Oh the 3 things that should not be in combination in the hands of a 7 year old.  I am writing this on my laptop, with an old keyboard from a desktop computer.  Why, because water doesn’t make laptop keyboards work.  At all.  This is not the first time one of my kids has spilt on my keyboard, but this is the worst of it.  The keyboard doesn’t even sort of work.  Let’s take the time machine back a few hours…..

{time machine music goes here with some wavy picture that evokes going back in time}

Windows Key on black laptop keyboard.

Windows Key on black laptop keyboard. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Ok so here we are getting dinner ready for the masses, or trying to.  My youngest son runs into the kitchen, “Daddy I spilled your drink on your keyboard.”  “What keyboard?” said I, rushing to the electronics.  “Your laptop.” he says and my brain clicks into overdrive, giving orders for towels and screwdrivers as I powered the machine down and dumping it upside down to clear the fluid.

You see we have a bench against the wall at our dinner table.  I had the computer on the dinner table.  My son had a few legos on the back side of the table and he was climbing around and over the table.  Gravity took over and well the rest, and my keyboard, is history.

So after cleaning and drying the keyboard was dead but the computer works just fine, Albeit with another keyboard.  

Cut scene to a week later.  I bought another keyboard from the local thrift store that is about the size of my laptop so it is easier to take around, and it doesn’t have a cord.  It does have the pleasing clicking of a mechanical keyboard that somehow gives great feedback to how fast you are typing.  I kind of like it.  Cut to a couple of week later when Ebay finally comes through and I get a new keyboard for the laptop itself.  I took the thing apart again and installed the new one.  A huge mess of not easy to do as it turned out.  But I got it back together.  

Well the new keyboard works, but not quite like it should.  Sure all of the keys do what they need to, but it is not as secure as it should be so it is almost impossible to type on.  I still have to open the whole thing back up and secure the keyboard.  I just like typing on this other one so much I may not do it for quite a while.

To sum up, water and laptops do not mix, but for around $25 I got a new keyboard for the machine, and a wireless keyboard that I quite like.  It is one of those things that turns out well in the end, but what a hassle overall.