...on Children, Laptops, and Kool-Aid
Fact 1: My bride Christy and I have two wonderful children: Stevie Ray (3 years) and Emma Grace (14 months).
Fact 2: Because I am a geek, we also have approximately 14,312 computers in the house, some of which are laptops.
(We also have two cats - not because I'm a geek, but because I'm lazy and you can always turn a cat out and he or she will eventually find something to eat and eat it rather than starve... I admire that. The cats are named Rex [male] and Rufus [female]. I named Rufus. I don't get to name any more mammals at our house...)
Fact 3: The aforementioned children consume mass quantities of Kool-Aid on a daily basis and have managed to spill it in every square foot of the house floor, the walls from the three-foot mark down, and a couple ceilings (I don't know how) several times each week - much to the chagrin of the aforementioned cats, who hate kool-aid-sticky-paws. But then they lick it off and look at you as if to say "Mmm! Kool-aid!" Cats also change their minds approximately every 14 milliseconds, which makes them fun - or at least interesting - to have around.
You may have already guessed the inevitable: one of the kids decided to place their cup of Kool-Aid on Mom's laptop. And, in an effort to protect the $0.19 cup from the harmful effects of prolonged Kool-Aid exposure, decided to turn the cup over, storing the Kool-Aid inside Mom's laptop which is filled with empty spaces that - it turns out - will hold about half a cup of Kool-Aid which - it turns out - is about how much was left in the cup. Looking back on it, the engineering was impeccable. It warms my heart just to think about it.
At this juncture, the laptop produced several abnormal sounds. I was at work and my bride was out of the room for a moment, but it was abnormal enough that a 3-year-old (Stevie Ray) knew something wasn't right - and promptly alerted his mother that something was wrong with her "ka-pewter".
Christy shut the machine down, tipped and emptied it of Kool-Aid (I think it was grape - aka "bape" Kool-Aid), and called me.
I'm an engineer at heart. Nothing warms the heart of an engineer like a good old-fashioned smoke test. "Fire it up and let's see what happens!" I advised.
It actually booted, sounding much better after draining. But no display. Great.
My mind immediately flashed back to the young man at the electronics superstore asking me if I wanted to buy that $200 extended warranty, the quick odds calculation I'd computed, and my answer: "No - I'm an engineer! I don't need no steenkin extended warranty!" I am such a funny guy - I kill me. Well, I feel like at least kicking me... now.
I tell my lovely bride to leave the laptop turned off until I get a chance to work on it. Which will be in approximately 30 hours. I have to drive to northern Virginia to speak at the Cap Area .Net Users Group meeting that night and will arrive home around 1:00 AM. I'll get up at 5:30 AM (sleeping in an hour...) to head in to work, so it'll have to wait until the next evening.
She tries it later and it works. It's still working. I'm so impressed I'm mentioning the product line and manufacturer. It's an HP laptop. We've had this one for about two years and it's survived other spills, as well as the aforementioned cats "loving" it (covering the keyboard and clogging the fan with fur) and now this. It's a tough box and has earned my admiration.
Good job on this laptop, HP.
:{> Andy
Technorati Tags: Laptop Kool-Aid Children HP