Stephen Strasburg Ruined My ITouch

Let me preface this by saying while I enjoy doodads and gizmos, I don't have a lot of them.  The budget doesn't let me be much of an early adapter.  However, back in March, I was able to finally purchase a Touch.  While one of the big reasons I got it was to be able to use MLB.tv, I expect that would have to wait until 2011 due to the price of the annual subscription.  However, I was able to get in on the vaunted $20 sale right before the season started and had the best of both worlds.

Now, I tend to do my best to take care of things like this, because one, I don't have the money to fix or replace and two, I tend to live a Murphy's Law-type of life at times.  It seems like if something can go wrong with something, especially if I've spent money on it, it will.

So the whole family has gotten to where they enjoy using the Touch.  They play the games, download different apps, the whole deal.  I use it to check my e-mail and Facebook and, of course, watch games.  It's been worth the money and really a lot of fun.

Then Stephen Strasburg comes along.

I'm a huge pitching fan and have been excited to see Strasburg since he reached national promenance last year.  I missed his first start because I had a softball game at the same time.  His second start was on TBS, so I could lay on my couch and watch that one.  His third start, though, wasn't televised in my area.  (My cable company won't get MLB Network, to my lasting sorrow.)

I started out watching Strasburg on the computer while the family was finishing up dinner.  However, I had to get the kids bathed up because I was heading out to my bi-weekly poker game soon.  I didn't want to miss his start, though.  What to do?

You can see where this is going.

It worked out fine when my son got his bath.  I made sure to keep it well away from the tub and moved it away from the sink when he was brushing his teeth.

Then, my daughter's bath.  Again, things were going well until she says, "I want to see the baseball game."  So I turn it toward her to show her the game.

I'm still not sure exactly what happened.  I wasn't over the tub when I showed her.  I thought I was well enough away from it.  However, apparently I wasn't.  The Touch slipped from my hand, bounced against the side of the tub, and landed face up in her bath water.

The image of the game being viewed through a thin layer of water will stay with me a long time.  After freezing for a second in utter disbelief, I lunged for the Touch, got it out and wrapped a towel around it.

Perhaps if I were more electronic-savvy (or actually have been able to think), I'd have first gone to the internet and looked for answers.  If I'd done that, I'd have seen that I shouldn't turn it on or use it at all.  Of course, that's not what I did.  Everything seemed to be OK, there was just no sound.  Maybe I was in time.

Then it shut off.

Restarting it, I rushed for the headphones (since when I turned the volume up and down, that was the volume it said it was adjusting) to see if I could get the sound back on.  That's when the screen stopped responding.

After some texting with my brother-in-law, I did the "submerge it in rice" thing this weekend.  When we finally got it out yesterday, after some major work, it seems to actually work somewhat.  The apps will come up, the touch screen is responsive, everything is good.

Except the wi-fi.  That option is completely ghosted out.

At least it works in part.  The family can still play a lot of their games.  It still syncs up with the computer.

But no more watching Strasburg or any other game on it.  I hope he's happy.