Neatly Sliced

Last night, after having taken a sip of water from my 1-liter SIGG water bottle, I spilled about half of my almost full container on my bed, on which also rested my laptop. I’m not sure how much water was absorbed by my sheets and how much by my computer, but there was enough in the computer that when I went to shut it down, it started thinking forever until I held down the power button, although at this point my screen had already gone black. Putting my ear up to my sad sad machine, I could hear the sizzling of water inside. Oh noes.

I removed my laptop’s battery and tilted my computer at an angle to the sight of water dripping out the crevices.

It is now sadly sitting at home on its side, open, and in front of a fan, where my brother tells me it needs to stay for the following 7 days if I want to maintain any morsel of hope of recovery.

I am quite forlorn. I have never experienced such laptop calamity before; I was hoping some or any of you would have a laptop tale to share that ended with hope and not tears. I’m not sure my laptop has any hope, but any at all would be nice.

PS: Do you think this is covered by AppleCare? I’m still under my 3 years…

Popularity: 13% [?]

While watching The History Channel, I saw an alert in the corner of the screen informing me that if I text “1000″ to HISTRY (447879), I could get “This Day In History” texted to me every day. “Awesome,” I think. “I love useless trivia.” I then text “1000″ to HISTRY (447879).

Much to my chagrin, The History Channel replies in a rather uncouth manner: Access Denied!

I think, “Well, perhaps other mobile alerts are functioning properly.” All of The History Channel’s mobile alerts are listed on their site. I try the WWII one, because hey, that was a weird time in the history of the world. I receive the same error.

I try to report this to The History Channel, only to discover that their feedback form is not functioning at this time.

Ladies and gentleman, woe to me. Would anyone be so kind so as to inform The History Channel of this malady?

Update: As of February 10, 2008, the problem is resolved; I have been receiving my daily dose of history. And there was much rejoicing (yay).

Popularity: 11% [?]

Wiimbledon is the coolest thing since sliced watermelon: a bona fide tennis tournament, Nintendo Wii style.

The tournament will be held in Brooklyn, Saturday, June 23, from noon to 5pm. I would go if it were not for the travel and plane tickets and other rigmarole, not to mention the fact that I always lose in the training exercises.

Popularity: 7% [?]

The Symptoms

Lost data, tearshedding, massive re-writes

The Diagnosis

Moronic failure to back-up your data on a regular basis.

The Antidote

Write your drafts in word documents so that you have a backup on your machine even after publishing an article. Additionally, or concurrently, run regular backups of your database.

Why should I care?

Just today, I learned that my database had been switched over to a new server weeks ago and that the site was still pointing to the old server’s database. Today, the old database was shut down, leading to downtime and the erasing of recent posts. The recent posts were easily restored via the cached copy in my feed, but the unpublished drafts waiting for publish are, sadly, lost.

So, be smarter than me and don’t rely on your server’s database to protect your data.

Popularity: 9% [?]

I occasionally get telephone calls asking me to take surveys. The weirdest conclusion to a survey happened today upon my candid answer of a question:

Surveyor: In answering the questions to this survey, you may get the chance to watch a special half-hour television show.
Me: (Confused regarding this correlation, but continues to listen)
Surveyor: Have you had the following in the past seven days: candy?
Me: Yes.
Surveyor: Carbonated beverages?
Me: Yes.
Surveyor: Salty snacks?
Me: Yes.
Surveyor: Chewing gum?
Me: (I had recently switched from gum to mints about 2 weeks ago). No.
Surveyor: Thank you for your time. Good bye.

Why is chewing gum the deciding factor of whether this survey continues or not? What would have happened had I said yes? Insanity, I tell you.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Click through me! It’s like giving me $3 (if you buy something)! These are currently in-stock items that I would buy if I could justify buying yet more t-shirts, or if I had enough credits….

Popularity: 7% [?]

It is so stinking cold that it is all I can do to muster up the warmth to type out these simple words.

Bears lost the SuperBowl. I promptly locked my keys in my car in the -10 degree bitterness. Fortunately, I was able to go into the casa of the brother for a safe avoidance of hypothermia and possible death.

I was uneasy when the Bears scored those two touchdowns almost immediately following kickoff. I feared that the team would then be overconfident for the rest of the game. In any vein, it was good to see Indianapolis win a SuperBowl. They have not won for a while.

The lack of Apple commercial saddened me. Perhaps the millions they saved from a short spot will be enough to research and develop new and exciting technology, or the hastened release of the iPhone.

Popularity: 7% [?]