In a frenzy of virtue, yesterday I got up, left the house and went to the coffee shop for a smoothie and an extended period of dissertation work. It was going really, really well. I had a yummy very berry smoothie, and was actually trucking along with the writing when a terrible song came on the radio, so I thought I'd get out my headphones and listen to my own music instead. I leaned over to my backpack, pulled out my headphones, and knocked over my open bottle of water right into the keyboard of my PowerBook.

In a frenzy of action -- you've never seen a pregnant woman move so quickly -- I flipped the computer over so the water could drip out, unplugged it, and started drying it with my handkerchief. (Thanks to No Impact Man I've started carrying one around instead of using 3-4 disposables a day.) Then, I started looking around at my fellow coffeeshop folk, looking for advice about what to do next as I loudly shouted "Fuck!" The guy behind me suggested that I shut it down -- which I could still do -- and I even got to save my work. Then, I took out the battery and left it upside down for a while to let the water drain. A few hours later, I thought maybe the water was probably gone, and I was DYING to know whether it was ok. (especially since I hadn't backed up in, oh .... a WHILE.) It was fine. I couldn't believe it. The only thing that was off was that they space-key sounded a little squeaky. That has since gone away. SO, horay Apple! Horay quick thinking! Horay for water -- the least damaging substance you can dump on a laptop, apparently.

A couple of good things came of this near miss, though. First, I finally got the serial number of my exploding battery so that Apple can send me a new one (something I've procrastinated on for months). Second, I was so so terrified that I had lost all of the work I had done in the past few weeks (ahem, months?) that I wrote out by hand the next 2-3 pages of the chapter that I had been really struggling with. So, some good came of this dramatic and potentially terrifying incident.

Had the computer actually died, it would have been truly a tragedy because yesterday was my birthday. Wouldn't it have been awful to lose my computer on my birthday?

The funny thing about birthdays is that as you get older, there are lower and lower expectations on the present front. I mean, when you're a kid, you get lots of stuff for your birthday. As a grownup, usually I ask for a nice dinner with Spousal Unit. Since I knew he was crazy busy and because we had plans to go watch fireworks last night (our city is too small to do them on the 4th, so they have them for my birthday instead. Isn't that nice of them?), I knew I wasn't getting a nice birthday dinner so I figured there wasn't much coming my way. So, before the laptop/water incident, I bought myself 2 dissertation books, pre-ordered the Harry Potter (yes, I'm probably the last person on in North American to have not ordered her copy) and the second season of Angel. (I've got all of the others, but for some reason don't have that one.) I sent Spousal Unit an email telling him of my great shopping success for myself. He was only a little pissed that I had bought for myself the Harry Potter pre-order he had gotten for me as one of my birthday gifts! So I canceled it. Then, later last night my best friends came over with a gift for me.... yes, Angel season 2. DOH! Never again will I buy myself things on my birthday! And, here I was thinking I wasn't going to get any gifts!

But, by far the best gift Spousal Unit gave me was this:



Which is particularly cool over the pregnant belly.

You can get one of your very own here.

If you don't understand the reference and want to, go here.

Anyway, so today, I'm wearing my new shirt and letting my inner geek flag fly. Hope you all have a day full of gifts and happy accidents. And don't be afraid to let YOUR inner geek fly!