Last night I joined the club.  The “I dropped my cell phone in the toilet” club.  I am horribly embarrassed to actually admit that.  My sorority sisters have done it, my wonderful like-a-sister-cousin (@mtommey) has done it, co-workers, know tons of people who have done it.  But I have been proud, until this moment, to say that I was never a member of the “I dropped my cell phone in the toile” club.  I can say that no more.

It all happened in a rushed effort to not be late for yoga class.  I had sat down to do some quick web updates and a newsletter for my part time job (personal assistant to the owner of Web Strategies), and when I looked up at the clock I realized that I needed to go change, and go change FAST or I was going to be “that person” who interrupts the 3 Oms before class officially starts.  I ran into my mother’s powder room to change.  I made the quick decision that I wanted wear my jeans over my yoga pants because it was freezing out (come on, May… seriously… let’s get with the Southern Weather program).  When I pulled my jeans up I heard a weird noise coming from the toilet.  I thought it was strange, but the toilet in my parents’ powder room is a bit strange anyway (not nearly as strange as our scary German toilet in our basement, but still strange).  I almost didn’t think to look at the toilet, but I did.

I was horrified at what I saw.  My iPhone was in it.  I must have stuffed it in the back pocket of my jeans and forgotten about it and when I pulled my pants up it popped out and flipped into the toilet.  This would never have happened at my house because we keep the toilet lids closed because our cats aren’t coordinated enough to NOT fall in when they’re being curious about a new water source.  My mother’s cats, however, are more agile and they just leave their lids up all over the house.

So, there was my iPhone, head first, in the toilet bowl… with bubbles streaming out the bottom.  I knew it was done for.  For some reason, when I pulled it out of the toilet I had this crazy urge to rinse it it in the sink!  Yes, I know… utterly crazy, but I was not thinking straight.  I immediately stuck it in the freezer, because I kind of remember someone saying that you should do that if something gets water damage and then sent a tweet out about the horrific experience.

I immediately got feedback telling me the freezer wasn’t the best option…

• @truk77: @clairethomey Stick it in a jar of rice!
• @truk77: @clairethomey Worth a try! http://is.gd/c4N5a
• @LindsayMAllen: @clairethomey Try putting it in a Ziploc bag full of uncooked rice, and squeeze as much air out of the bag as you can.
• @TristanPT: @clairethomey not the freezer! Put it in rice to absorb the moisture. Wait at least 48 hours to turn it on.
• @ClueWagon: @clairethomey I think Lifehacker.com had a story about putting a dropped iPhone in rice…it absorbs the moisture or something.
• @oupatel: @clairethomey if it fellw in water.. put it in a bowl of rice. Make sure the rice is completely surrounding the iPhone

So, now the iPhone is nestled safely amongst some Lundburg Brown Rice (it’s all my mom had… she doesn’t by the cheap stuff) in my mother’s pantry.  I’m hoping that my father doesn’t actually read my blog because we have chosen not to tell him.  Though, DH thought it was insanely funny.

Luckily, I still had my 3G iPhone from when I upgraded earlier this year.  So it is in the process of restoring as we speak.  It’s also safely wrapped in an Otterbox Defender case… because I’d rather be extra safe than sorry since I promised my cousin that she could have this one when her old cellphone contract runs out and they switch to AT&T.

What’s even more sad is that there are actually no fewer than 18 Facebook Fan Pages for “I dropped my cell phone in the toilet.”  I saw it fitting to join one…

Related Posts

• May 17, 2010 -- 16.6 and dropping!
• February 12, 2010 -- [C25K] Beginning of Week 2

I considered posting at the end of Week 1, but to be perfectly honest I was embarrassed… disappointed in myself even. With the impending 2nd dose of the region’s “snowpocalpyse” I hurried off to the gym the eve before we were supposed to get dumped on by snow. I was excited. I felt awesome after the first two days of Week 1. But something terrible happened. It sucked.

For some reason I really felt off my game through the whole run. In the middle of run three I got caught up in my headphone cables and my iPhone went flying. I tried to catch it, but no dice. I ended up hitting the stop button because I didn’t know what else to do (silly me, didn’t think to just step on the side rails). When I retrieved my iPhone from the floor (thank goodness I’ve been encasing it in the OtterBox iPhone 3G, 3GS Commuter Cases [3 Pack]) it wasn’t damaged, but when I plugged the headphones back in my running music never came back on. I also didn’t think to pause my #c25k app so I was all off on the run/walk schedule. And then the worst thing happened, about 20 minutes in my chest got really tight and I was afraid I was going to have an asthma attack so I had to take a couple of puffs on my inhaler. Oh the defeat.

So the worst of the worst could happen. I’ve been going great guns and and feeling awesome and then BAM I felt like crap… just like I did when I was younger and trying to run the mile. The only thing that would have made it worse would have been a scary gym teacher barking at me.

Week 2 – Overcoming the Odds

With that awful run closing my Week 1 I was a little more than nervous about Week 2. After all, Week 2 ramps up the running just a tiny bit.

Week 2, Day 1

Brisk five-minute warmup walk. Then alternate 90 seconds of jogging and two minutes of walking for a total of 20 minutes. Five-minute cooldown walk.

I knew that when the going gets tough I have a tendency to tense up and get scared – especially when it comes to exercise. But not today… today I had to triumph. Or at least I had to try.

But I didn’t just try… I made it. And I made it with EASE! The running part was awesome. I’ve been listening to an iTunes genius mix of Nickelback’s “Burn it to the Ground” but I thought for today’s run I needed a change of pace… something inspirational. The only thing it could be today was Black Violin. I had also armed myself with a Belkin Sport Armband Plus to ensure that I didn’t get myself tangled in my own headphones again.

I’d like to say that everything went smoothly, but I wasn’t completely thrilled with the armband (more to come on that later) and my Nike+ sensor essentially crapped out on me. I was hoping that this wasn’t a sign of things to come. And it certainly wasn’t. Black Violin didn’t fail me. I get absolutely consumed by their music. Brandenburg came on in the middle of my first run and I just giggled… out loud! It was so much fun!! And then before I knew it, the voice prompts were telling me that I was halfway finished. And then almost right after the app was telling me that I was about to start my last run… I was heartbroken! I wanted to go longer!! But I stuck to the program because I didn’t want to kill myself just when I was starting to feel great again.

Continuum Transfunctioner of Running?

I’m just totally confused how I could feel so crappy at the end of Week 1 and then feel so fantastic after the first day of Week 2. Kind of feel like Jesse and Chester from Dude Where’s My Car? and my running is the Continuum Transfunctioner – whose mystery is only exceeded by its power.

If anyone has any suggestions about why this anomaly occurs, please feel free to post a comment! I know that to really figure it out I’d have to probably track my sleep, my meals, and all kinds of other factors to determine why I felt crappy one day and not another. But it seems contrary that when you ramp up in your training program that you’d feel better and it would be easier than the level before it…

Related Posts

• March 18, 2010 -- [C25K] Slight Setback…
• May 12, 2010 -- I have joined the club…
• March 19, 2010 -- Can it GET Worse?
• February 5, 2010 -- Couch to 5K
• February 5, 2010 -- [Material Girl] Feet, the way God intended them