Wine and Macbooks don't mix!

[administrator]

So I had a few friends over for some holiday celebration, and for the special occasion, the white wine was a flowing. Being a nerd, I had to show my guests a funny video I found on Youtube. When I placed the laptop on my coffee table beside my wine glass, I briefly noticed that I broke my 15 year old rule: never place a glass of anything beside a computer.

 

... I then karate-chopped a full glass of wine right into the keyboard. Being a little tipsy, I didn't remember the first rule of spilling liquids on electronics: turn off the power. So, I left the power on and a few hours later, I noticed that the laptop shut down and would not come back on. A few days later at the local Apple store, I got the sad news that it would cost $1000+ to repair my 18 month old machine.

 

"It's dead Jim."

 

Moving to the Cloud

 

I have plenty of backups and even the Apple Time Capsule for wireless auto backup. Nonetheless, without a Mac, I was not able to access anything since Time Capsule is Mac formatted. It would take days until my new Macbook Air arrived, so I fired up the old XP machine and started my migration to the cloud ...

 

Step 1: Move to Gmail.

Step 2: Use Amazon cloud services for backups.

 

Lessons to Learn

 

1. Don't drink and compute.

2. Use the 'cloud' so you are not reliant on any machine for your day-to-day operations. Use web based email like Gmail or Yahoo and use a remote storage service like Amazon's cloud to store backup files. This way, if your house burns down or you spill wine on your laptop, you know that your data will be up-to-date and accessible from any computer ... even your old XP machine.

 

Stefan

[Andrea]

Good advice - and I want to add: Red wine and a regular keyboard don't create a major disaster. I unplugged the keyboard, stuck it in the sink, and ran water over it until all the wine was washed out, then placed it face-down for a few days (while I was using a spare keyboard). My lesson: keyboards are totally washable; however, while I haven't tried it yet myself, I would NOT recommend sticking them into the dishwasher.

[newseed]

while I haven't tried it yet myself, I would NOT recommend sticking them into the dishwasher.

Dishwasher? Hmmm...I'd say let's put it to the test.

[Andrea]

Dishwasher? Hmmm...I'd say let's put it to the test.

 

 

Thanks for volunteering - let us know how it goes.

[newseed]

Right off the top of my head, I don't think you should use dishwasher soap. Secondly, don't use the heat for drying.

[virtual]

I wouldn't recommend washing machines either

[newseed]

I don't think the washing machine would a bad idea. What would BE A BAD IDEA is to put the keyboard in a clothe dryer. The static electricity would zap the PC/Mac when reconnecting.

Edited December 28, 2010 by Eddie

[Andrea]

The static electricity would zap the PC/Mac when reconnecting.

Dude, that's why they make dryer sheets.

[administrator]

You could use a blow dryer.

 

 

Stef

[virtual]

Yeah, and you could also not spill food and drink on your laptop ....

[newseed]

Whatever you do just don't put your keyboard near BP oil because the cleanup can be disastrous.