The $600 Blizzard …

It’s been an unusual few weeks …

Maybe you’ve noticed the lack of recent posting here.   Let me share a bit about my life of late:  

Two trips to  auto dealership to repair paint scratches and replace a cracked windshield, repair a damaged basement ceiling, helping my wife launch her new job, moving and cmplete reorganization of two home offices (still in progress due to ceiling repairs), annual congregational meeting, completion of several learning projects, and initiation of another learning project involving multiple webinars over a four-week period, plus a commitment to provide programming around World Refugee Day.

In addition, there was the usual work going on:  appointments, presentations, coaching sessions, social media content provision, connections, and curating.   Oh yeah, I started going back to the gym regularly, too. 

All the repairs and moving means that most of our records and possessions are not in their normal places, sometimes underneath or behind other heavy objects.  Simple or easy requests are not common right now.  Everything is a “deal” …

This weekend we experienced a memorial service for the son of a dear friend, that previously mentioned congregational meeting, and several long discussions about a possible change of work for me, which will upend my current world.  

So you can forgive me for wanting to indulge in one of my favorite treats on Sunday evening.  I believe that a Dairy Queen Banana Split Blizzard is among the highest of culinary treats and I was loving this one, as I prepared to do some light composition and catching up with emails and so on …

Until I spilled half of my delicious Blizzard in the center of my laptop keyboard …

A little learning from this episode:

REACTIONS:  If you spill something on a laptop, turn it over and let gravity help you, rather than anxiously swipe at the keyboard with paper towels, while screaming unkind words at the top of one’s lungs.   Of course, it probably won’t help, but at least you look smarter while the liquid courses through your motherboard.

By the way, sopping up ice cream with paper towels is not a particularly effective process.

SIDE EFFECTS:  A spouse who initially laughs at what you have just done evokes many emotional reactions with this simple behavior.   That spouse should have a very strong relationship with you to do so.

EFFECTS AND AFFECTS:  A keyboard absorbs ice cream, which then hardens and makes the keyboard unusable.  This is not good for someone who writes on a daily basis.   Especially when you cannot type the password to get back into your computer, because the keyboard is toast.

OUTCOMES:  Anything can be fixed … for a price.  In this case, $600 plus a week or so of dead time would “probably” restore my keyboard to normal.   A cheaper option was to purchase a plug-in keyboard to restore functioning, which would add yet another thing plugged into a laptop which already requires several plug-ins (such as a wireless adapter) because internal elements have failed over the years.

DECISIONS:  $600 would restore or replace … I type this on my brand new laptop, purchased with a spillage/damage plan, for exactly %600.02.  It’s more powerful, nicely designed, and I was able to restore basic functioning within 24 hours.

… and they say miracles don’t happen.

… PLUS AN OBSERVATION:  

I had both the cash and the available credit to make this a rationally based decision.  

My “crisis” was relatively easily resolved because I have some resources.  This puts me in a select group, because I can consider options.  Many would not have this type of flexibility, especially coming after non-budgeted auto and home repairs, along with a fair amount of cost involving a new job.

I wonder what those who lack such resources do when they spill their Blizzards …

Thinking about how fortunate I am and what that means for my interactions with others in the Heartland ….

John