Last night, my palm pilot fell to a watery death. Good bye my shiny brushed aluminum friend.
We often take things for granted. Not really appreciating gifts we have received or things we have bought. This was not the case with my Palm Pilot. I used this tool daily. I took it everywhere. The kids loved to play games on it, but the real reason I carried it about was that it had the NIV Study Bible on it. I could read it anytime, take notes and not lose my place. I could read in bed without bothering everyone else with a lamp light.
Last night, as I sat down to read the book of Jeremiah, I thought about how the Palm Pilot was such a great Christmas gift, and how it was in such good condition for being over a year old. I almost thanked my husband again for such a great present. I’d never buy something like that for myself.
After reading 9 chapters, my batteries started to give out. I looked for a place to plug in the charger… this room is so small. The only place to plug in was the bathroom. There isn’t any counter space, I wondered if I could place the PDA on the shelf. A warning entered my mind, “Don’t drop it in the water.” Too late, the Palm Pilot slipped out of my hands and into the sudsy dishwater below.
I tried to save it. Carefully taking it apart, drying out the insides… The thing is fried.
I’m ashamed of the way I reacted. I completely lost it because a silly little electronic device wouldn’t turn on anymore. I said stupid, stupid things. Thankfully, only God and Joel heard me.
This is a public apology for the things I said to God. I’m glad he’s so forgiving. After all, he made me and knows that I’m dust.
I’m thinking the problem probably isn’t the Palm Pilot. I’m just tired of losing things. Seriously, do we have to lose EVERYTHING?
Things. They’re just things. I look at my beautiful children and think of Dear Elena and know that I should just get over myself and hold these babies of mine and be happy.
It bothers me that I let a thing like this push me over the edge. I thought I was dealing well with all of life’s recent challenges. I’m concerned that the next minor loss will send me into another fit of anger and doubt. Within a few days, the strap fell off of my purse, my camera broke, my palm pilot drowned and Sarah’s shoes and Jer’s jeans got holes in them. All silly little things. But good grief we don’t have money for replacements. We’ve lost so much since November can’t I get a break? Whine whine whine.
I don’t want to be a whiner. I want to be victorious. I want to look Loss in the eye and shout, “Take what you want! My God is my provider!” I want to get in Tomorrow’s face and yell, “Go ahead, throw life at me. My God is my Hope! He is the same yesterday, today and forever.”
That’s what I want to do… but I’m not quite there yet.
Judi says I should read Philippians 4
These verses have been my prayer for you.
Comment by Judi — 3/2/2006 @ 9:54 pm
Are you sure it’s dead? Sometimes electronics freak out when they’re wet, but make like a phoenix when they dry out. Did you take a blow dryer to it yet? It’s worth a shot.
Sad without my Treo, so I feel for ya.
Comment by Carol — 3/2/2006 @ 10:34 pm
I’m drying out all the little parts right now… In hopes that a day of air will help. Thanks.
Comment by Amy — 3/2/2006 @ 10:43 pm
Amy, we went through a similar period of loss, although I have to admit, on a much smaller scale. I experienced frustration just as you are know but let me tell you what I learned. God has something bigger and better planned for you. Sometimes we’ve got such a tight grips on our THINGS that God has to yank them away from us so He can give us something better. Had we stayed in the situation we were in, we wouldn’t have been able to receive what He had planned for us. The day we lost our home, I got down on my knees and told God… “I have no idea why you’re doing this, but I know that you know what the outcome is going to be and I’m trusting you with it.” It was hard, very hard to live by that for the time we had to be in limbo, but after it was all over, I could look back and see why it had to happen. Don’t give up honey. You don’t have to worry about the road God is leading you down, He’s already paved it. You just have to walk down it with Him.
Comment by Patti — 3/7/2006 @ 12:49 pm
The soap residue could cause you some problems. Go down to the store and get a couple gallons of steam distilled water. If they don’t have that, purified water will do. Then rinse the devil out of it. Oh, be sure to remove the battery, first. Disassembling it won’t hurt and will help you be sure to reach all the nooks and crannies. Be sure you know how to put it back together.
Put the disassembled Palm parts in a warm, dry place with good ventilation… it wouldn’t hurt to point a fan in the general direction. If you have an electric heating pad/blanket, to put underneath for radiant heating that’d be fine, too.
(If you have a gas stove that is lit by a pilot light, you could place it in your oven to dry out. That’s a nice, warm, arid place for electronics. Just don’t forget it’s in there before you warm up your oven for your next casserole. Remove the knob to your oven and put it next to your Palm Pilot so you don’t forget!)
Then walk away for a few days. Really. Just let it sit. I’d wait a week. Some people report waiting up to a month to be sure everything dried out. If you keep it warm and ventilated even the moisture in the screen will go away. You just have to be patient.
After some time, it’ll be good and dry. Try putting the battery back in and recharging. If it doesn’t recharge, you may need a new battery. And if you need a new battery and things charge up fine, you may find that you lost all your data … you might even have to do a hard reboot, thereboy losing you data if you haven’t already. (BTW: if you have a memory card/memory stick in your Palm, be sure to remove it.)
My kids dropped my Palm in the toilet at least twice. Both times it recovered fine. Electronics won’t really die when water hits them … it’s the residue left behind and the risk of electrical shorts that are the biggest problems.
When I used to work in computer support, our tech team would wash old keyboards, etc. in a washing machine without soap, then let them air-dry for several days. They were good as new!
Hope this helps.
Regards,
Rich
BlogRodent
Comment by Rich Tatum — 3/12/2006 @ 7:50 pm
PS: I don’t recommend a blow dryer. The heated air will generate a lot of static electricity on the objects it strikes. Not something to do with delicate electronics with RAM memory.
Rich.
BlogRodent
Comment by Rich Tatum — 3/12/2006 @ 7:51 pm
Wow, Rich Tatum is a vault of helpful info!
Comment by Jami Leigh — 3/13/2006 @ 9:55 am