iBrick

Never mind the fact I made the questionable decision to ride to work in a thunderstorm. Riding in the rain is not an issue, it’s the risk of getting struck by lightning that should have made me swallow my pride and drive in. But I’m up to three days a week! I can’t wimp out!

At least it powers up, now...

I noted the current path of the storm and where the center was before I left, confident I would avoid the most severe part of the storm. I saw the lightning strikes in the distance, but although they were moving in the same direction as I, they were moving much faster. Still, I wondered if I would sense an impending strike and leap off my bike just in time. Right.

So, lightning strikes aside, I find myself cruising along as I would on any other bike commuting day, accompanied by rain and a headwind from the south. On a dry day, I would be listining to my iPod which travels in a water bottle shaped speaker called an iHome 2Go. Headphones are a big no-no on a bicycle, but an external speaker is fine, since I can still hear traffic. I was not actually running the iPod, since the speaker was covered up with a cap (rain, you know). I assumed that the enclosure was rainproof. Silly me.

Upon arriving at work, I opened the enclosure to find a small pool of water where the iPod resides, I shook water from the iPod. This made me sad. Next, I did something that in retrospect was not very smart: I turned it on. It powered up, and I thought everything wasOK, so I turned it off and did another thing that in retrospect was not very smart- I tried to shake the water out. This probably had the unintended effect of distributing water to places inside it had not been yet, be cause the iPod would not power up after that. This made me sadder. I was now the proud owner of an iBrick.

I have since consulted with websites and coworkers and placed the iBrick inside a plastic bag with some desiccant to absorb whatever water evaporated from the iBrick. It now powers on (yay!) but wants to be re-synced. I probably shook all the music out or something. So, while I no longer have a case for purchasing a new iPhone, I do have an opportunity to rid my iPod of all the ping-ping jazz that I allowed to be uploaded from my library. Which means cleaning all the ping-ping jazz out of my library. Sorry, GRP.

Moral: iPods don’t like to get wet, iHome2Gos don’t much like water, either, and ping-ping jazz belongs in elevators and department stores.