It was protected!

Something happened yesterday that is worthy to blog about. Aydan still isn't potty trained however he has his moments when he feels that he should be. So in the middle of church, Aydan says, "I need to go potty" and of course I knew where this was going, we would get to the bathroom, I'd place him on the potty, he'd pretend to go and make a couple of noises, then we'd go back to our seat. Well we get into the stall, I pull his pants down, lean over to pick him up, and as soon as I did, I watched a beautifully crafted piece of electronic heaven slip out of my shirt and take the best dive I've ever seen into the toilet. Had this been the Olympics it would have won for the sheer angle breaking through the water.

Well, if you haven't figured this out yet I'm talking about my iPhone. My jaw dropped and the first thing I thought was that I now have a $400 paperweight and no cell phone. What would I do? How would check the weather at the most random times throughout the day? How would I know if Apple's stock dove below $100 per share? I almost started to cry and then quickly realized what I was initially in the bathroom for, there was Aydan with his pants around his ankles saying, "Daddy, why is your iPhone in the toilet?" I hurried and pulled half the roll of toilet paper off to dry my soaking phone. It was a mess and I was freaking out. Crazy pop ups started showing on my screen. I would turn it off in hopes of saving the precious electronics but it would turn itself back on. I finally got it to the point where water was no longer dripping out of the small crevices, however water was beneath the screen and had made a clear mark. All I could do at this point was pray... I was on the house of the Lord after all. I decide to try and make a call and to my surprise it worked. Aydan is still with his pants down and I'm on the phone with my mother while in the church bathroom. I finally put my iPhone down and pulled Aydan's pants up then headed to our seat in the chapel. I was so embarrassed and had no idea what I'd tell Emily. We sat down and with a large smirk on my face, I told her what had happened. Thankfully it was time for her to play the closing hymn and didn't have too much time to talk about it. Luckily my iPhone had regained some of its function back by the time I could actually give her the whole story.

Anyway, do you think Heavenly Father likes iPhones? I do, because my phone still works and the mysterious watermark beneath the screen has disappeared, and all the pop ups have ceased. Yes I'm sending this very post from my iPhone while listening to my favorite playlist with my headphones on. I'm lucky, but note to self, don't drop your iPhone in a toilet unless it's protected by the powers that be, or your looking for a great looking $400 paperweight.

Aaron J. Shafenberg
Sent from my iPhone (that's taken a dive recently and lived to blog about it)

iPhone Camera Blues

I took this photo with my iPhone. Some of you may be asking yourself, "how did that handsome devil get this self portrait to look so good?" Well the answer is in the mirrors - I'll explain later. Those familiar with the iPhone know that taking a picture of yourself is near impossible because the screen is on one side and the camera is on the other. You might say, "that's no big deal, there are plenty of cell phones that are designed this way." Yes this is true, however, those cell phones all have buttons that you can physically feel and can at least estimate where you're at in the view finder. The issue with the iPhone is that there are no buttons due to its multitouch interface and therefore trying to accurately take a picture is like trying to touch something that isn't really there. Now, back to my initial question, how'd that handsome devil do it? Well, I stood in front of the mirror with the camera's lens facing me while I looked at the reflected image of my iPhone's screen in the mirror. It worked great because I could see where my finger was in relation to the camera's virtual button. My friend Matt and I both agree that Apple should keep the camera lens where it is but add one to the screen side as well offering self portrait ease. What do you think?

Aaron J. Shafenberg

Sent from my iPhone