Good news: I might be a bit quieter over the next couple of days. Whilst writing yesterday’s blog entry and at the same time converting some old tapes (Led Zep), for those who worry about such things), I incorrectly judged the amount of beer in a bottle, and poured a small but significant proportion over my keyboard. That did for most of the bottom row, and the return key. The worst thing about this incident is that I was sober at the time.
I have been able to write a few comments on blogs, but I have needed to copy and paste some characters (including the carriage return!). Naturally, the C and V keys are affected, so I can’t use the keyboard short-cuts I normally use. I’ve had to come into work to post this (and I might leave with an extra keyboard), but I’m elsewhere until Wednesday.
The good news is that I finally got Laboratory Life through the post, so I have something interesting to read. But all those fascinating insights I was going to bring to the world will have to wait.
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Bummer.
I had a similar incident a couple o years back, not with beer, but with Irn-Bru. Thankfully, I drink the diet stuff, so I didn’t completely bugger up the hardware (modem) and it recovered reasonably quickly.
I did however suffer a (most probably) beer induced incident with a laptop and could not get past the opening password page since I had no idea what keys were affected (eg. XXXXXXXXX) one had no idea what came up post incident typing blindly). Eventually sussed it out but had to resort to an external USB keyboard which was a pain but solved the problem.
So, anyone else have any similar stories to tell ?
Rebecca – was it wise to mention that a couple of days before April 1st?
I’m now borrowing a keyboard from work. It’s fine except I’m also using the mousepad, and I keep on switching from that to the wrong keyboard, and then totally confusing myself.
I recently had a coffee vs. laptop incident on the train that cost me more than £100 in a replacement keyboard. So I feel your pain.
Yes, I had a coffee incident a few weeks ago. I shamefacedly called our IT helpdesk and a very nice person came with a new keyboard. Apparently it is an extremely common event in our building; I was even praised for this being the first time I’d ruined a keyboard in my 83 😉 years of service. Bob, your next paper (now you are c.v.-less so cannot apply for any jobs, you have time to write one) could be a statistical study of the distribution of laptop coffee incidents at the HQs of the world’s scientific journals.
Sorry, for laptop read keyboards. I was subconsciously thinking “laptop” as I am typing this at home on my laptop, and although thinking of getting up to make a cup of tea any minute for me and my daughter who is about to come in after a hard day working at Next sale (her Sunday job), also thinking I had better shut down first and not tempt fate.
Two more from here.
Centuries ago, our family stuck with a Beta-Max VCR years after the technology was replaced by VHS. Since we couldn’t rent any films, we siblings (cough), accidentally spilled sugary liquid over the machine and within the week, a spanking new VHS recorder arrived !
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A close shave that also comes to mind was back in 91. Our band spent several weekends locked away in Studio B, BBC Scotland HQ in Glasgow recording.
We were under strict instructions that the only liquid allowed in the mixing desk room was water. Being rockers of course, we did sneak in some cans/bottles of Coca-Cola/Irn Bru, tea/coffee etc. Yeah, we wuz crazzzzy.
IF we had had a non water related spillage incident over a 48 channel mixing desk (we came close a couple of times) , all hell would have broken loose.
Circuitry boards and sugar really don’t get on well.
In the end, no devices/musicians were hurt during this process as can be heard (utter plug) here and here for example.
Maxine – that’s a great idea. But where would I get the data from?
Graham – what is it about Irn Bru and Scots? Is it the waste from whiskey distillation? Or are the manufacturers not being entirely honest about the alcohol content?
Graham – what is it about Irn Bru and Scots?
Tis a legendary tale Bob that dates back to 212 BC (Before Coke).
One simply cannot comment more though via this medium.
That said, my goodness, there is of course a wiki
Have not seen this before.
Oh Bob. They don’t make ‘whiskey’ in Scotland.
Stories about gin/OJ (what can I say? we were out of vodka) and Pepsi destroying a laptop raise their ghostly plot outlines.
I suppose pure alcohol would have the opposite effect – cleaning out the contacts rather than gumming them up. I did once clean some cassette tape heads with ouzo. Worked brilliantly.
An ex-colleague of mine once spilled coffee all over his new laptop, which was the smallest, sexiest and most envied in the entire company. He got given my old one, which he had ridiculed at every opportunity, as a replacement, presumably as punishment. Instant karma is very satisfying.
Bob, you could always apply for jobs in publishing company’s IT departments (when you have your c and v back;-) ). I gather there is quite a high staff turnover because of frustration at idiot users constantly pouring coffee, ouzo etc over their keyboards.