. It kept vibrating and I could ever so faintly see the warning sign I see when it gets too hot. Does it also let you know when it gets too wet, I wondered, because I'm pretty sure five minutes submerged in a swimming pool qualifies as too wet.

When I got into the kitchen, I pulled out a plate, placed the phone on it, and I dumped a bag of rice on top of it. My dad walked in at this point, quite confused by what he saw. I managed to turn the phone off, or maybe it did it on its own. But I had not time to answer anyone's questions. I rushed to the computer to Google "iPhone submerged in water," and my mom says, "The internet is not working."

(Sidenote: my parents' internet goes out at least ten times a week. Sometimes because of the weather, but mostly, because they accidentally unplug things that shouldn't be unplugged.)

I looked down and noticed that the little DSL modem was unplugged, and not giving it a second thought, I plugged it in. The thing made a loud popping noise, smoke blew everywhere, and half the electricity in the house went off. Long story short, the plug on the adapter was messed up and a quick trip to, sigh, Wal-Mart (on a Saturday evening, a week before school starts, no doubt) fixed that right up, but for a moment, I thought I'd fried the whole system. All I could think about was how I had zero internet access, and I'd just taken on a couple of new clients. What was I going to tell them?

Anyway, I still have my laptop, thank goodness, but after two and a half days in the rice, I have a feeling my phone is not going to recover. It's probably for the best. I dropped it in the driveway at the Unabomber cabin a while back and completely cracked the glass on the front. I've been wanting to get a new one but unemployment and all... The good thing is that now that I'm back to living with the 'rents, no one ever calls me! Texting is a slightly different story, but I'm trying to handle that through email and Facebook messages. I think the worst thing is that I lost a ton of pictures and videos that I would have liked to save, but I guess that's what I get. I used to actually back them up, but I'm still using my aunt's loaner laptop until I can afford to get mine fixed, and it's old, and I can't get it to work well with iTunes. 

There's also the fact that I grab for my phone every five seconds to check my email, social media, play a game or look something up when the occasion arises. Also, I'm having to actually write down my swim workouts instead of texting them to myself. Like, with actual pen and paper. The horror!

So, for now, I'm somewhat incommunicado, but I suppose I'll survive. My iPhone on the other hand probably won't be so lucky.  

RIP, My iPhone. March, 2011 to July 2012