When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Go Mulching

As someone who makes a living off my computer, I can honestly say there is not a more stomach turning sound than the quiet click of a laptop one second after you spill a glass of juice on it. And the sight of the screen going dark immediately after does not help that feeling.

Yesterday was a bad day. I blitzed my laptop with a mere misplaced bump of my elbow. And just in case any of you ever have the displeasure of experiencing this catastrophic event. This is what you should do.

1. Immediately flip your laptop over so the keyboard faces the ground. This prevents the spillage from leaking any further into the interior of the laptop.
2. Pull the power source as quickly as possible. Pull the power cord out of the laptop and remove the battery. The faster you do this the better.
3. Curse loudly. This does nothing for your laptop but it will make you feel a little better.
4. While keeping the laptop flipped, gently clean the keyboard as best as possible to get the liquid out as best you can.
5. Make a tent of the laptop and set it in the tent position in a dry, non-humid place.
6. Leave to dry for at least 24-hours. Do not flip back over. Do not try to turn the computer on just to see if it will start. Leave it alone for 24-hours.
7. Try the laptop after the laptop has set in the tent position for 24-hours. If the computer does not come up, leave it in that position for another 24-hours. But chances are it will come back up the first time. You can repeat this process for up to a week. If after a week your laptop still does not come back up, it is toast. Take it to a professional and see if the hard drive is recoverable.

So this morning, that is what I did and everything but the screen came back up. Good news… the hard drive and motherboard is intact. Bad news… You still can’t work if the screen isn’t working. So my laptop is still in rehab for the next day. I am doing a little work on my son’s PC today, but this is like being a Porche driver who was given a Toyota Corolla to drive for the day. Sure, it will get me to where I need to go, but not nearly as fast and not in nearly as much style.

I was feeling just a little low yesterday. And when I feel low, I go gardening hard core. I called the city and asked if they could deliver a truckload of free mulch. Nothing like lugging bucketfuls of rich, dark mulch to take one’s mind off terrible things that might happen. Plus, with my laptop not working, what else was I going to do?

As a result, my front yard is fully mulched and looking wonderful. Today, I will be working on the side yard. If this keeps up, I will have my whole yard completely mulched by the end of the week.