Technical Difficulties, Please Stand By

I've told myself a thousand times to be careful with electronics. I store my laptop in a padded case and stuff it in a plastic bag when it's idle. I keep my phone and iPod in plastic bags, just in case I get caught in an afternoon downpour. So I'm kicking myself because last night I was surfing the web while drinking cheap Tiger beers at the hostel bar. I think you know what happens next. I processed a batch of new photos and while waiting for them to upload to Flickr, I placed my computer next to my beer. I have no peripheral vision, and I'm a bit of a klutz. I knocked over the mug, spilling beer directly onto the keyboard. I scrambled to shut off the laptop and did my best to dry it out, but this morning the keyboard was D.O.A. The hard drive seems fine, and the touchpad works, but I can't type a single letter.

The unit is now at a Sony service center, where it will receive a new keyboard and an service check. These things never happen overnight, and the best they could promise is next Monday. So I'm in Singapore for another week. I have yet to visit the museums, I've got a stack of novels and there are photos to take. There's still plenty of food to be devoured. "Spider-Man 3" opened today and I've got a ticket for tonight (I've only seen three movies in the past three months; I have a lot of catching up to do). Also, the hostel attracts a friendly crowd and there's always something social going on.

I'm more upset about not having easy access to the Internet than about the computer being busted. On the bright side, of all the places in all of Southeast Asia to spill beer on a keyboard, Singapore is probably the best place to find qualified technicians and reliable service.

I will still post to Packmonkey. It just isn't as fun to write in an Internet cafe as it is at, say, Starbucks while slurping a Banana Java Chip Frappacino.