†† Paula Neal Mooney ††

Oh yes, please come back to me healthier and fixed and saved...

That’s why I was in the bathroom, juggling a bowl of grapefruits soaked in juice above my Macbook Air — trying to eat and write and um, yeah, all at once.

Sounds crazy when I write it, but it’s funny how much stuff one can get done in a day.

Spilled the grapefruit juice on my new Macbook Air keyboard — and then sobbed…and then felt better

Sad but sunny turned great day...

I mean, I didn’t pull out the hair dryer like some sites recommend, but I did store it away upside down in our cold-butt sitting room while my husband took us out for New Year’s Eve.

At first it seemed to be working fine, but eventually the track pad wouldn’t respond right, and the keys wouldn’t type the right letters — or rather, they’d type some and others would stick, or another would type multiple times when I didn’t want it to.

I couldn’t even get past the password unlock screen to get to the files I had on board.

I got so freaking sad about that and other New Year’s Eve emotions that I nearly went to a bad place. I probably looked much sadder than I did in this pic from a few weeks ago, when I was crying before the Lord one sunny day (I’m usually not this sad, by the way, I was just getting over something) and soon after He gave me a great treat of sorts — and later my friend came over while my husband was away in Florida, and we stayed up all night talking till nearly 6 a.m. the morning of the lunar eclipse.

You make me better…

The real "Big Apple"

I had another good sob locked away from the world in the bathroom after I realized I may have ruined a 2-month-old $1,300 machine without a warranty.

Even if I did have a warranty, I don’t think Apple covers spill damage — check to make sure, but I’m pretty sure that’s what I read and what they told me.

I went online after He calmed me down, letting me know it’s not the end of the world, but that it could be fixed — and thank Him that I still have other devices to publish with — like his wonderful Toshiba that my husband is letting me borrow so I could make my Social Spark writing deadlines that will pay nearly 70 bucks for only 200 words (though I always type more!) and complete other work.

I learned just how many people spill liquids on their Mac keyboards — and there were even brave souls that took their Macbooks apart themselves to try and fix them.

I thought of going that route, but instead I took that Macbook that I got on Black Friday in Chicago from the Apple Store on Michigan Avenue into my local Apple Store in Summit Mall in Akron, Ohio.

So that’s how Apple makes their money…

That’s what my husband said when I asked him, “Guess how much they want to fix my Macbook?”

I anticipated around $300 — having only done a cursory search of costs to fix Macs with spill damage online.

My husband guessed $500 to fix the thing.

But the price the Apple Store guy told me as the flat-rate fee they charge had me repeating him — me, the in-the-know techie that didn’t expect to be surprised.

“And the rate would be seven fifty-five,” said one of the red-shirted Apple Store cool employees, with those white apples with the big bite taken out of it. (I still gotta Google why Steve Jobs or his counterpart came up with that logo…)

“Seven fifty-five?” I repeated, knowing he couldn’t have meant $7.55, because I was already expecting a figure in the hundreds.

“Yes, $755,” he clarified.

Okay, I thought, pulling out my Amex card to call them and warn them of a large purchase I’d soon make.

Thank God they always go through as He wills them to…

He sent me over to the Apple bar, or whatever they call that customer service bar — and I snapped the above pic of my MacBook Air before leaving it in the trusty hands of Ola, a nice Apple employee who checked me in as I glanced down at the shatter iPhone of a guy in front of me also at the bar.

I felt empowered to just go ahead and charge the $755 if I had to — even though I knew I could buy the bottom of the line Mac for nearly that price, or definitely get a refurbished one for that price, but I wanted mine fixed.

As I stood there and prayed for favor, there was a pause, and instead of sending it out — they overnight it to one of two locations in the US and overnight it back — they are going to see about fixing it in-house.

So whether it’s really going to be $755 plus tax or much less, or whether God is raising my income to meet that cost and pay off the Amex that He always miraculously does by just bringing in different writing jobs or new ideas or more favor and the effort and chutzpah to make more money and move things around, I trust Him and thank Him to do it all over again.

Apple said it’s a common thing for people to spill liquids on their Macbooks…

…so don’t feel too badly if you’ve done the same thing.

Stay tuned to see what happened, and like me on Facebook above for more.

In the meantime, I’m keeping liquids far away from my electronics in the present and future.

And thanking the Lord for cleaning up another one of my messes.

Oh yeah, Apple said that $755 would be a very thorough check — and that they would try to salvage the files I have on my flash drive. I really pray they can, because I didn’t do the old email-myself-files-I-want-to-save-through-Gmail like I do for a lot of files, but at least I believe I did for one big one.

Okay, let me know your electronic stories by commenting below. Peace out…

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