Cellphones that swim with the fishes...

"In an age of instant e-mail and smartphones, it seems, dumb users are multiplying. And toilet bowls are swallowing cellphones with untethered regularity.

"You'd be surprised how many people drop it in the toilet," said Todd McLauchlin, with Prairie Mobile in Regina. "That's very common."

Flushing phones, however, is not the only way people find to inadvertently damage their mobile devices....." (read the rest)

In my case, I was waiting at the bus-stop in a torrential downpour. I had my umbrella but the rain was sheeting down and soaked by "waterproof" book-bag. I got on the bus and went to put my transfer in the same pocket as my cellphone and found about 2 inches of water sitting in the pocket. Yeah, "waterproof", as in water gets in but can't get out....

I grabbed my cellphone out and tipped it upside down. Water POURED out of the hole the antenna sits in. There was almost as much water inside as was in the pocket!

I took out the battery and soaked up as much water as I could.

When I got to work, I put the phone on top of my desk lamp and hoped for the best. Later that day, I put the battery back in, turned on the phone and Hey Presto! the phone was working again!

Following the basic instructions in the article may save your cellphone:

-Retrieve phone as quickly as possible

-If still on, turn off. If off, leave off

-Remove battery immediately

-Dry off battery and outside of phone [don't forget tip tip it upside down to let any water collected in the antenna hole out]

-Use hair dryer, compressed air, an air vent or sunshine to dry out phone as quickly as possible [or, as in my case, a desk lamp -- check frequently just to make sure you aren't melting it! The top of your computer monitor would work, too. I'd put some paper towels down to make sure any water from your phone doesn't drip into the monitor!]

-Cross your fingers.