I did The Very Bad Thing.
I spilled coffee across my laptop's keyboard.
I'm terribly careless about physical things--they seem so very... optional--so perhaps it was inevitable, but I managed to go 18 years without screwing this up. Till this morning.
I hate myself a little bit less because at least I intuitively did what the Apple Genius-bar guy told me was the perfect thing:
turned the compter off, unplugged it, and set it upside down (open, of course).
Then I biked it to Apple (thankful a store opened this summer nearby, in Uptown), where they took the bottom off and saw the coffee had only dampened the start button, not something supersensitive like the hard drive, so once it thoroughly dries out it'll probably be OK. Or not. But the guy said to wait 3-7 days before starting it, so any dampness doesn't short out the electronics.
The guy was sweet and said, "It'll be OK. You have good karma."
I suppose he says that to everyone, but it effectively calmed me down anyway.
I'm using my first laptop now, my 6-year-old iBook G4. I love it like an old friend, but I have to reset the time and calendar every time I turn it off, so I'm not going to turn it off for a week. Also sometimes the connection blinks out when I open and shut it, so I'm leaving it sitting open.
And I hate myself a little less again because I took myself out for 2 iced Vietnamese coffees and finished reading A Partisan's Daughter, by Louis de Bernières, a very good novel about about a young Yugoslavian woman in 1970s London, which restored some of my perspective.Coffee on the keyboard?
#1stWorldProblem
But I'm still not ready to forgive myself.
I spilled some tea on mine a couple of weeks ago, I just turned it upside down and started using it again right away.
ReplyDeleteThe honey, now that was a problem...
That gives me hope. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteThe trauma of it; one of my first memories is of spilling cola all over the new keyboard. I shan't forget.
ReplyDeleteBut fear not, Freska; just put it over your shoulder and give it a few sturdy pats.
And when it recovers . . .
The Internet On Caffeine!
Can you imagine?!
Better coffee than that champagne you stocked up on for Milkweed-defense. You do NOT want to deal with an intoxicated Internet.
(You can imagine.)
oh nooooo!!
ReplyDeleteYou acted very sensibly. I would have cursed and cried and mopped at it with a napkin, wrung my hands, gnashed my teeth--but it never would have occurred to me to turn it upside down!
I'm so glad you got to have it seen by an Apple tech right away--it sounds as if the prognosis is good. In fact, you may have been give the super-cautious version of advice.
Accidents are a terrible nuisance and maybe even a great blow, but they aren't a character flaw:)
Shame - hope its fine when switched back on again.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE Louis de Bernières's books.
'RRET: I briefly pondered soaking my computer in the Milkweed-nullifying champagne bath, but felt they were entirely different species.
ReplyDeleteMOMO: Now you know! Godforbid, if it ever happens, to turn the thing upside-down.
But see, this wasn't really an "accident", it was carelessness---I KNOW not to put coffee near my laptop.
GINGA: I'd never read LdB before! Next up: "Corelli's Mandolin".
i am embarrassed to say i do this about three times a year, but happy to tell you that only once did anything fry and refuse to work.
ReplyDeletethe guy is right, you have good karma.
i have a collection of former laptops that many might consider defunct, but that really are just cranky and idiosyncratic. this one needs a clamp in just the right spot for most of the screen to work; that one has almost all functional keys; they all have adaptor issues (but who doesn't?).
have a great weekend...