It's a typical September evening until --->
I turn my back for one second to make dinner and my laptop is drowning in a tall glass of water.
Okay, maybe not literally drowning as my laptop could never fit inside a glass, but my super-duper unbreakable Tervis Tumbler tumbled right flat on my keyboard.
My heart pounds like a jackhammer gone wild and I stand there for a sec registering the waterfall submerging my baby.
It's only a split second before I run, toss the cup to the floor, and turn my laptop upside down on the counter. I grab a towel and blot and blot and blot and blot and blot but water is still seeping out from the keyboard.
No way did that just happen.
Not again.
If you have kids under ten, I take that back, if you have kids period, chances are this has happened to you. And what a heartache it is.
The first time this ever happened to my poor little laptop, I was outside in the backyard writing away. My son was in kinder or maybe it was first grade, and he had the water hose in hand. Trusting he'd stay across the way, faaaaar away (never trust a kid with a hose), it rained my way.
I prayed and prayed as much as I blotted and repeated the same exact steps as my September episode. In case you're wondering, yes, my son accidentally knocked over my cup. The tumbler did have a lid on it but water seeped from the straw opening.
An amazing CP of mine (waves to Sheri Fredricks) unfortunately had to go through a drowning the other day as well. BUT, her little baby is a fighter too! It survived. I shared some of the things that helped me and will share with you below.
Don't you just love HEAs? For you non-writers HEA = Happily Ever After.
My biggest point in writing this blog post is accidents do happen and unfortunately laptops do get showered. But don't ever underestimate the strength of your baby. That and a whole lotta praying!
I luckily have a good friend who is married to a computer tech and I texted her immediately. I also called Best Buy and other places that sell PCs. I kept notes as I wanted to share my survival process with you in hopes that it may save your baby if the time should come.
So here we go…
First thing you do if your laptop comes in contact with any liquids is:
1. Unplug your laptop immediately. And hit the OFF button as soon as possible.
2. Turn your laptop upside down to get water out but keep screen open.
3. Wipe off as much as the liquid you can. Some say you can use a blow dryer on cool shot and I've done that before until I read online that it can harm the components (your call)
4. Remove the battery and dry it off if it's wet. I've read you can place battery in a bag or bowl of rice. I did not do this but it is an option (This was my husband's idea and it helped.)
5. Comp tech suggested to unplug for 2 days and let it dry out. He recommended waiting 24 hours to turn it on but preferably 2 days. We waited one day. One. Long. Day.
The following day, we inserted the battery back in and fired it up and it roared back to life. Thankfully, it was water and not coffee or soda. Sugar makes things worse (not just in health).
I had a few friends recommend putting it on top of a bed of salt. As you know salt absorbs water but kind of hard to do with a laptop. Rice was another suggestion. Again, laptops have a lot of crevices and I simply didn't have a 20 lb sack of rice handy but thought to share in case you want to experiment.
My lovely buddy, Angela Ackerman over at Writers Helping Writers recommended DampRid. I had never heard of it. So I picked up the phone and called every hardware store I can think of but nobody carried it. She also shared a really interesting article on how to save your phone from a liquid submersion. You can read it HERE. I would have loved to try it. Definitely a good product to add to an emergency kit.Thank you for the recommendation, Ange!
So there you have it. Tips on how to help your laptop survive a drowning brought to you by MartzBookz. Though I hope you never have to use them.
Happy SAFE writing!
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