Monday 12 August 2019

Alphabet rice

I have this bottle. A beautiful blue bottle which holds a liter of water. I can use it again and again. It's a lovely bottle. When I go to work, it comes with me. In my bag, nice and snug. But then one day, I was perhaps a bit rough with the bag and when I opened it, out came the bottle: empty! A liter of water had emptied in my bag, soaking my bag, my book, my lunch and several other things. 

From then on, I was very careful with the bottle. But alas, a week or so later: another mishap. Fortunately this time not in my bag, but in my cooling bag which is plastic and can be emptied out easily. Of course the story doesn't end there, because last Friday, you've guessed it, the same problem again! The bottle was closed, but through a wrong move it opened and emptied itself over the contents of the bag, the bag itself and the seat the bag was standing on.

One of the things that had been in the bag, also the first time around, was my Kindle. I like to read you see and do a lot of that at work. Not while driving, although plenty of passengers pass me their papers or phone to do exactly that (it's dangerous folks!), but during my 15 minute breaks I have every hour. Back to the Kindle however. It had been in my bag the first time around and came out of it unscathed. A few drops on the cover and that was it. 

This time around though: a bit more water. This was at the start of my shift and even though I tried to get as much water removed from it, it seemed some of it had found its way inside and frozen the screen. I tried several times during my shift, but no go. When I got home that evening, I asked my mother for some rice and even though she only had dessert rice, it was rice. So, I put my Kindle in a container and poured the rice onto it. 

I also tried to load the Kindle and that was promising: the orange loading light did come on and the screen did flicker briefly. Only briefly though and it was still frozen. On Saturday, I removed it from the rice and left it on the table. Again I tried loading it, but with the same result: orange light, a brief flicker and nothing else. 

On Sunday morning, I decided to take my Kindle up to my computer. Perhaps it could talk some sense into my Kindle. I plugged it in and lo and behold: the orange light came on. And then... the screen changed! And within five minutes I had a working Kindle again. 

From now on I will keep my Kindle well away from my lovely water bottle. But, when I will get myself a new Kindle at some point in the future, I might just invest in a waterproof one...

10 comments:

  1. Hari OM
    Ahhh, now I see - the cheaper answer is buy a water bottle with a screw top. They do come with a little up up 'straw' which, even if it flicked open, would not release quite so damaging an amount of liquid! Anyhoo - glad the Kindle woke up again!!! YAM xx

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    1. That might be a cleverer answer than what I did: threw out the bag, kept the bottle! But I love that bottle and it works really well, when not being tossed about that is. Will keep the two separate from now on though, to avoid any more serious damage!

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  2. I think the lesson is clear -- Stop Drinking Water! ;)

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  3. We have to laugh at the previous comments but don't think it's a good idea to stop drinking water. Thank goodness your computer talked some sense into the Kindle and it came to life.

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  4. Maybe it's time to get a new water bottle? Glad you got your kindle to work again!

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    1. The bottle is fine! It was the bag (she says)

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  5. Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink!

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    1. I could have sucked the bag, but I know what's been in there!

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  6. I think you better buy a new bottle for your work and keep this one safely home ! It can become a very expensive bottle ! there must be something wrong with it, obviously !
    What a chance that your Kindle survived !!

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  7. Sorry about your naughty water bottle.
    Glad your Kindle is okay.

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Any weighty (and not so weighty) comments are welcome!