Lessons Learned

Dear Friends:

I had a major scare today.

As my community service effort for the week I thought sharing would be a nice thing to do.

Last night my hubby was out for the evening attending a men's night event at church (at least that is where he said he was going - just kidding, honey). Taking advantage of the alone time, I decided to catch up on some writing obligations by finishing up all the reading I needed to do for the week and answering e-mails. To accomplish those tasks I grabbed my brand spanking new laptop that I'd received as a Christmas present, albeit late, (that's okay, honey, you're forgiven) and headed upstairs.

By 7:00 p.m. I'd changed into some warm and comfy PJs (nothing sexy - why bother when you're alone) and crawled into our king size bed, with the aforementioned laptop. I'd brought along a huge mug of International House coffee to help me relax, lit a scented candle (yes, I lit it, not lighted it) for atmosphere, propped myself into a comfortable position with no less than four pillows, and placed said laptop upon my lap (as I suppose it was intended, hence the name).

By 8:30 p.m. all my e-mails were answered, all reading assignments were completed (something I would never have done while still in school) and my laptop was shut down for the night. Too lazy to get up and take my laptop back downstairs, I placed it on the floor under the window (so I wouldn't step on it when getting up in the middle of the night), tossed aside several of the pillows and decided to read for a while.  

By 9:30 p.m. the candle was blown out, the lights were off, and I was sound asleep.

Here's where it gets scary.

After sleeping in late (7:45 a.m. - which is late for me) I awoke, once again alone, as hubby had already left the house to put in a few hours at work. Something he rarely does on the weekend, but hey, no big deal, it gave me another few hours of alone time. I knew I should hop in the shower and wash my hair, as we had plans for the day, but I thought, what the heck, I've got a couple of hours before hubby gets home, so first I'll check to see if there are any replies to my e-mails and maybe even get in a little writing time. (That was a very long sentence, I know, but it works).

So, I grab the tossed aside extra pillows to once again prop myself into a comfortable position, retrieve my wonderful new laptop from the floor, place it upon my lap, open the lid, and push the button.

And... nothing happens.

No lights go on, I hear no clicking, no buzzing, no whirring. Nothing. It's dead.

Okay, I say to myself, maybe I didn't actually turn it off as I thought I had and the battery is dead. No problem. I'll just go downstairs (I need to make myself some coffee anyway) and come back up with the AC adapter. Five minutes later I'm back upstairs, back in the above-described cozy position in bed, laptop is now plugged into the wall, I push the button, and presto. Nothing. No lights, no sounds, no nothing. Dead as a flattened possum in the middle of the road.

Ah-ha, I say (again, to myself), the electricity must be off. No, not possible. I just made coffee, noted the time of day on the clock on the stove, and the ceiling fan is currently whirring softly above my head. But maybe, just maybe, the outlet in which I've plugged in my laptop has been tripped. I get up, go back downstairs, out to the garage, and check the fuse box.  Nope. Nothing's been tripped, everything looks fine. I go back upstairs. I try again. Still nothing. "WTF."

I take said laptop and AC adapter plug and go into the bathroom (it's a big bathroom) and use another outlet. Still nothing. Now I'm panicking. I go downstairs and try yet another outlet. Still nothing. 

This was about the time I asked myself, "Have you bothered to take the time to back-up all those wonderful chapters you've worked on since switching to your new laptop?  Of course not, I answer. Now, I'm freaking out.

As I mentioned earlier, I had plans for a very nice Saturday. By this time hubby was due home soon and I was already an hour behind schedule. So I put the laptop aside and try to put the whole issue in the back of my mind. I go about my business, get dressed, head out the door, and we do all the things we have planned for the day.

Still, it was there, lurking in the back of my mind. I'll never be able to recreate those chapters, I tell myself. All that work down the drain, or at the very least, lost to me for who knows how long while my new laptop is shipped back to China or where ever the hell it has to be shipped to before it can be fixed and returned. Hubby tells me not to worry, it's under warranty, we'll just call tech support and have it fixed in no time. Okay, so I imagine calling tech support and telling them the problem. And in said imagination, the voice at the other end says to me, "How the hell am I supposed to help you if you can't even turn the thing on?"

By 6:00 p.m. we're back at home and my wonderful, caring hubby immediately gets on the phone to call tech support. (Love you, honey). Granted it took forty minutes on the phone with James (or should we call him Peggy - might as well since we know his name isn't really James) in India, but he was a really nice man and very helpful. Hubby handled the whole thing as I was still a little too freaked out - something I tend to do when it comes to computer problems (as my oldest son will attest to).

Now, at almost 8:00 p.m., approximately twelve hours since the whole thing started, here I am, writing this little story to you upon that same wonderful new laptop. (Thank you, God!)

The moral of this story is: never, never leave your laptop on the carpeted floor, next the heater vent. Apparently, static electricity is not a mother board's friend.

Oh, and don't forget to back-up your work!!