Wednesday 21 May 2014

The Day my Kindle Took a Bath!







Okay so I'm behind on my reviews, I promise, they are coming!
In the meanwhile I thought I would share a little tale.

On Sunday while I was ironing my daughter's clothes I heard the shower switch on, I glanced to see my daughter placing her doll's bath into our bath. "Oh how sweet she's going to bath her doll".

With the bathroom door open I could see her from where I was and five minutes later I proceeded into the bathroom. Pulling back the shower curtain I got the shock of my life, it was the most horrifying image I have ever witnessed, My kindle was having a bath.!!!!!!!!!!! It was completely submerged!!! Unbeknownst to me, it was at that moment that I discovered I had lightening speed reactions, because I got my Kindle out of the bath so fast, it should have had it's own dedicated page in the Guinness Book of Records!! (Okay and maybe a page on most 'swear words used in under thirty seconds')



Swiftly taking it out of the protective case, I begin to give it CPR! Okay that was a lie but I did start to give it firm hard shakes to get as much of the water out as possible, all the while reminding myself  "keep calm", "don't panic" "stay focused".

The protective case had helped a little but not much, as I was drying it in a towel, it switched off, "Oh Know, please don't do this!!!" I cried. Frantically I started to press the power button, "Nothing" Okay I needed to think rationally, "maybe the battery was dead" yes yes that's could be it. I immediately connected it to the charger "YES" the Kindle sign appeared, but that was all!! Okay do not panic, walk away with what little dignity you have left, the last thing people need to see is your tears, leave it to charge, and hope all will be well.

I needed to think, what was the worse case scenario, because my warranty ran out like a month ago.
The Kindle on the left had the bath!
1.  I do have another Kindle! But I can't read it in the dark and bedtime is when I get a lot of my reading done and I don't have a bedside lamp (My Mr Darcy does, well of course he would!).
2. It's my birthday in two weeks I could ask for a replacement, but damn it! I already gave them some suggestions on Jane Austen related items and I'd be damned if I was going to give them up!!
3. I have a kindle app on my phone and laptop, but the phone is small and the laptop too big, especially for in bed.
4. Scream and cry!!!!!!

Okay I will fast forward, four hours and fifteen failed attempts at factory reset later my Kindle still wouldn't come back to life.

One last attempt, I held down the power button for one minute and waited for three. The reboot, IT WORKED, YAY! Wow, I spoke too soon, it was malfunctioning big time, doing mad crazy stuff like it was possessed.
This definitely called for a 'what would Lizzy do moment'. Yep you guessed it, it was time to go against propriety and the socially accepted norms and do the manly thing, fix it myself. Surprisingly after taking a computer course, I am the one who fixes our computer viruses and takes our computer apart but this felt different I had a lot riding on this, if I couldn't fix it, then what? I didn't even want to entertain the thought.

Half hour later, some tools and internet research digested, I was ready.

Using a guitar pick to dig into the tiny gap, I started to work my way along the edges and prize the back cover off, yay! It worked.
Inside the Kindle there was water! This did not bode well, the water had now been inside for over five hours!
Using my Parlux professional blow dryer (yes I used to be a hairdresser, but funnily enough it was my sister in law, who is also a hairdresser, that gave it to me and I haven't looked back! I cannot recommend this blow dryer enough, its's the best! Even better than my GHD blow dryer which was way to expensive for what it was, okay I have digressed but seriously put a Parlux on your wishlist).


My Parlux is so powerful 2800 Watts (you can get 3800 now, note to self get one), putting it on a cool setting I blew air into every nook and cranny for a full ten minutes, forever fighting the temptation to put it on a hotter setting, but I didn't want to risk melting any of the metal, (yes it's that powerful, I've burnt off my hair, burnt through carpets and the bed with it, okay they're stories for another time).

It was the moment of truth, gently clipping the back cover on I turned my kindle over and peeked through one eye, then two, IT WAS WORKING, "hold on lets just check it's not doing the crazy stuff" I ran through a couple of things and it seemed to be working, even purchasing a new JAFF Novel to be on the safe side (well I had to make sure the buy function still worked). Novel purchased I let out a sigh of relief, PHEW! That was too close a call, I shuddered to think what could have been! Best to leave those musings for another day!

I am now pleased to report that my Kindle has never been more responsive!!

So I will end my story there, before I say something stupid like "my Kindle is, my first, my last, my everything" thank you for reading The Day my Kindle Took a Bath!

( I have to announce that I do not condone, endorse or recommend anything I did to my Kindle and I would advise you to seek professional help if ever, your kindle finds itself in the BATH!!!!!!!!


Please feel free to share any Kindle bath moments, like what bubble bath you used!

5 comments:

  1. Nooooooo!!!!! Oh my word what a frightening story, I would have been so panicked! Although in my case (time for a guilty confession here) I have two kindles, LOL! I got one a few Christmases ago, then the next Christmas I sold it and put the money towards a kindle touch and then last Christmas I had enough Christmas money to get a paperwhite (for night time reading) without selling the old one so I kept it! I was thinking the other day that it's silly to have two but the harrowing experience that you went through is reason enough to keep them both!

    Oh these children, what they put us through!

    I know exactly what you mean about wanting to keep your money for something else, I have a few nice things I have my eye on at the moment, and only so many people love me enough to give me money for my birthday :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. lol nothing wrong with two kindles Ceri :) I was the same as you why do I have two? But after this fiasco I am keeping mine. However I am interested to know about the paperwhite, I use my old kindle for in the garden as I don't get the glare from the sun, whereas if I use my Kindle fire you get reflection on the screen so I combat that by changing the background to black with white writing and turning up the brightness. What is the paperwhite like?

      Delete
    2. I will test how good the paperwhite is to read outside for you next time it's sunny, but I think it's quite similar to the ordinary kindle to read outside, the screen isn't shiny so you can see it fine and it's really good in the night, I have mine set quite low and if I want to read in bed while hubby is asleep it doesn't disturb him.

      Delete
  2. Oy! How terrifying! So glad you were able to save it, such a smart girl! I'm sure I would have given up, cried, and try to think up a way to get a new one. What a great story this all made though! :) You need to treat your Kindle to some new JAFF after all it has been through!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. HaHa indeed Meredith! I most certainly shall, I think I need to purchase at least five JAFF titles to help my Kindle get over the trauma. I laugh now when I think about it but at the time there was not an ounce of humour and I think the only reason I did not lose it was the fact I had a back up Kindle.

      Delete

Thank you! Your comments are always welcome