Wishy Washy iPod

As if any of you needed this advice, the best way to clean an iPod is not via the washing machine. And yes, I do know this through personal experience. For whatever reason, my lovely 11-year-old daughter has taken to putting half her worldly possessions  in her pants pockets. Small problem when you leave most of them in there, and in the washing machine they go. I've had a treasure trove of hair bands, bobby pins, candy wrappers, coins, and secret notes. Well, Monday morning I open the lid and lo and behold I am greeted by headphones. Hmmm. I take them out, remove the clothes and BINGO.... hot pink iPod. Nope. I came upstairs, told her, and of course she was devastated. BUT, we were still feeling  hopeful because this same iPod had already survived a fall into the toilet (clean water, or as clean as toilet water can get) at her friend's house a year ago. As I do with every other big life question, I head straight to Google, inputting the question "my kid refuses to listen to me about not checking her pockets before putting things into the hamper, and now her iPod went through the wash so what should I do?" My friends at Google (who so graciously helped me through the toilet incident), had loads of good advice, with a 40% probability that we could recover it. The key, according to all of the postings, was to NOT turn it on til it was totally dry, to avoid shorting it out. Then I read a few posts that said to put it in a bowl of dry rice to absorb the moisture. I did that. For two days. We fired it up yesterday and nothing. Back in the rice bowl. Isn't rice useful? 

She had saved up $200 to buy this one about 2 years ago, so I struck a deal with her. I will pay half of a new one since I didn't check her pockets. It's horrible living with such a sensitive guilty conscience! She's out now (day off school) shopping with some friends, and she texted me that she has chosen the new iPod Touch, and that we can look at it this weekend together. WHOA, girlfriend! That's a serious upgrade! It's also got me picturing my 16-year-old putting his iPod in the washing machine so he can get a new one. My life is just one big domino effect.....

Anyway, lesson learned. Check pockets. And thank you, Google. If I could afford your stock I'd buy some!