Jordan Essentials: Bath, Body and Spa Rep #10522 http://jordanrep.com/10522

Remember Roseanne Roseannadanna???

I'm hooked on the internet, so I came back to the computer and worked on my blog a little bit. Then, I looked in at a few other blogs. Before long, I was falling asleep again. The clothes were not finished washing, but I knew I could dry them in the morning.

I use my cell phone as my alarm clock, and I'd already set it for my wake up time. But, I wanted to be sure it was near me so I'd hear it ring. I started looking around, but I could not find it. Then, I got offline and used my home phone to dial my cell phone. That's how I find it when I've misplaced it.

It never rang. I dialed again and listened from the receiver this time. The cell phone went straight to voice mail. That could mean only one thing. It was turned off. But, I did not remember turning it off.

Then, it hit me. "What if my cell phone is still in the pocket of my EMT pants???" There was only one way to find out. I stopped the washer half way through the spin cycle, and reached in and pulled out my pants.

There was a lump in the back pocket where I keep the phone. The phone and my lip balm were both in the pocket of my pants, in the washer, near the end of a hot/cold wash cycle.

I took it out. Of course it was turned off, even though it was turned on when I started washing it. I was remarkably logical about it. I didn't start berating myself. I just reminded myself that some electronics will work again, after they've gotten moisture in them, if they can be dried first. I decided to try it.

I opened the back of the phone and took out the battery and the computer card (with a gazillion phone numbers). Then, I shook the phone in a slinging motion. Water flew out of it onto my bed sheets. I did the same thing with the battery. Water came out in streams of tiny drops.

This was not promising. But, there is nothing I can do about it tonight. And, it won't serve any purpose for me to call myself unfriendly names. I hung the phone in front of the air conditioner, sans battery and memory card, with a plan to leave it there until morning.

I don't know if morning will be long enough for the moisture to be gone. I may need to use a blow dryer. I even wondered, half joking to myself, if maybe I should have let the spin cycle sling more water from it, or if maybe the dryer might be a good place for it.

Most likely, I will be buying a new telephone in the morning, or some day soon. Until then, I will be without long distance, roadside assistance, and all the conveniences cell phones provide.

This is especially disconcerting since I signed up for a two-year contract with my cell phone company less than one year ago specifically to get this particular phone, and I have no reason to believe they will replace it for me just because I washed it in hot water when I was too tired to realize my mistake.

I don't know why I'm not more upset about this. It could be that I'm just too tired to do any more than try to stay awake while I write this post. But, maybe it's because even with the expense I will most likely incur when I replace the phone, it's small in the greater scheme of things.

Today (yesterday on the ambulance), I saw a man with no legs, a woman who was found dead by a family member, and a methamphetamine addict who claimed to have been clean for over a year whose muscles were twitching so hard I couldn't keep my fingers on the pulse point.

Today the temperatures were in the 90s F. A little boy was concerned about a stranger he saw fall in the park near his home. He took the man a glass of water while his mom called 911. He stayed with the stranger until we arrived, and he told us everything that had happened up to that point. He gave a very good report.

I also talked with some children who asked me, "Is she going to be okay?" We are not supposed to answer questions like that, since we cannot tell the future, and we do not know what will happen. I asked, "Are you worried about your grandmother?" They said, "Yes." I told them she was doing better than she had been when we arrived, but she was going to go to the hospital so the doctors could check her out and make sure she was okay.

"Grandmothers are really special," I said, trying to affirm their love and concern for their grandmother. I tried to speak to them in a way that might provide some comfort without making promises that she would definitely be okay (although I believed she would be fine).

And the miracle I saw today was a mother and child who walked away unharmed from an incredible motor vehicle crash on the highway. The EMT-Basic said the EMT-Paramedic was "still looking for feathers" (from the angels that were protecting the mother and child). Other emergency people on scene said the same thing. It looked like a miracle that anyone came out of that car alive.

In light of my day 'at work', ruining my cell phone by washing it in my work pants was in the 'small stuff' category.

I'll be using a wind-up alarm clock to wake me in time for day 3 on the ambulance.

posted by jordanrep.com/10522 @ 3:34 AM