Computer Mercies

I had a near catastrophe here at the cottage this afternoon. I spilled a full cup of tea as I set it down next to my laptop! You can't imagine (well, maybe you can) the rush of fear and anger at myself that I felt! How could I do anything so stupid and clumsy? I am not even sure exactly what happened--just that all of a sudden tea was splashed on my keyboard and screen and flowing underneath the entire laptop.

So I mopped up the excess with the closest towels I could grab and reached for the phone to call Andy. He's my go-to technology person and I had no idea what to do. All I could remember was a story Emily had told us of a girl at college who spilled hot chocolate on her laptop and tried to dry it with a hair dryer. And the outcome of that story was disaster.

Well, Andy said unplug it right away. I had done that not because I remembered the electricity and water thing in the heat of the moment but just to expedite the wiping up of the tea. Take out the battery was his next instruction. Done, with his help. Turn it over with it opened to let any excess tea (isn't it all excess in a laptop?) run out of the keyboard and leave it until he got home. That was a very long hour and a half!

I met him at the door with a splitting headache. He reassured me that chances are it would be all right, that sweet liquids like coke and hot chocolate are the worst. (I don't put sugar in my tea.) Then he walked into Charlie's room, where I usually use my laptop, and took it downstairs to his workbench while I finished getting supper on the table. He checked out the bottom and said there was no tea in there. The keyboard looked good. We took a break for supper.

Then he opened the part between the keyboard and the hinge for the screen. Some dampness in there. Oh, please God let my laptop live. Andy dried out the excess and took it downstairs again to use Charlie's stand dryer, a professional groomer model that has very low heat but a high volume of air, on it. Back upstairs for the test. All the settings were messed up but Andy fixed that in a few minutes and turned it over to me, fully functional! Thank You, God, for Your mercy in restoring my computer and thank You for such a capable and loving husband! I am blessed.