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Welcome to my blog. I write about my adventures in travel, books, and health. Hope you find something interesting!

My Week Without A Laptop

Day 0

Feb 21, 2021. This is the day my 2015 MacBook Air died when I accidentally spilled a mug of coffee + creamer on it. I did everything I was supposed to to save it, but when I took it to the bathroom to turn it upside down and coffee continued pouring out of the keyboard, I knew it was toast. And the worst part? I was actually reaching for my external drive to back my computer up when the coffee spilled. That’s why the coffee spilled. An appointment is made for Saturday (6 days from now) at the Apple store. It seems so far away. Hopefully they can pull some data from my hard drive and keep me from losing everything.

Sunday afternoon. I’ve so far been unable to print paperwork I need for my new job tomorrow because my printer is being sassy and not playing nice with my friend’s laptop. Also, my keys fell down the elevator shaft and it’s $125 to get back into my apartment after hours. Cool, but what other option do I have? :(

A spot of good news: a friend was able to print my stuff at her friend’s house where the kids were having a play date. HALLELUJAH, things are looking up.

Sundays are expensive.

Day 1

Denial. Maybe my computer will turn on. Maybe if I just tap all the keys, it will kickstart something. One tap of power button didn’t work? Maybe if I just repeatedly smash it several times in quick succession it will work? No. Let me just tap all the other buttons now. Ooh, they’re all sticking a bit and kind of crunchy when they depress, that can’t be good. And my computer actively smells like coffee. I’ll just leave it be for now.

Maybe tomorrow I can try again and it will work better.

At least my employee health appointment wasn’t a total bust because a friend was able to print my paperwork out.

I think I can easily justify another day doing nothing but binge-watching television. Hello, “Ghost Adventures”!

Day 2

Sudden realization that I have rental insurance with a computer/electronic/tech rider. Maybe they will buy me a new computer instead of my real money!

Days 3 to 5

Spoke with the insurance company. Unfortunately for me, the deductible is $1,000. And the laptop that died is not actually worth that. So having insurance buy my new computer is a bust. Whomp whomp.

These days all pass in a blur of brunch with friends, evening cocktails, and hours upon hours of television streaming and book reading. Still barely made a dent in the stacks of unread books in my possession. Starting to contemplate packing my belongings up because I’m moving out of my apartment in a little over a month.

Day 6

D-Day. I have my appointment at the Apple Store to see if anything can be done to save my computer. There’s nothing they can do, but I’m in luck. On my particular model of the Macbook Air, the computer can be opened and the hard drive can actually be removed and the data possibly extracted. However, they don’t do that and I’m instead referred to a different company. I walk out of the Apple Store with a new Macbook Air. Woe to my bank account.

Back home, I’m attempt to make an appointment to get the data yanked off my hard drive — these are COVID times and they are all booked up for the forseeable future. That’s ok though, I’ve removed more than a few drives from PC laptops, this should be a breeze. After a quick google search, I realize that it’s maybe over my skill level. Sad face. Into the bin of miscellaneous electronic nonsense she goes.

I solemnly swear to treat my new laptop a little better than previously and avoid spilling anything liquid on it. Amen.

72 Hours in Abu Dhabi

72 Hours in Abu Dhabi