Spillage

I spill coffee a lot. Most of my shirts have a coffee stain somewhere, my coats too. When I graded papers, often they were left with tell-tail brown rings, or worse.

Toshiba (mine) and Dell (Julie’s), the scene of the spillage

But yesterday’s spillage takes the cake. In the morning, lazily enjoying my cinnamon coffee at Julies, I surfed the web, on her computer. Oliver, her adorable cat, decided to be playful and nice and jumped up onto my lap. No worries, right? So I browsed away, occasionally petting him with my left hand (the coffee-drinking hand) as my right operated the mouse and keyboard.

Then it happened. Out of nowhere, Oliver decided my right arm needed a bite, a hard one. Jumping to grab him, my left hand swept over the table, right through the coffee cup (placed brilliantly just inches from the computer), spilling the full cup all over the computer, table, wall, and floor. Oliver, wisely, disappeared. The computer, wisely also I imagine, went dead.

I immediately picked it up, disconnecting the power and battery, and tilted it to drain out the quarter-cup of coffee that was drenching the keyboard, processor, fan, and other semi-important parts. After thirty minutes of blotting and wiping with paper towels I ventured to try to turn it on. Nothing. So I left it, on its side (to aid in drainage) and went to work. I returned after work with screwdriver and flashlight in hand, determined to get out whatever coffee might still be in there. Removing every possible piece on the back of the computer, I found additional coffee only on the processor itself (eek), and happily wiped it off. Still, nothing.

So I called Julie and explained the situation. She was as calm as could be (yay), no poor me, no you idiot, none. Her response, echoing Shantideva, was: “there’s nothing I could do about it, so why worry?” Nice. I’d only hope to be so wise. Her only worry, she said, was about her photos (which she had planned to put on flickr…).

Oliver, on the table (where he knows he shouldn’t be)

I went to the computer store, looking for suggestions, and also at potential replacements. We had dinner, at my place so she could check email if needed – and to avoid the reality of the deceased computer awaiting across town just a bit longer.

Then, back again at her place we tried the Dell. Success! Sort of. It opened some strange media center – not Windows – when we started it up. At least we could see that her photos were intact. This morning I gave it another whirl – and finally – Windows! Back in action. We tested the keys, some were sticky, but all work, and all seems to be fine. Plus, as she pointed out, now it smells like a cinnamon coffee candle.