Computers Don't Like Water + Welcome ScarletQuill!

Oops!

Bear accidentally gave her laptop a cup of water to drink Sunday, and it didn't like it at all. Apparently, it wasn't thirsty. Or else it prefers coke, or hot chocolate. Or maybe it was even holding out for coffee.

The laptop sits on a box, below the table Bear works at. It has an extra monitor screen and keyboard connected into it that sit up on top of the table. It's kind of a similar setup to the way people use Desktop CPU's, with the CPU part on the floor. Bear uses the laptop like the CPU part of the computer.

Bear was relaxing in the Den, after church, watching a YouTube video, and knocked the cup of water off the table.

Bear always thought it was pretty safe to drink water and eat while working at the computer, because the laptop is so far away from the monitor and keyboard -- about four feet away.

But, amazingly, the water chose to target the computer directly, although it could easily have chosen any number of better places to land, in Bear's opinion.

And the laptop got mad at Bear. It choked and sputtered, as if it didn't think it kind for Bear to give it a drink. Then its little motor (which used to purr along with a nice, steady "rrrrrrrr" sound) started going rrr--chuga--clunk--cough, rrr--chuga--clunk--cough...

If Bear had been feeling better, she probably would have had it unplugged before it got to that point. But Bear was kind of dragging Sunday, and her reflexes were not up to snuff. So, by the time she got it unplugged, and had scooped it up and flipped it upside down to try and keep the water from getting farther into its internal workings, it seemed to be too late.

It didn't look good.

But after praying on it, Bear propped the laptop up, using file boxes along its edges, to hold it upside down in midair, and stuck a fan by it, that's steadily blowing air on it. And plans to leave it that way for 24 hours before testing it.

And will hope for the best.

Meanwhile, she's now working, using the Den's backup computer -- an old clunky desktop whose hard drive is dying. It only boots up about 75% of the time, and sometimes refuses to boot up at all, for days. But today it did finally boot up on the fourth try, so Bear's going to leave it turned on overnight, so it won't have to try and boot up anymore, and is hoping it doesn't die completely. And hopes that it will last until her laptop revives, if it does.

She did think that maybe the backup computer might need just a bit of caffeine to get it going. Because Bear herself sometimes has trouble "booting up", and a bit of caffeine sometimes helps her. But she decided, after her laptop got so mad over the water, not to offer the backup computer a cup of coffee.

Computers just don't seem to appreciate that kind of thoughtful gesture.

Welcome, ScarletQuill! Glad to have you on board as a regular Den visitor, and look forward to getting to know you, as time goes on. Your smiling face at the Den made it a cheerier place Sunday, despite computer glitches.
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